Worm Game - Zig + raylib

A classic worm/snake game implemented in Zig using raylib, featuring an autoplay mode with BFS pathfinding.

Prerequisites (FreeBSD)

Install the required dependencies using pkg:

sudo pkg install zig raylib

This will install:

• Zig - The Zig compiler and build system
• raylib - Simple and easy-to-use library for game development
• Required system libraries (automatically pulled in as dependencies):
  • math library (libm)
  • pthread
  • dl
  • rt

The project is configured to find raylib headers in /usr/local/include and libraries in /usr/local/lib, which is the standard location on FreeBSD.

Building and Running

To compile and run the game in optimized release mode:

cd worm-raylib
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast run

Other Build Options

# Debug build (with runtime safety checks)
zig build -Doptimize=Debug run

# Fast release build (as shown above)
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast run

# Smallest release build (optimized for size)
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseSmall run

# Just build without running
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

The compiled binary will be located at zig-out/bin/worm-game.

How to Play

Controls

Key	Action
Arrow Keys	Move the worm (Up/Down/Left/Right)
A	Toggle autoplay mode
Space	Pause/Resume the game
R	Restart after game over
ESC	Quit the game

Gameplay

1. Objective: Control the worm to eat the red food squares that appear on the grid.

2. Growing: Each time you eat food, the worm grows longer and your score increases.

3. Movement: The worm moves continuously. You can change direction using the arrow keys, but you cannot reverse direction 180 degrees (e.g., if moving right, you can't immediately go left).

4. Walls: The game features wrap-around - when the worm exits one side of the screen, it reappears on the opposite side.

5. Game Over: The game ends if the worm collides with itself.

6. Autoplay Mode: Press 'A' to enable/disable autoplay. When enabled, the game uses a BFS (Breadth-First Search) algorithm to automatically navigate the worm to food while avoiding collisions with itself.

Scoring

• Each food eaten gives you 10 points
• The worm speeds up as your score increases (every 20 points)

Technical Details

• Language: Zig (uses C import for raylib)
• Graphics Library: raylib
• Grid Size: 20x20 pixels per cell
• Screen Resolution: 800x700 pixels
• Collision Detection: O(1) using an occupancy grid
• Autoplay AI: BFS pathfinding with flood-fill reachability analysis
• Data Structure: Circular buffer (deque) for worm segments

Project Structure

worm-raylib/
├── build.zig       # Zig build configuration
├── main.zig        # Game source code
└── README.md       # This file