Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Visual A* pathfinding and maze generation in Python
I was fascinated reading through another recent HN submission about a highly efficient implementation of A* in Lisp, which got me thinking about how I could do something similar in Python. However, these kinds of pathfinding algorithms really need complex terrain/mazes with interesting obstructions to showcase what they can do and how they work. So, I started thinking about how I could generate cool and diverse random "mazes" (they aren't really mazes, but I'm not sure what the best term is). I got a bit carried away thinking of lots of different cool ways to generate these mazes, such…
This Python project implements the A* pathfinding algorithm with a focus on visual demonstration and maze generation. It creates diverse random terrain and maze structures using techniques like cellular automata… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Visual A* pathfinding and maze generation in Python launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1AN
2012 · petercottle.com · its alternatives →
- 2IM
This is the first iteration of a short game I’m making that tries to interactively explain some of my favorite math questions / ideas. My goal is mostly to get the player curious and not necessarily to explain absolutely everything. There were a lot of fun technical parts to building this: - For implementation reasons, it’s much easier if the lines all have integer intersection points with each other. To do this, when a new line is added I “cheat” by rounding intersections to integers and then splitting the old lines at the intersection into new linds (with potentially different slopes)…
2024 · rahulilango.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Visual explanation of pathfinding algorithms and how a*, Dijkstra and BFS can be seen as the same algorithm with different parameter/data structures used under the hood - npretto/pathfinding
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Maze generation visualization. Contribute to pakastin/maze development by creating an account on GitHub.
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 5RA
I've been begrudgingly working on autorouters for 2 years, looking for new techniques or modern methods that might allow AI to create circuit boards. One of the biggest problems in my view for training an AI to do autorouting is the traditional grid-based representation of autorouting problems which challenges spatial understanding. But we know that vision models are very good at classifying, so I wondered if we could train a model to output a path as a classification. But then how do you represent the path? This lead me down the track of trying to build an autorouter that represented paths…
Feb 2026 · pattern-pathfinder.vercel.app · its alternatives →
- 6
Hi all! A little background: I've been working on natto.dev, a spatial environment for JavaScript. I'm really excited about new interfaces for code (leveraging metaphors we're good at, spatial reasoning, making state visible, design tools, etc). With all the buzz around PyScript, I discovered Pyodide and got it working inside natto. This Python version is a stripped down version of https://natto.dev (eg interactive outputs, multiplayer) so please check that out if this interests you. I'm excited to share this spatial environment for Python. Imagine Jupyter cells arranged on a 2D…
2022 · python.natto.dev · its alternatives →
- 7
Solve and generate mazes in JS. Contribute to dmaydan/Maze_Solver_Generator development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
2020 · algoviz.njanjo.com · its alternatives →
- 9
Contribute to netb258/clj-maze development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Decided to remake my old pathfinding project to hexagonal tiles. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Source code: https://github.com/honzaap/Pathfinding
2022 · honzaap.github.io · its alternatives →
- 11
A simple Python debugger and profiler that generates animated visualizations of program flow, useful for algorithm learning. - CCExtractor/vardbg
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12GA
2020 · amydyer.art · its alternatives →
- 13W1
Hey HackerNews, I built this project over the last few weeks as a palette cleanser from a failed game launch. I wanted to learn a bit about AI/Neural-Networks and naively thought I could build a tiny maze-solving AI in a weekend with a 100% solve rate. Well - I couldn't, but I got pretty close. 14 Bytes total model size, and a 96.5% solve rate on unseen mazes. Trained across 46 phases experimenting with different ideas to improve the model (better performance, smaller size). Its quite fun to watch the model attempt to solve the maze, when they fail its usually due to getting stuck in a…
Jul 2026 · con-dog.github.io · its alternatives →
- 14
Design interactive learning for active brains
2018 · pathwright.com · its alternatives →
- 15
Hey HN, just wanted to share a fun, vibe-coded Friday night experiment: a little playground for writing cellular automata in a subset of Rust, which is then compiled into WGSL. Since it lets you dynamically change parameters while the simulation is running via a TUI, it's easy to discover weird behaviors without remembering how you got there. If you press "s", it will save the complete history to a JSON file (a timeline of the parameters that were changed at given ticks), so you can replay it and regenerate the discovery. You can pan/zoom, and while the main simulation window is in…
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Visualize pathfinding algorithms
2024 · pathfinding.petersimone.xyz · its alternatives →
- 17IM
I found a cellular automaton which creates some interesting patterns similar to those found in nature.
2025 · byronknoll.com · its alternatives →
- 18
"Creatures" is a stretch given that the environment is Minecraft, but the idea is simple: iteratively add blocks conditionally (tensor convolution) on the current environment (blocks) to maximize some reward. In this case I use PPO RL to train creatures to touch a glowstone block but you can adapt it to use any algorithm and reward (easily, as it uses the Ray framework). What I like about this work: iteratively finding solutions has a long and colorful history of doing things well: gradient boosting, ResNets, Stable Diffusion, etc. We're after some end optimal state and usually try to get…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
Haskell re-implementation of STOKE, the stochastic superoptimizer - blaze/notebooks/tutorial.ipynb at master · bollu/blaze
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
- 21
QuadTree Model for generating random road network. Contribute to arun1729/road-network development by creating an account on GitHub.
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Interactive visualisations help explain Depth First Search and Breadth First Search as well as algorithms based upon each approach. A very useful resource for learning by seeing.
2016 · workshape.github.io · its alternatives →
- 23CC
Hello HN! Back in 2023, I introduced CFRS[], a minimalist drawing language with turtle graphics, featuring just six simple commands, through a "Show HN" post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37956065). Since then, I've received a number of creative patterns and animations created using this tiny, esoteric language by the small and friendly community that has since formed around it. In this post, I intend to share some of these interesting creations with everyone to highlight the ingenuity of their creators. If you create an interesting demo using this language, please…
2025 · its alternatives →
- 24
A Micromouse simulator: write and test maze-solving code without a physical robot - mackorone/mms
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →