Editing Maze generation algorithm (section)

== Cellular automaton algorithms ==
Certain types of [[cellular automata]] can be used to generate mazes.<ref name=ca>{{cite web|url=https://conwaylife.com/wiki/OCA:Maze|title=Maze |author=Nathaniel Johnston|date=21 August 2010 |publisher=LifeWiki |accessdate=22 April 2025|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Two well-known such cellular automata, Maze and Mazectric, have rulestrings B3/S12345 and B3/S1234.<ref name=ca /> In the former, this means that cells survive from one generation to the next if they have at least one and at most five [[Moore neighbourhood|neighbours]]. In the latter, this means that cells survive if they have one to four neighbours. If a cell has exactly three neighbours, it is born. It is similar to [[Conway's Game of Life]] in that patterns that do not have a living cell adjacent to 1, 4, or 5 other living cells in any generation will behave identically to it.<ref name=ca /> However, for large patterns, it behaves very differently from Life.<ref name=ca />

For a random starting pattern, these maze-generating cellular automata will evolve into complex mazes with well-defined walls outlining corridors. Mazecetric, which has the rule B3/S1234 has a tendency to generate longer and straighter corridors compared with Maze, with the rule B3/S12345.<ref name=ca /> Since these cellular automaton rules are [[deterministic]], each maze generated is uniquely determined by its random starting pattern. This is a significant drawback since the mazes tend to be relatively predictable.

Like some of the graph-theory based methods described above, these cellular automata typically generate mazes from a single starting pattern; hence it will usually be relatively easy to find the way to the starting cell, but harder to find the way anywhere else.