Console Game Library

A very basic cross-platform console game library dedicated for the beginners who want to write their own games

When to use

Every time you want to write a game like tetris or snake that requires moving the character(s) along the map without buffered input(no enter key is pressed) as well as a non-scrolling screen, e.g. print map at given coordinates.

API

InitScreen() - sets up console/terminal environment
RefreshScreen() - updates screen buffer
getch() - gets raw character without echoing and line buffering
Leave() - does some housekeeping (needs some extra work to restore windows console)

PrintMap(int pos_x, int pos_y, int map_width, int map_height, char *map)

Prints game's map to screen at given coordinates (x, y)

int pos_x,        // x coordinate where to print a map on the screen       
int pos_y,        // y coordinate where to print a map on the screen   
int map_width,    // the constant value of map width 
int map_height,   // the constant value of map height
char *map         // map array

use this "char screen[SCREEN_SIZE];" array to print something to screen, e.g. to print single character at given position use:

int row = 10; int col = 20; 
screen[row * MAP_WIDTH + col] = 'a';
RefreshScreen();

This would print character 'a' at (row, col)

You can also use sprintf() function, e.g. to print 'Hello' at (10, 20):

sprintf(screen + (20 * MAP_WIDTH + 10), "Hello")

This would print character 'Hello' at (10, 20)

See the video below for more information on impolementation and usage of this library.

Print character/string at given coordinates (x, y)

#include "game.h"

int main()
{
    int pos_x = 20, pos_y = 8;
    int dest_index = pos_y * SCREEN_WIDTH + pos_x;

    InitScreen();

    screen[dest_index] = 'a';
    sprintf(screen + dest_index + 2, "Hello, game.h!");
    RefreshScreen();

    getch();
    Leave();
    return 0;
}

Usage example

#include "game.h"

#define MAP_WIDTH 10
#define MAP_HEIGHT 10

char map[] = {

    "##########"
    "#        #"
    "#        #"
    "#        #"
    "#        #"
    "#    @   #"
    "#        #"
    "#        #"
    "#        #"
    "##########"

};

void GetPlayerPosition(int *pos_x, int *pos_y)
{
    for(int row = 0; row < MAP_HEIGHT; row++)
    {
        for(int col = 0; col < MAP_WIDTH; col++)
        {
            int cell = row * MAP_WIDTH + col;

            if(map[cell] == '@')
            {
                *pos_x = col;
                *pos_y = row;
            }
        }
    }
}

void MovePlayer(int pos_x, int pos_y, int offset)
{
    int player = pos_y * MAP_WIDTH + pos_x;

    if(map[player + offset] != '#')
    {
        map[player] = ' ';
        map[player + offset] = '@';
    }
}

int main()
{
    int pos_x, pos_y, key;

    int center_x = SCREEN_WIDTH / 2 - MAP_WIDTH / 2;
    int center_y = SCREEN_HEIGHT / 2 - MAP_HEIGHT / 2;

    InitScreen();
    PrintMap(center_x, center_y, MAP_WIDTH, MAP_HEIGHT, map);

    while(key != 27)
    {
        GetPlayerPosition(&pos_x, &pos_y);
        key = getch();

        switch(key)
        {
            case 'w':
                MovePlayer(pos_x, pos_y, - MAP_WIDTH);
                break;

            case 's':
                MovePlayer(pos_x, pos_y, MAP_WIDTH);
                break;

            case 'a':
                MovePlayer(pos_x, pos_y, - 1);
                break;

            case 'd':
                MovePlayer(pos_x, pos_y, 1);
                break;
        }

        PrintMap(center_x, center_y, MAP_WIDTH, MAP_HEIGHT, map); 
    }

    Leave();
    return 0;
    }
}