Though it's been somewhat abandoned, what did you mean by shortcuts? I only see doors in the original image.
And now our grid only has all the rooms be equal size. Hm. Is it actually easier to work and then rework the prior setup, or do you just go forward and the "rooms can be larger" just got axed for now?
Shortcuts are a way to move between rooms that are farther apart, like a trapdoor and a tunnel or something. It can be added later if I choose to, though it might cause a mess with the pathfinding.
Making rooms of various sizes requires quite a bit of code, and what I did right now barely requires any. What I have now is a 2d array that stores the bitmask, though it could just as easily be just 0 no room, 1 room. It is a nice feature to have, and may really upgrade the look of the world, but it is not necessary for gameplay, so it's pushed down the the bottom of the feature list.
Considering how often pathfinding woes are brought up as an issue, even in AAA games, I can only imagine.