Assume a character is located on a n by n grid and has to reach a certain entry on that grid. Its current position is (x1,y1). Also on the same grid is an enemy with coordinates (x2,y2). Each step algorithm randomly generates new candidate locations for the hero (if there are k candidates then there is a kx2 matrix of new potential locations.

What I need is some distance objective function to compare the candidates. I'm currently using d1 - c * d2, where d1 is distance to the objective (measure in terms of number of pixels for each axis), d2 is distance to the enemy and c is some coefficient (this is very much like a set-up for Lagrangian). It's not working very well though. I'd be quite keen to learn how what constrained distance function are used for similar cases.

Any suggestions are very much appreciated.