Game programming ai: scaling walls to find a player?

Question

I have been working on this artificial intelligence method for a while. It basically has an int for each direction the enemy could go if a wall were blocking his path to the player. This doesn't work in most cases. Sometimes the enemy will go through cracks it can't fit through. Other times it will be stuck on walls that have obvious gaps in them. I will attach my code, but if it looks too inefficient or just not the way to solve it I'm not opposed to changing my approach altogether. I just would like to know how these things are done normally, so that I can implement it in a better (and working!) way.

My code:

    public void update(ArrayList<Wall> walls, Player p){

    findPlayer(p.getX(), p.getY());

    boolean isCollision = false;
    System.out.println(isCollision);
    //if movement straight towards the player is blocked, move along the walls
    for(Wall w : walls){
        if(Helper.isBoundingBoxCollision((int)(x + vectorToPlayer.getDX() * SPEED), (int)(y + vectorToPlayer.getDY() * SPEED), width, height, w.getX(), w.getY(), w.width, w.height)){
            isCollision = true;

            if(Math.abs(vectorToPlayer.getDX()) > Math.abs(vectorToPlayer.getDY())){
                if(vectorToPlayer.getDX() > 0)
                    WALL_COLLISION = 3;
                else
                    WALL_COLLISION = 1;
            }
            else if(Math.abs(vectorToPlayer.getDX()) <     Math.abs(vectorToPlayer.getDY())){
                if(vectorToPlayer.getDY() > 0)
                    WALL_COLLISION = 0;
                else
                    WALL_COLLISION = 2;
            }

        }
    }
    //System.out.println(isCollision);
    //set the direction to the straight on vector, to be reset if there is a collision on this path
    direction = vectorToPlayer;

    if(isCollision){
        //reset the variable, don't mind that what this is named is completely opposite = PIMPIN'
        isCollision = false;

        //scale dem walls son, and see when the path is clear
        for(Wall w : walls){
            if(WALL_COLLISION == 0 && !Helper.isBoundingBoxCollision(x + SPEED, y, width, height, w.getX(), w.getY(), w.width, w.height)){
                WALL_COLLISION = 3;
                isCollision = true;
            }
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 1 && !Helper.isBoundingBoxCollision(x, y + SPEED, width, height, w.getX(), w.getY(), w.width, w.height)){
                WALL_COLLISION--;
                isCollision = true;
            }
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 2 && !Helper.isBoundingBoxCollision(x - SPEED, y, width, height, w.getX(), w.getY(), w.width, w.height)){
                WALL_COLLISION--;
                isCollision = true;
            }
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 3 && !Helper.isBoundingBoxCollision(x, y - SPEED, width, height, w.getX(), w.getY(), w.width, w.height)){
                WALL_COLLISION--;
                isCollision = true;
            }
        }

        //if there is NOT a wall on the designated side, set the vector accoridingly
        if(isCollision){
            if(WALL_COLLISION == 0)
                direction = new NVector(0, 1);
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 1)
                direction = new NVector(1, 0);
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 2)
                direction = new NVector(0, -1);
            else if(WALL_COLLISION == 3)
                direction = new NVector(-1, 0);
        }
    }
    x += Math.round(direction.getDX()*SPEED);
    y += Math.round(direction.getDY()*SPEED);
}

Answer 1

It appears that what you are currently trying to implement is known as Steering, but the way these things are normally done would be Pathfinding. Which you decide to use depends on your application. Steering is done by moving toward your target but changing direction if there is an obstacle, and it is not guaranteed to reach its destination. Pathfinding is usually done by constructing a graph of waypoints or areas that are "walkable" and then using an algorithm such as Dijkstra's to traverse it.