maze.runtime // energy-constrained pathfinding
Complexity Escape
A maze. Every wrong algorithm consumes energy. Find the shortest path before the budget hits zero — and along the way, greedy, BFS and DFS stop being words in a textbook.
> maze.load()
> every_wrong_turn -= energy
> shortest_path = required
> learning: greedy, bfs, dfs — by feel
Novice Circuit · questions0/60 cleared
G
Arrow keys / WASD also work.
Energy
95 left95 budget
Run stats
Steps taken0
Energy spent0
BFS-optimal cost63
Grid size7×7
Field note
Trace the route in your head before you move — backtracking costs energy twice.
Field notes — what each search actually does
Breadth-First SearchExplores in rings, one step out at a time. It never skips a shorter route to try a longer one first, so the first time it reaches the exit, that route is guaranteed shortest.
Depth-First SearchCommits to a direction and rides it to the wall before backing up. Cheap to run, but it happily wastes moves down dead ends that BFS would never enter.
Greedy Best-FirstAlways steps toward whatever looks closest to the exit in a straight line. Fast when the maze cooperates, easily fooled when the straight line is walled off.