Checkers-2-player-game-using-SDL2

A 2 player game of Checkers/Draughts made in C++ using SDL2

Compile and run using Microsft Visual Studio (MVS)

• Clone the repository
• Open the solution file
• Compile and run in x86 mode in either Debug or Release
• If you want to run from the executable file located in the generated "bin" folder then do the following:
  • copy assets folder into the same folder as the executable.
  • copy the "SDL2.dll" file into the same folder as the executable.

What is Checkers/Draughts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draughts

SDL2

This project uses SDL2 as a dependency which requires a dll file called "SDL2.dll". This is therefore required in the main directory to run from MVS. It is also required in the executable directories for the executable to run.

Source files

All the .cpp and .h files can be found in the src folder.

Code structure

OOP

Each square on the board is treated as an object. The main attributes for each square are:

• checker:
  • no checker
  • red checker
  • black checker
  • king red checker
  • king black checker
• highlight:
  • clickable (only the current players' checkers are clickable)
  • possible square to move to (including jumps over opponent's checkers)
  • colour
  • dimensions and position (using SDL_Rect data structure)
• background colour (to form the checkered pattern of the board)
• flag checker for possible removal (when checker is about to be jumped and only remove if the player choses to jump it)
• previous square (keep track which square caused the flagged)

Textures

The textures were made in Microsoft paint. They are loaded into a texture cache variable which stores pointers with "SDL_Texture*" type so that they can be reused by any square. This is done by simply pointing to the desired texture in the texture cache variable.

Game loop

The main game loop is split into different game states:

• outline current player state
• selecting state
• selected state
• moving state This allows the code to have a more flexiable structure so that only certain parts of the game loop are called if that is the current state.

Rendering

Each square, checker, and highlight has a render method that is called in the game loop only when something has changed. This is to avoid re-rendering of objects that have not changed when going from different game states.

Learning outcomes

• how to detect mouse events in a specific area of the rendering context
• game loops
• recursion (when checking for multiple possible checker jumps)
• better understanding of the SDL2 framework

Possible future improvements

• instead of displaying the winner/draw message in the console. Display it with text on the rendering context
• create a reset button
• add a timer
• add animations