Making mazes with AI: Stable Diffusion - Has it Improved over time ?

Welcome to the 3rd in a series of posts where I will test AI image generators and see how they handle making maze art. I will be asking 10 prompts and seeing what gets generated. My goal is to evaluate different AI image sites against each other to see how they perform. If you need to catch-up here is the series so far:

An exploration into Al Image Maze Generation

Making mazes with AI: DallE2

Update from 2026:

When I did this series in Spring of 2023 I found that none of the text to image generators were able to generate actual mazes, including this one. They were able to make images that looked maze-like, but none were solvable puzzles. The 10 prompts below are a record of what was possible then, but each generation of AI pushes the limit further on what is possible. Feel free to try some of the prompts below to compare how far the development has come. All of these were made using text to image generation and not coding.

I also did an update using Stable Diffusion in December 2024 (18 months later) of all of the prompts to compare. Those images are included here as well.

Stable Diffusion logo

Making Maze Art with stable diffusion

2023: Today I test out Stable Diffusion. You can access the Stable Diffusion website here. You can try the site without signing in. Each prompt, or generation will generate 4 image options. For this exercise I chose the one closest to what I had asked, or the most interesting. All prompts I use are the same for each site !

2024: I did quick generations and generated only 1 image per prompt (last time I picked the best of 4). I generated images for all 10 prompts.

2026: The site asked me to sign in, and gave me 10 credits to use. I used the Base model and generated 1 image per prompt. There are models marked Plus, Pro, and Ultra which are paid versions. There are 6 styles to choose from and I used AUTO for all since the prompt often includes a style. I generated images for the first 3 prompts, shown below.

 

Prompt 1 - Make a medium difficulty maze of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with arrows at the start and finish

2023: That is the Eiffel Tower. It is black and white. I see no arrows, and the maze is not really a maze, but more like placed blocks. Overall it is an interesting image though.

2024: Our new prompt did a better job executing what was asked for. I like the contrast of the white on a grey background.

2026: I notice how similar the 2026 version looks when compared to the 2024 version.

Verdict: Most of the improvement here came between 2023 and 2024. The 2026 image does look the most like a traditional maze, in black and white.

 

Prompt 2 - Draw a medium difficulty large maze of the Empire State Building with the start and goal embedded in the structure

2023: The maze is both inside and outside the building that looks like a short ESB. I like how the building needle is off the top of the page. Interesting !

2024: I think the use of color in the new version is excellent. If you look at the top of the ESB you can see START on the building. There is even an attempt at a maze. The city stretching out behind the ESB is cool. 2024 wins easily !

2026: I think the generation is very interesting. Instead of imbedding the start and goal into the maze, the entire building was imbedded into a maze. The maze appears to be very well done except for the missing start and goal.

Verdict: Close. The Empire State Building looks excellent in the 2026 version.

 

Prompt 3 - Draw a difficult maze of the White House pixel art style

2023: That is a picture of the White House in a pixel style mixed with a bit of a gridded style for the lawn. Weird, but cool.

2024: 2024 lost the antennas that 2023 had, so that is an improvement. The marker style from 2023 was cool, but there was no maze…and barely one in 2024. The White House looks better in 2024 though, so 2024 wins again.

2026: That is technically a maze AT the White House, not OF the White House. I think it is an interesting solution. It is pixel art, and the building looks correct.

Verdict: Much improvement over time. And this might technically be out first actual solvable maze, despite being small.

 

Prompt 4 - Draw a difficult maze that looks like a drawing of a famous building in sketch style

2023: Looks like a museum or parliament or a stately residence. Oh, and there’s a small maze out front. Cool.

2024: A sketch style with a nice walled maze. Pick the style you prefer.

2026: Appears to be a sketch of a church façade from Italy. I do not recognize the building. There is no maze but I like the illustration.

Verdict: When you are less specific with your prompt it is interesting to see what the AI generator comes up with. I enjoy that each of these is so different. I do not see an improvement from a maze perspective.

 

Prompt 5 - Draw a maze in the style of doyoumaze.com of a skyscraper in NYC

2023: Not my style, but I like how this looks despite the obvious miss with the maze. Looks like a bunch of buildings squished together.

2024: 2023 was a squished building blob. 2024 did a nice ESB maze like image. Easy winner.

2026: Another ESB illustration that is very good, this one surrounded by an almost maze. Close

Verdict: None used my style, maybe a good thing, with all 3 images having different looks. The best illustration and closest to what was asked for was from 2026.

 

Prompt 6 - Draw a maze in the style of Sean C Jackson of a scene from a large outdoor market

2023: Not an outdoor market when I look at it - more of a labyrinth. This is my favorite image generated so far. I would use this layout to make a maze of a city.

2024: Despite being interesting this is a fail.

2026: I am a fan of the use of color. This is a market with a maze in the middle, although it looks good, the maze is not solvable.

Verdict: 2026 is the closest to the prompt yet, and the great colors and market make the image interesting.

 

Prompt 7 - Make a maze of a slice of an orange in color

2023: They can’t all be winners.

2024: Double fail, but 2024 comes in second to last by a hair.

2026: Honestly I had given up on this prompt as just being poor to ask based on having seem what was generated by many different generators over time…..and yet. I think the 2026 version is technically correct. It is what I asked for, and the maze is solvable, but with 3 gaps in the outer wall. I think with some prompts this could be adjusted and actually work…but I only have 10 credits to use. Feel free to download the image and try it yourself.

Verdict: So close to what I would expect in 2026. Maybe this will work soon.

 

Prompt 8 - Make a maze integrated on top of a photograph of a king sitting on his throne looking cantankerous beside his beautiful queen

2023: Remember I picked the best one out of 4 generated. A maze with cursive letters on it, kind of, and a double faced king with one crown next to his red faceless heavily shadowed queen. Perfect.

2024: Versus what 2023 spit out, 2024 wins this one by a huge margin. It’s a double throne chair and I like the maze being held together on the lap. But did you notice they are almost wearing one big dress ? You have to look close in the shadows to see a change in the pattern.

2026: Who needs a queen. Good looking king. We have one opening on the maze, but not 2 or a real goal inside. This would be good if there was a queen around.

Verdict: Sometimes parts of the prompt get ignored. 2026 and 2024 each have their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Prompt 9 - Make a solvable maze that is very large and very difficult to solve because it is so complex

2023: Well. We had a nice start didn’t we ? I like the contrast of the colors and the use of 3D without prompting.

2024: An interesting 5 point perspective wooden box maze. I like how the illustration is creative.

2026: This looks like something someone might actually use in a blog post or as a thumbnail. I like the overhead perspective and the internal shadows. There are 2 outer wall breaks in the maze ! But they are not connected. So close.

Verdict: With some help I think the 2026 version could be fixed. Much improvement from 2023.

 

Prompt 10 - Make a 3d render of a red and blue glossy cube maze

2023: I decided to show all 4 once again. All are so different. None are really great but together they are fun to look at.

2024: 2024 only failed once, but 2023 failed 4 times, so there’s that !

2026: That might be a maze inside there. It is closer to the prompt than all of the other options.

Verdict: We saw improvement over time, and maybe our first real maze ( but only 1 out of 10).

I am out of credits.

 

Summary and Conclusion:

How did Stable Diffusion do ? I Think it could handle famous buildings but struggled making a real maze. Overall some interesting images. We saw improvement from 2023 to 2024 and even more to 2026. I think many of these generations could be used as seeds to generate even better versions - all of these were one pass.

Coming Next: Craiyon

Making mazes with AI: DallE2. Has it improved over time ?

Welcome to the 2nd in a series of posts where I will test AI image generators and see how they handle making maze art. I will be asking 10 prompts and seeing what gets generated. My goal is to evaluate different AI image sites against each other to see how they perform. In my first post I discussed the project, and today we start with the first site evaluation: DallE2.

Update from 2026:

When I did this series in Spring of 2023 I found that none of the text to image generators were able to generate actual mazes, including this one. They were able to make images that looked maze-like, but none were solvable puzzles. The 10 prompts below are a record of what was possible then, but each generation of AI pushes the limit further on what is possible. Feel free to try some of the prompts below to compare how far the development has come. All of these were made using text to image generation and not coding.

Dall-e logo
Chatgpt logo

Making Maze Art with DallE2 / CHATGPT

2023: You can access the Dalle2 website here. You must sign in. As of this post there is no limit to the number of prompts you can ask for, and the site is free to use. Each prompt, or generation with DallE2 will generate 4 image options. For this exercise I chose the one closest to what I had asked for, or the most interesting. Let’s get started.

2026: I used ChatGPT to generate comparisons for the first 3 prompts below. I had to sign-in. Dalle text to image is imbedded in the product. I used the free version. Gallery images are labeled below. Use the next/previous controls to compare 2023 vs. 2026 images.

Prompt 1 - Make a medium difficulty maze of the Eiffel Tower in black and white with arrows at the start and finish

2023: I see the Eiffel Tower. In fact I see 2 of it for some reason. I see a maze like structure. It is black and white. But I see no arrows, and the maze is not really a maze. There are random maze lines, and marks around the page that distract from the image.

2026: I see the Eiffel Tower that is much cleaner in shape. I see a maze look inside the structure, but the maze is not solvable. It is in black and white. There are arrows this time but they are non-sensical.

Verdict: The generation improved are moved closer to what was asked for, but an actual solvable maze remains elusive.

 

Prompt 2 - Draw a medium difficulty large maze of the Empire State Building with the start and goal embedded in the structure

2023: Not sure what this is. I changed the prompt vs. #1 to get rid of the arrows…I like the mazelike structure on the top of the page. And there looks to be a small Death Star under it. I think maybe DallE2 can’t make mazes.. just mazelike drawings ?

2026: So much better. We see the Empire State Building. We have a mazelike internal, but still not solvable. We get large Start and Goal arrows which do not make sense, especially the Goal, but are almost there.

Verdict: The 2023 generation was so bad that anything would be an improvement. 2026 was much better and gives me hope that this will be possible soon.

Human Made Maze: I made a huge Empire State Building maze around 2015 using Microsoft Paint.

 

Prompt 3 - Draw a difficult maze of the White House pixel art style

DALL·E 2 White House Maze

2023: It is pixel art style. Despite having no start and goal it looks the most mazelike of anything generated yet. And there is a house, although it is grey and looks like a dirty igloo. Interesting. Not winning any awards.

2026: This looks like an image of the White House in pixel style. Th internal section is too open to be considered a maze. And the start and goal arrows are awkwardly placed - the AI does not understand how they work.

Verdict: Really great pixel art of the White House in 2026. Much improved, but still no solvable maze.

2026 Human Made Maze: I made a maze of the White House (not pixel style) that you can see on it’s maze page and download it for free. I have considered doing a human vs. AI challenge. I would say I won this round.

 

All remaining prompts come from 2023. A summary from 2023/2026 is available below.

Prompt 4 - Draw a difficult maze that looks like a drawing of a famous building in sketch style

DALL·E 2 Building Maze

After asking for 3 famous buildings and seeing DallE2 go 1 for 3 I let it pick it’s own famous building and decided to try ‘sketch’ as the style. It got the style down, it looks mazelike (but not a real maze) on top of a large building with an arch entryway.

 

Prompt 5 - Draw a maze in the style of doyoumaze.com of a skyscraper in NYC

DALL·E 2 Maze

Nope. Maybe I’m not well known enough.

 

Prompt 6 - Draw a maze in the style of Sean C Jackson of a scene from a large outdoor market

DALL·E 2 Maze

So we try a famous artist of mazes. I don’t see an outdoor market but I see a lot of interesting squiggles. The maze-like shape from this perspective looks cool. Maybe there is an outdoor market there with some imagination.

 

Prompt 7 - Make a maze of a slice of an orange in color

DALL·E 2 Orange Slice maze

I simplified the ask and got the best technical answer yet. A start and goal would even make this a real maze !

 

Prompt 8 - Make a maze integrated on top of a photograph of a king sitting on his throne looking cantankerous beside his beautiful queen

DALL·E 2 King Maze

Cool 3d looking maze in the background ! The king is beside his queen…but really behind his queen. The look on his face is something more Frankenstein than anything else. And the hands are a problem (of course).

 

Prompt 9 - Make a solvable maze that is very large and very difficult to solve because it is so complex

DALL·E 2 hard maze

I wanted to test the maze only capabilities. Fail. What is with the red and grey items throughout ?

 

Prompt 10 - Make a 3d render of a red and blue glossy cube maze

DALL·E 2 3D cube mazes

4 shown because all were interesting and none was better than another. I feel like these images would be fun to walk into.

Summary and Conclusion:

2023: How did Dalle2 do ? Eh. It can’t make mazes, just maze looking structures. So you get some interesting outputs, sometimes, but nothing great. The 3D portion is worth exploring more !

2026: The image generation is cleaned-up with no random lines or images imbedded. Every building asked for looks like the building. Mazes look clean, but are not actually solvable puzzles. The generator has trouble understanding what start and goal arrows are for. Humans are still ahead when it comes to making maze art.

Coming next: Making mazes with AI: Stable Diffusion

Maze of the Week #217 - The White House

As a follow-up to last weeks Mount Rushmore Maze I present Maze of the Week #217 of The White House in Washington DC, USA. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue might be the most famous house in the world and I am happy to make a maze of it. It is the residence of the President of the US and also their office. It has an interesting history to explore including this video:

The maze: The building has a north and a south façade, each worthy of a maze but this particular maze is of the north side. In color.

The White House Maze

Download is available on the home page. Happy Maze-ing !

A related blog you may enjoy if you visit the area:

6 Labyrinths to visit in the Washington DC area

Other blog posts you may enjoy:

9 Lesser-Known Classic Retro Maze Games

Today I want to take a look at some retro video games that feature mazes. I have already covered many of the big games with blog posts like A Tribute to Pac-Man, the Ultimate Maze Game and The 12 Most Important Retro Maze Video Games to Lose a Day With which includes popular maze games like Dig Dug, Gauntlet and Rally-X. I am not going to repeat the history lesson I spoke about there and instead am going to highlight 9 more interesting retro maze games that you may not be familiar with. Each of these games caught my attention for some reason which I will explain below. They are all from 1973-1982 except for one special game from 1993 that I couldn’t leave out. The thing about old games is, if you owned it, or your local arcade had it, it was important to you, the rest of world didn’t matter. Here are the games I am going to discuss (click to skip ahead to that section:

I start with Gotcha, the first arcade maze game, which came out in the Fall of 1973. Some of you may be thinking, but I thought Mouse in the Maze (1959) was the first computerized maze game. And you would be correct…which is why the word “arcade” is so important in my first sentence. Then, because we have short attention spans and can’t seem to keep on subject you may think - - - 1959 ? There were computer games in 1959 ? Yes, and those computers filled an entire room !!

Gotcha video game poster

And we are back. For now. Gotcha ! Also from my research, Gotcha was the first color video game. Today it would be hard to find a game not in color, but I do recommend 2 Japanese games featuring Samurai - Trek to Yomi and Ghost of Tsushima: Kurosawa Mode that look amazing in black and white. It didn’t take me long to get off track.

Let’s look at the gameplay of Gotcha. I will describe what you will see in the gameplay video below. Like all early games things were pretty simple. Two small specs are in a maze looking structure - they are a plus sign and a box. The goal is for one player to pursue the other, and then they switch roles. Each round has a time limit between 30 seconds and 2 minutes depending on the machine you are playing on. You get a point for catching the other person. In the background is a beeping sound that gets louder and closer together the closer a person is to being caught. Worst. Soundtrack. Ever ?

Does this look like a fun game ? No. But in 1973 it may have kept you busy for a few minutes when you weren’t playing Pong !

 

Ken’s Labyrinth. Ken's Labyrinth is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Ken Silverman when he was 17 years old and published by Epic MegaGames in 1993. The game is notable for being one of the first FPS games to feature interactive sprites and textures, as well as for its innovative use of the Build engine.

Silverman began development on Ken's Labyrinth in 1991, when he was still a teenager. The game was originally called Walken, and it was inspired by the Wolfenstein 3D engine. Silverman quickly realized that he could do more with the engine than just recreate Wolfenstein 3D, so he began to add new features and ideas.

One of the most significant features that Silverman added to Ken's Labyrinth was the ability to interact with sprites and textures. This meant that players could interact with objects in the environment, such as vending machines, slot machines, and even the enemies themselves. This was a major innovation at the time, and it helped to set Ken's Labyrinth apart from other FPS games.

Another innovative feature of Ken's Labyrinth was its use of the Build engine. The Build engine was a new rendering engine that Silverman developed specifically for the game. The Build engine allowed for more detailed and complex levels than previous FPS engines, and it also allowed for more realistic lighting effects.

Ken's Labyrinth was released in 1993, and it was met with positive reviews from critics. The game was praised for its innovative features, its challenging gameplay, and its tongue-in-cheek humor. Ken's Labyrinth was also a commercial success, selling over 100,000 copies.

Take a look at some of the gameplay:

The success of Ken's Labyrinth helped to launch the career of Ken Silverman. Silverman went on to develop the Build engine, which was used in many popular FPS games, including Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood.

Here are some additional facts about Ken's Labyrinth:

  • The game was originally released as shareware, with the first episode available for free. The full game was available for purchase.

  • The game was inspired by the Wolfenstein 3D engine, but it also incorporated elements from other games, such as Doom and The Legend of Zelda.

  • The game's levels were designed by Ken Silverman and his friend Andrew Cotter.

  • The game's soundtrack was composed by Ken Silverman.

  • The game was released for MS-DOS, and it has since been ported to other platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Want to give it a quick play ? There are plenty of emulators out there. Here is one to try.

 

Entombed. In the 1982 during the height of arcades jammed with people trying to play another maze game, Pac-Man, Atari came out with a scrolling maze game called Entombed. It seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the maze/chase game play of Pac-Man but with the bonus of a scrolling screen !!! It was not very popular. At one point you could buy it for 82% off based on the picture of the box front I found.

Entombed video game box

The story of Entombed the game is you are an archaeologist and have fallen into catacombs filled with zombies. You need to get away from them without getting stuck in a dead end (and thus entombed). I guess dead end has a new meaning here. There is also a “Make-break” block and if you capture it you are able to make a wall or break thru a wall - great for escaping those pesky zombies. Personally I prefer Daryl’s crossbow or Michonne’s katana, but a make-break is fine. The longer you survive the faster the gameplay becomes as was pretty standard with games from this time.

The interesting aspect of the game is that because of the amount of data needed to generate mazes was too big to be stored on the hardware an algorithm was written that generates a maze on the fly as the game is played. That means each time you play the game the maze will be different ! Pretty ingenious.

There has also been a collegiate paper done exploring the history of the game and discussing the reverse engineering of the game by John Ayock and Tara Copplestone called Entombed: An archaeological examination of an Atari 2600 game. It is an interesting, but technical 33 page read.

The graphics of the game look very 1982. And the gameplay appears to be….well….. also very 1982. I guess it would become more interesting with 2 players playing at the same time ?

Here is a look at some game play from The No Swear Gamer:

So if you want to enjoy mazes in video game form, try this classic game from 1982….or maybe just go with Pac-Man. Either one. But, Pac-Man.

 

The Amazing Maze Game. Sounds amazing. This arcade game from 1976 had to be included for one main reason. In 1975 the arcade game Gun Fight became the first to use the term GAME OVER. That could have been the end of it. But in 1976 a few games adopted the practice, including this one, helping popularize the use across arcade games in the future. The game features a randomly generated maze each round. If you play against another player, you each start at the others goal and race across to see who solves the maze fastest. These are mazes in their most basic form. You’ll notice in the gameplay videoafter a maze is generated you get a countdown of 5 seconds to study it.

 

Ali Baba and 40 Thieves. Video game gameplay can be so unique. When I find a game with unique challenges and gameplay I love it. I really love when something is new to learn and strategize about. I like figuring out how things work. This is not that game. This is Pac-Man with minor tweaks themed after the ancient folk tale from the Middle East. The hero, Ali Baba looks like Pac-Man in a red hat. The board, the use of question marks (power pellets) to chase thieves (ghosts). No regular pellets to chomp, just money bags to gather and protect. Just watch the gameplay video. While many games were developed that were Pac-Man knock-offs at this time, this was a unique spin on it.

 

Zzyzzyxx. How do you pronounce this game from 1982 ? I don’t know but I am saying it aloud right now with confidence. If you say anything with confidence people will believe you if they themselves do not know the answer. Well, this game centers around taking our hero, Zzyzzyxx, through a brick maze to collect gifts for Lola. He is pursued by an evil trio who apparently…I am going to make up the motivation here, but pretend I am writing it with confidence….do not want Lola to have the gifts. The bricks of the maze move, which give this a Frogger feel. Always last in any dictionary of games, Check out the gameplay.

 

Triple Punch. I had to include at least one grid capture game in this roundup of maze games. This arcade game came out in 1982. Our main character is a carpenter who sure does look like Mario to me. How was legal even back then ? Our carpenter moves across the maze pathways on the screen to surround areas and capture them. Four different enemies chase the player and try to stop him from capturing the blocks. You can punch enemies 3 times to kill them. Check out the gameplay:

 

Heiankyo Alien. This game was extremely popular in Japan when it was released in 1979. It is one of the first “trap” games, where you lure your enemies into a trap. It is also considered the first maze chase game, coming out before Pac-Man and Rally-X the next year. In this particular game you are a policeman who digs holes in a maze for aliens to fall into and then buries them inside. The graphics are very basic. There are nine levels to the game with each level featuring additional number of aliens. If an alien touches you, you lose a life. I really enjoy the graphics they created for that ! Check it out in the gameplay video:

 

Frisky Tom. When I saw the name of this game from 1981 I knew I had to check this out. Tom is a plumber who must protect the water pipes from the damage of 3 mice. The different types of mice each try to ruin the plumbing in a unique way. Tom climbs the pipes to fix them and can knock off mice, except for the purple ones which kill him. Bombs that are allowed to explode also take a life. I am a huge fan of pipe mazes (they do not look anything like this). I like all types of games involving pipes, and this one is a unique twist on pipes and pipes. Here is the gameplay:

Which of these games have you played before ? Any that seem interesting to you ?