Group_8-engg1340comp2113

This is Group 8 of the course engg1340andcomp2113.

Contributors

Cao Nuanyu: 3035973579
Liu Yihan: 3036094875
Wu Haoyuan: 3035974121
Wu Lixin: 3036065501
Yang Liuqing: 3035974339

Description

"Pac-Man+" is a game created by imitating the classic game Pac-Man. In this game, players take on the role of the titular character, a yellow circle(🟡) that moves through a maze while eating small cookies(◽), large cookies(🟢), and fruits(🍒/🍑/🍉/🍇) to score points and progress to the next level. Along the way, they must avoid being caught by ghosts(👻) that continually chase after them, losing a life if caught. The game ends when all three lives are lost. Difficulty increases as levels progress, with faster and more numerous ghosts.

Game Rules

1. At the beginning of the game, the player controls the role to move through the maze and eat all the cookies and fruits. Eating fruits can earn additional points. As the game progresses, fruits become more valuable.
2. There are several ghosts in the maze that constantly chase after the player. If the player is caught by a ghost, he loses a life. When all lives are lost, the game ends.
3. There are several big cookies in the maze. If the player eats it, all the ghosts become vulnerable(🥶). The player can eat the vulnerable ghosts to obtain extra socres, and the ghost eaten will return to the starting point and wait to recover. The counter-attack mode lasts 30 turns for the Pacman.
4. There are several warp tunnels in the maze. The player can move from one warp tunnel to the other, quickly moving to different parts of the maze.

Key Features

1. Simple and easy-to-learn game rules that make it easy for everyone to get started.
2. Unique character design, each with its own personality.
3. Diverse map design, increasing the fun and challenge of the game.
4. Gradually increasing difficulty levels that require players to constantly improve their proficiency in this game.
5. Abundant carefully-designed toolsets giving players refreshed game experience every time.
6. The high score board records the top players, adding competeing challenge.

Requirement Implementation

1. Generation of random game sets or events

• The map of the maze at each level is random. Each level has 3 different maps. At the beginning of each game, the program will select a random map under that level where the player is currently on. Then the game starts.
  
• The bonus tools are randomly generated and appear in random coordinates on the maze.
  
• The movement of ghosts is partially random. They do not move in a fixed direction at each step, but are roughly close to the player's current position.
  

2. Data structures for storing game status

• Coordinates of the Pacman and ghosts
  The coordinates of the Pacman and ghosts are stored in the map's 2-D "vals" vector and updated by directly modifying the corresponding elements in the vector after every game loop.
  
• Parameters of the characters
  The parameters of the characters are stored in their classes, respectively.
  For example, the "Pacman" class stores variables including numbers of Pacman's lives and eaten ghosts.
  

3. Dynamic memory management

• The information of pacman and ghosts are stored and updated in dynamic memory.
  In class Game, pacman and each ghost are allocated with new memory when initializing them under class constructors, and memory spaces are deleted everytime game terminates.

  ghosts.emplace_back(new Ghost(ghost_start_x,ghost_start_y));

for (int i = 0; i < ghosts.size(); i++)
        delete ghosts[i];

• The game map is stored and updated with dynamic memory during the game loop.

  game_map = new Map(vals); 

4. File input/output

• File input and output are implemented in the game status storage.
• Game status is loaded by the constructor Game::Game() and saved by the saveToFile() function under class Game.
• All the information about the map coordinates and characters' status are stored in "temp.txt" under the data folder.
  When the player exits the game, data will be written to the file, and when restarting the game, previous data will be loaded from the file.

5. Program codes in multiple files

Program codes are split into different files according to their functions and sorted under different folders.

• The data folder contains three .txt files storing the records needed for the game to proceed.
  score_record.txt – Stores records of players' scores.
  temp.txt - Save the half-finished game progress for further reloading the progress when the game is back up and running.
  config.txt - Save the player's system settings and decide whether the game interface will be displayed in emoji or ASCII code.
  
• The map folder holds ten .txt files storing all the initial game maps.
  Maps are divided into three levels, each level contains three .txt files under it.
  In addition, there is a bonus map.
• The src folder contains C++ and header files storing the primary game code.
  It contains 5 parts in total:
  characters.cpp & characters.h – Supports characteristics of ghosts and players
  game.cpp & game.h – Supports game flow
  main.cpp – Integrate the code needed to run the entire game
  tools.cpp & tools.h – Supports some of the functions often used in games including MapShow, ScoreUpdate, GetFilePath, etc.
  ui.cpp & ui.h – Supports operations related with ui
  
• The ui folder stores all the designs of UI.
  Including the Start Menu window, How to Play window, High Scores window, In_Game window, and Pause window.

Libraries

• C++ libraries being used include:
  ctime, chrono, iostream, fstream, sstream, filesystem, cstdlib, vector, string, cmath, algorithm

• Additional library being used include:
  ncurses-6.4
  _{The library ncurses is used to write user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. It enables interactive console-based applications with text formatting and keyboard input features.
  Ncurses is mainly used to read keyboard input and output text to the terminal screen. For instance, the getch() function is used to read user input from the keyboard. It waits for the user to press a key and returns the corresponding ASCII code of the key pressed. It helps implement single-key actions, including moving the Pacman in the maze map and selecting an option from the game menu.
  Ncurses also optimizes screen changes to reduce the latency experienced when using remote shells. The refresh() function is used to update the physical screen with the content of the virtual screen in the welcomeLoop(). Any changes to the virtual screen will not be immediately visible on the physical screen until refresh() is called. After the user has provided input and the program has updated the virtual screen accordingly, refresh() is called to display the updated content on the physical screen.}

Instructions

Start the game with these commands:

make clean
make
./bin/pacman

Introduction Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv3SvZUOT3Q&feature=youtu.be

Hope you enjoy our game!