HTML5/Javascript Pathfinding Library
Click here for a demonstration
##Installation
- Web: Find the minified file in the /bin directory
- node.js:
npm install easystarjs
- Phaser: see Phaser Plugin
- Bower:
bower install easystarjs
Description
easystar.js is an asynchronous A* pathfinding API written in Javascript for use in your HTML5 games and interactive projects. The goal of this project is to make it easy and fast to implement performance conscious pathfinding.
Features
- Calculates asynchronously for better overall performance
- Simple API
- Small. ~5kb
- Use it with any existing Javascript Framework
API
Main Methods
var easystar = new EasyStar.js();
easystar.setGrid(twoDimensionalArray);
easystar.setAcceptableTiles(arrayOfAcceptableTiles);
easystar.findPath(startX, startY, endX, endY, callback);
easystar.calculate();
Additional Features
easystar.setIterationsPerCalculation(someValue);
easystar.avoidAdditionalPoint(x, y);
easystar.enableDiagonals();
easystar.enableCornerCutting();
easystar.setAdditionalPointCost(x, y, cost);
easystar.setTileCost(tileType, multiplicativeCost);
easystar.enableSync();
Usage
First create EasyStar.
var easystar = new EasyStar.js();
Create a grid, or tilemap. You may have made this with a level editor, or procedurally. Let's keep it simple for this example.
var grid = [[0,0,1,0,0],
[0,0,1,0,0],
[0,0,1,0,0],
[0,0,1,0,0],
[0,0,0,0,0]];
Set our grid.
easystar.setGrid(grid);
Set tiles which are "walkable".
easystar.setAcceptableTiles([0]);
Find a path.
easystar.findPath(0, 0, 4, 0, function( path ) {
if (path === null) {
alert("Path was not found.");
} else {
alert("Path was found. The first Point is " + path[0].x + " " + path[0].y);
}
});
EasyStar will not yet start calculating my path.
In order for EasyStar to actually start calculating, I must call the calculate() method.
You should call easystar.calculate()
on a ticker, or setInterval.
If you have a large grid, then it is possible that these calculations could slow down the browser.
For this reason, it might be a good idea to give EasyStar a smaller iterationsPerCalculation
value via
easystar.setIterationsPerCalculation(1000);
It may take longer for you to find a path this way, but you won't completely halt your game trying to find one. The only thing left to do now is to calculate the path.
easystar.calculate();
License
easystar.js is licensed under the MIT license. You may use it for commercial use.
Running the demo locally
In order to run the demo you will need node.js, and npm installed.
git clone https://github.com/prettymuchbryce/easystarjs.git
cd easystarjs/demo
npm install
node app.js
Open your browser to 127.0.0.1:3000 to see the example.
Testing
gulp test
Support
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please open an issue.