A* search alghorythm for Pacman | Qt 6.5.0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm
To approximate the shortest path in real-life situations, like- in maps, games where there can be many hindrances. We can consider a 2D Grid having several obstacles and we start from a source cell (colored red below) to reach towards a goal cell.
Explanation Consider a square grid having many obstacles and we are given a starting cell and a target cell. We want to reach the target cell (if possible) from the starting cell as quickly as possible. Here A* Search Algorithm comes to the rescue. What A* Search Algorithm does is that at each step it picks the node according to a value-‘f’ which is a parameter equal to the sum of two other parameters – ‘g’ and ‘h’. At each step it picks the node/cell having the lowest ‘f’, and process that node/cell. We define ‘g’ and ‘h’ as simply as possible below g = the movement cost to move from the starting point to a given square on the grid, following the path generated to get there. h = the estimated movement cost to move from that given square on the grid to the final destination. This is often referred to as the heuristic, which is nothing but a kind of smart guess. We really don’t know the actual distance until we find the path, because all sorts of things can be in the way (walls, water, etc.)