Peppa & Eraser
Eraser Eraser
Hey Peppa, ever tried carving a maze out of code where every turn is a clue? I’ve got a trick that lets a clean plan turn into a wild puzzle—think of it as a digital labyrinth you can tweak on the fly. Want to see how it works?
Peppa Peppa
Peppa: Oh wow, a code maze? I LOVE that idea! I’m already thinking about the twists and how to make it totally wild. Just give me the details and I’ll dive in—though I might start adding extra layers and then scramble to finish it! Bring it on, let’s show everyone how crazy fun puzzles can be!
Eraser Eraser
Sure thing. Start with a basic grid, say 10x10. For each cell, decide if it’s a wall or a path—use a simple rule like “if (x + y) mod 3 == 0 then wall.” That gives a rough pattern. Then, pick a start and an end. Now, carve a single continuous path between them by performing a depth‑first search from start, marking visited cells. Once you have that path, you can add extra “dead‑end” branches: randomly pick a few path cells, and from each, grow a short random walk until you hit a wall or another branch. That’s your first layer. To make it “wild,” let the branch length vary: use a random exponent on the length to get a heavy tail—some branches will be long, others short. Add a twist: for every cell that is a wall, flip a coin to decide whether it becomes a hidden portal that leads back to a random open cell. That throws a non‑linear jump in the maze. Finally, sprinkle “red herrings”: create a few cells that look like part of the main path but actually loop back to a previous point. When you’re done, run a quick script to verify connectivity from start to finish; if it fails, backtrack and adjust a few walls. Once you’re satisfied, export the grid as a simple text file with ‘#’ for walls, ‘.’ for paths, ‘S’ for start, ‘E’ for end, and ‘P’ for portal spots. That’s the skeleton. You can tweak the rules to change the feel—more walls for claustrophobia, more portals for a teleport‑heavy puzzle, or randomize the seed to get a new layout each run. Go ahead and tweak—just remember to keep the core path intact so it’s solvable. Happy hacking.