Structural Soft-lock Detection in Game Levels Using Topological Binary Layer Analysis Method

Structural soft-locks may occur in generated game levels due to irreversible spatial transitions and improper placement of prerequisite elements. Conventional playability validation approaches rely on player traversal simulation and state-space search, often resulting in high computational cost and unpredictable latency under complex constraint structures. This paper proposes a Topological Binary Layer Analysis method to address this problem. The proposed method decomposes game levels into functional binary layers, abstracts spatial structures into a directed region graph based on irreversible transitions, and detects structural soft-locks by analyzing topological relationships among prerequisite elements. The proposed method directly identifies structural causal contradictions without player traversal simulation and serves as a lightweight structural validation method applicable prior to search-based validation.