Project Overview : Project 3 : Maze Ball Run

Project Overview:

Objective:

The objective of this project is to create a maze game using the Pygame library in Python. The game involves navigating a player character through a maze to reach the end point while avoiding obstacles.

Components:

1. Maze Generation: The maze is generated using a recursive backtracking algorithm. This algorithm ensures that the generated maze is solvable and has a single path from the start to the end.

2. Player and End Point Creation: The player and the end point are represented as colored rectangles within the maze. The player starts at a random position within the maze, and the end point is placed at the top of the maze.

3. Game Logic: The game logic includes moving the player character using arrow keys to navigate through the maze. The player must avoid colliding with maze walls. When the player reaches the end point, a win condition is triggered. Additionally, there’s a time limit of 30 seconds. If the player fails to reach the end within the time limit, they lose the game.

4. Screens: The game consists of three screens:

   • Start Screen: Displays the title of the game and prompts the player to press the spacebar to start the game.
   • Game Screen: Displays the maze, the player, the end point, and a timer showing the elapsed time.
   • End Screen: Displays a message indicating whether the player won or lost and prompts them to press the spacebar to play again.

User Interaction:

• The player interacts with the game using keyboard inputs (arrow keys).
• The game starts when the player presses the spacebar on the start screen.
• During gameplay, the player navigates the maze to reach the end point.
• If the player reaches the end point within the time limit, they win the game.
• If the player collides with a maze wall or runs out of time, they lose the game.
• After winning or losing, the player can restart the game by pressing the spacebar on the end screen.

Features:

1. Maze Generation: The game dynamically generates a maze using a recursive backtracking algorithm. This ensures that each playthrough offers a unique maze layout.

2. Player Interaction: Players can control a character using arrow keys to navigate through the maze.

3. Obstacle Avoidance: Players must avoid collision with maze walls while navigating towards the end point.

4. Win Condition: Upon reaching the end point of the maze, players are notified of their victory.

5. A time limit of 30 seconds adds a sense of urgency to gameplay. If players fail to reach the end within the time limit, they lose the game.

6. Start Screen: The game begins with a start screen displaying the game title and instructions to start the game by pressing the spacebar.

7. End Screen: After winning or losing, players are presented with an end screen displaying a congratulatory message upon winning or a commiserative message upon losing. Players can restart the game from this screen.

8. Timer Display: During gameplay, a timer displays the elapsed time since the start of the game. This provides feedback on the player’s progress and adds to the challenge.

MAIN GAME STRUCTURE

Development Process:

1. Planning: The development process likely began with planning the game’s overall structure, including defining the game mechanics, user interface elements, and the maze generation algorithm to be used.

2. Environment Setup: Setting up the development environment involved installing Python and the Pygame library, which provides the necessary tools for game development.

3. Maze Generation: Development likely started with implementing the maze generation algorithm. This involved coding and testing the recursive backtracking algorithm to ensure it generated valid and solvable mazes.

4. Player and End Point Creation: Once the maze generation was functional, the player and end point entities were implemented. These entities were represented as colored rectangles within the maze.

5. Game Logic Implementation: The core game logic was developed next. This included handling player movement, collision detection with maze walls, win conditions, and the time limit.

6. Screen Rendering: User interface elements such as start screen, end screen, and timer display were implemented using Pygame’s rendering functionalities.

7. Testing and Debugging: Throughout the development process, extensive testing and debugging were performed to identify and fix any issues with gameplay mechanics, maze generation, entity movement, and user interface elements.

8. Refinement: As development progressed, refinements were made to improve the game’s performance, visuals, and user experience. This involved tweaking parameters such as maze size, player movement speed, and timer display.

9. Documentation and Deployment: Once the game was deemed complete, documentation was written to explain its features, development process, and how to play. Finally, the game was deployed for players to enjoy.

10. Feedback and Iteration: After deployment, feedback from players was collected to identify areas for improvement. Based on this feedback, iterative updates may have been made to enhance gameplay, fix bugs, or add new features.

Code Structure:

• The code is organized into a class named MazeGame, which encapsulates the entire game logic.
• Methods within the class handle maze generation, entity creation, drawing the maze and entities on the screen, player movement, win/lose conditions, and screen rendering.
• The game loop (run method) continuously updates the game state and renders the appropriate screen based on the current state.

Dependencies:

• The project relies on the Pygame library for graphics rendering and user input handling.

Execution:

• To run the game, execute the script. The game window opens, displaying the start screen.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to play the game.
• After winning or losing, press the spacebar to restart the game.