{"id":3940,"date":"2020-01-18T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T08:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/?p=3940"},"modified":"2020-01-25T08:17:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T16:17:16","slug":"the-essence-of-the-text-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/?p=3940","title":{"rendered":"The Essence of the Text Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was perusing Rosetta Code<\/a> the other day, looking for more programming ideas to explore. One of the tasks provided, with examples in a variety of programming languages, was to code the old computer game Hunt the Wumpus<\/em>.
\n
\nSurprisingly, a version of the game wasn’t available in C on Rosette Code (probably because other programmers hadn’t gotten around to the task). So, I reviewed the rules and determined to code my own version of the game. How hard could it be?<\/p>\n

Well, it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t a monumental task either. I’ve coded text games before. Most of them follow a simple format:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Initialize stuff<\/li>\n
  2. Loop to process input<\/li>\n
  3. Exit when certain conditions are met<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As an example, consider the rudimentary “Guess the Number” game, which most beginning programmers code as an initial assignment:<\/p>\n

    \r\n#include <stdio.h>\r\n#include <stdlib.h>\r\n#include <time.h>\r\n\r\nint main()\r\n{\r\n    int guess,number,tries;\r\n\r\n    \/* intialize stuff *\/<\/span>\r\n    srand( (unsigned)time(NULL) );     \/* seed the randomizer *\/<\/span>\r\n    tries = 6;\r\n    number = rand() % 100 + 1;        \/* range is 1 to 100 *\/<\/span>\r\n\r\n    \/* loop to process input *\/<\/span>\r\n    while( tries )\r\n    {\r\n        printf(\"You have %d tries left\\n\",tries);\r\n        printf(\"Guess the number, 1 to 100: \");\r\n        scanf(\"%d\",&guess);\r\n        \/* check for winning condition *\/<\/span>\r\n        if( guess==number )\r\n        {\r\n            printf(\"%d was the number! You won!\\n\",number);\r\n            break;\r\n        }\r\n        \/* update the user *\/<\/span>\r\n        if( guess < number )\r\n            printf(\"%d is too low\\n\",guess);\r\n        else\r\n            printf(\"%d is too high\\n\",guess);\r\n        \/* update the exit condition *\/<\/span>\r\n        tries--;\r\n    }\r\n    \/* if the user lost, inform them *\/<\/span>\r\n    if( tries==0 )\r\n    {\r\n        printf(\"Too bad! You lost\\n\");\r\n        printf(\"The number was %d\\n\",number);\r\n    }\r\n\r\n    return(0);\r\n}<\/pre>\n
    The program starts by initializing variables and the randomizer at Line 9. Variable tries<\/code> is set equal to 6 because I read somewhere that it’s possible to guess a value between 1 and 100 in six or fewer tries (though I’m probably incorrect).<\/p>\n
    The while<\/em> loop at Line 15 processes input, comparing the user’s choice guess<\/code> (gathered at Line 19) with the random value stored in number<\/code>.<\/p>\n
    When the user guesses correctly (Line 21), a success message is output and the loop breaks. Otherwise, a message is output indicating whether input was high or low, variable tries<\/code> is decremented, and the loop continues. When tries is equal to zero, the while<\/em> loop halts.<\/p>\n
    After the loop is completed, a final if<\/em> test compares variable tries<\/code> with zero. When true, a consolation message is output and the value of number<\/code> is revealed.<\/p>\n
    Here’s a sample run:<\/p>\n
    You have 6 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 50
    \n50 is too high. Try again.
    \nYou have 5 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 25
    \n25 is too low. Try again.
    \nYou have 4 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 37
    \n37 is too high. Try again.
    \nYou have 3 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 31
    \n31 is too low. Try again.
    \nYou have 2 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 34
    \n34 is too low. Try again.
    \nYou have 1 tries left
    \nGuess the number, 1 to 100: 36
    \n36 was the number! You won!<\/code><\/p>\n
    The game Hunt the Wumpus<\/em> is coded similarly to this random number guessing game, though Wumpus<\/em> has more complexities. I cover the details in next week’s Lesson<\/a>. Still, the code from this Lesson is representative of how most computer text games work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Most of the early computer games were text-based number-guessing challenges. This simplicity forms the basics of today, interactive, graphical, realtime games. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3940"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3971,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions\/3971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c-for-dummies.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}