UnityWeek6

General Game Description

The project is a tile-based exploration game built on a procedurally generated map using a cellular-automata cave generator.
The player moves across different terrain types — grass, bushes, hills, mountains, and water — where each terrain imposes movement rules and restrictions. The goal is to navigate through the world efficiently while understanding how different tiles affect accessibility and cost of movement.

The game includes a pathfinding system that automatically computes a route to a clicked destination based on the player’s current abilities. Because the terrain is dynamic and varied, the player may or may not be able to traverse specific tiles unless they obtain items that grant special movement capabilities.

The map is randomly generated every run, and all gameplay elements (terrain, collectibles, and pathfinding) interact in real-time to create a consistent exploration experience.

1. Collectibles & Terrain Interaction

I added three new collectibles to the map: Boat, Goat, and Pickaxe. Each item grants the player a new traversal ability:

• The Boat allows crossing water tiles.

• The Goat allows climbing mountain tiles.

• The Pickaxe enables digging through mountain tiles. Digging is performed on the tile the player is currently standing on by pressing E, turning a mountain tile into Grass.

2. Pathfinding Upgrade – From BFS to A*

In addition to BFS, which always finds the shortest path in terms of number of tiles, the game now uses the A* algorithm, which calculates an optimal path based on movement costs assigned to each terrain type.
Examples:

• Moving on water is faster (though passable when the player has the Boat).

• Moving through bushes or hills is slower.

• Moving onto mountains is possible only with the Goat but is the slowest.

The console now displays timing information, Manhattan distance, and the chosen pathfinding algorithm on each click, providing clearer insight into the system’s behavior.