🎮 Bomberman (Tkinter) – AI Project README

A complete breakdown of the Bomberman AI project, including gameplay features, AI logic, and file structure.

⭐ Overview

This is a classic Bomberman game implemented in Python (Tkinter) with intelligent AI-controlled bots.
The player and bots move around a destructible grid environment, placing bombs, avoiding explosions, and trying to be the last one alive.

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🎬 Project Demo Video

📌 YouTube Link

Watch the full gameplay demo here:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGdCZeGzFvk

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🔥 Core Features & Gameplay

This project recreates the traditional Bomberman experience with added AI enhancements.

▶️ Player Controls

• Move: Up, Down, Left, Right
• Drop bombs to destroy soft walls and enemies

🤖 AI Bots

• Navigate the grid intelligently
• Place bombs strategically
• Avoid explosions
• Hunt down the player

🧱 Destructible Environment

• Soft walls can be destroyed by bombs
• Hard walls remain indestructible

🏆 Win/Loss Conditions

• Win: All bots defeated
• Lose: Player runs out of HP or gets caught in an explosion

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🧠 AI and Bot Logic

The AI system is the heart of this game. It uses a layered approach with a state machine, A* pathfinding, evasion scoring, and safety checks.

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1️⃣ State Machine

Every bot operates on 3 core states:

🔹 search (Default)

Bot searches for soft walls to destroy while exploring the map.

🔹 chase

Triggered when bot detects the player within its vision range.
Bot actively moves towards the player.

🔹 evade (Highest Priority)

Activated when bot detects danger (bomb blast radius).
Bot immediately searches for safe tiles.

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2️⃣ Pathfinding – A* Algorithm

Bots use A* to navigate the map efficiently.

• Heuristic: Manhattan distance
• Pathfinding implemented in: pathfinding.py
• Supports:
  • Avoiding bombs
  • Avoiding dangerous tiles
  • Avoiding forbidden zones

The algorithm returns an optimal path from start → target.

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3️⃣ Intelligent Movement & Evasion

✔ Improved Myopic Evasion Fix

Bots:

1. Identify up to 5 nearest safe tiles
2. Evaluate each tile based on openness (number of walkable neighbors)
3. Choose the safest + most open tile
4. Navigate toward it

This prevents bots from running into dead ends.

✔ Bomb Placement Safety Check

Bots simulate future states using:

bot_can_escape_after_placing()

Before placing a bomb, they check if they can escape before it explodes.

✔ Path Interruption

If a path becomes unsafe (bomb placed mid-route), bot cancels the path and recalculates.

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⚙️ Game Settings & Their Impact

The settings.py file allows customization of gameplay and AI behavior.

🔸 bot_aggression (0.1 → 1.0)

Controls how frequently bots place bombs when chasing.

• Low = cautious bots
• High = extremely aggressive bots

🔸 bot_vision

How far bots can “see” the player (in tiles).

🔸 game_tick_ms

Controls game speed. Lower = faster gameplay.

🔸 player_max_bombs / player_bomb_power

Tune difficulty for the player.

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📁 Project Structure

The project follows a clean, modular architecture with organized source code:

.
├── main.py                     # Application entry point
├── README.md                   # Project documentation
├── Group17_projectReport.pdf   # Detailed project report
├── assets/                     # Media files (demo video)
│   └── bombermanai.mp4
└── src/                        # Source code (organized)
    ├── game.py                 # Main game loop & rendering
    │
    ├── core/                   # Core utilities & config
    │   ├── config.py           # Game constants
    │   └── utils.py            # Helper functions
    │
    ├── game_objects/           # Game entities
    │   ├── entities.py         # Player, Bot, Bomb classes
    │   └── map.py              # Map generation
    │
    ├── ai/                     # AI & pathfinding
    │   └── pathfinding.py      # A*, Dijkstra, BFS
    │
    └── ui/                     # User interface
        └── settings.py         # Settings screen

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🚀 Installation & Running

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+
• tkinter (usually comes with Python)

Run the Game

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/VARUN3WARE/Bomberman-AI-Project-Group-17-CSL304-Artificial-Intelligence-.git

# Navigate to project directory
cd Bomberman-AI-Project-Group-17-CSL304-Artificial-Intelligence-

# Run the game
python main.py

Game Controls

• Arrow Keys / WASD: Move player
• Space: Place bomb
• Q / ESC: Quit game

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🎯 Features

✨ Intelligent AI System

• State Machine: Search → Chase → Evade behaviors
• Multiple Pathfinding Algorithms: A*, Dijkstra, BFS
• Multiple Heuristics: Manhattan, Euclidean, Chebyshev
• Smart Evasion: Evaluates safe zones and escape routes
• Safety Checks: Won't place bombs without escape path

🎮 Customizable Gameplay

• Adjustable game speed
• Configurable bot count and aggression
• Variable player power and bomb capacity
• Selectable pathfinding algorithm and heuristic

🏗️ Clean Architecture

• Modular code organization
• Separation of concerns (game logic, AI, UI, entities)
• Easy to extend and maintain

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🧩 Module Descriptions

src/core/

config.py: All game constants (dimensions, timing, entity properties)
utils.py: Time tracking and distance calculations

src/game_objects/

entities.py: Entity classes (Player, Bot, Bomb, Explosion)
map.py: Procedural map generation with hard/soft walls

src/ai/

pathfinding.py: Pathfinding algorithms with configurable heuristics

src/ui/

settings.py: Pre-game settings screen with algorithm selection

src/game.py

Main game engine handling game loop, entity management, collision detection, and rendering