Pathfinding Playground

A visual playground to explore pathfinding algorithms like BFS, DFS, Dijkstra, Greedy Best-First, and A*.
Paint your own maze, drag start and goal nodes, and watch algorithms find their way — with optional turn-penalty to prefer straighter paths.*

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Features

• Multiple algorithms

  • BFS (shortest path on unweighted grids)
  • DFS (explores deep, not always shortest)
  • Dijkstra (optimal with weighted costs)
  • Greedy Best-First (fast, not guaranteed optimal)
  • A* (Dijkstra + heuristic → typically fastest optimal)

• Interactive grid editor

  • Draw walls (click+drag)
  • Add weighted cells (Shift + drag)
  • Erase with Alt/Option
  • Drag the green (start) and red (goal) nodes

• Visualization controls

  • Step-by-step or animated
  • Speed slider (instant to smooth)
  • Turbo mode (instant computation, single render)
  • Optional rendering of visited/frontier cells

• Extras

  • Random obstacle generator
  • Clear/reset tools
  • Turn-penalty: add cost for direction changes to prefer straight paths

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Screenshots

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Controls

• Draw walls: click + drag

• Weighted cells: hold Shift while dragging

• Erase: hold Alt/Option while dragging

• Move start/goal: drag green/red tiles

• Keyboard shortcuts:

  • R → Run
  • P → Pause/Resume
  • C → Clear path
  • S → Step once
  • G → Random obstacles

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Settings

• Grid size: adjustable (5–80 rows, 5–120 columns)
• Speed: slider for smooth animation or instant solve
• Turbo: solve instantly without animations
• Turn Penalty: numeric value to penalize direction changes