It's calculating the graph distance from start node(s) to all other nodes. Although in theory it's Dijkstra's Algorithm, in practice I see people use Breadth Fi

It's calculating the graph distance from start node(s) to all other nodes. Although in theory it's Dijkstra's Algorithm, in practice I see people use Breadth First Search in roguelike grid worlds. The algorithm isn't limited to a grid but the visualizations look cool on a grid, which is why I use a grid in my examples [1]. Related: the gradient operation (∇ in vector calculus) on the distance field (called "dijkstra map" on that page) gives you a vector field (called "flow field" in pathfinding). [1] https://www.redblobgames.com/pathfinding/distance-to-any/ https://www.redblobgames.com/pathfinding/distance-to-any/