Completed Tic Tac Toe - Critical Critiques and Advice

Maurice Harris · 2012-11-20T00:39:01

Hello, my name is Maurice Harris and recently while learning my first language(C#) I have completed my first game, Tic Tac Toe. I am here before you all asking for critique and advice on my design of the game Tic Tac Toe. Although I am relieved to have finally completed my first game I feel as though it could use serious improvement design-wise and would like helpful advice on how to improve not only my game but also my programming skills so I can become a much better programmer and avoid the headaches I faced making what I thought would be a simple game to create. So without further ado I present my version of the classic Tic Tac Toe. [source lang="csharp"]/* * Tic Tac Toe - by Maurice Harris * Last Modified: 11/15/12 */ using System; namespace TicTacToeGame { class TicTacToe { static bool gameOver = false; // Draws a tic tac toe board static void DrawBoard(char[] board) { Console.WriteLine("\n\n " + board[6] + " | " + board[7] + " | " + board[8]); Console.WriteLine(" ---+---+---"); Console.WriteLine(" " + board[3] + " | " + board[4] + " | " + board[5]); Console.WriteLine(" ---+---+---"); Console.WriteLine(" " + board[0] + " | " + board[1] + " | " + board[2] + "\n\n"); } // Clears a tic tac toe board static void ClearBoard(char[] board) { // Loop through char array elements and set them equal to ' ' for (int i = 0; i < board.Length; i++) { board = ' '; } } // Draws a tic tac toe board with numbers in the spaces to correspond with the numpad static void DrawExampleBoard() { Console.WriteLine("\n\n 7 | 8 | 9 "); Console.WriteLine(" ---+---+---"); Console.WriteLine(" 4 | 5 | 6 "); Console.WriteLine(" ---+---+---"); Console.WriteLine(" 1 | 2 | 3\n\n"); } // Checks the board to see if the space is taken up by an O or X static bool SpaceFree(char[] board, int move) { return board[move] == ' '; } // Marks spot on the tic tac toe board with a marker if the space is free static bool MakeMove(char[] board, char marker, int move) { if (SpaceFree(board, move)) { board[move] = marker; return true; } else { Console.WriteLine("\nThat spot is taken."); return false; } } // Take input from either the numpad or numerical keys 1-9 and mark the board static void TakeInput(char[] board, char marker) { // Keep track of whether or not the user has pressed a valid key for marking the board bool validKeyPressed = false; // Keep track of the key pressed by the user ConsoleKeyInfo keyPressed; // Do-While loop to catch valid input from the user do { keyPressed = Console.ReadKey(true); // If the key pressed is valid and the spot is unmarked, mark it, // Otherwise break the switch statement and take new key input switch (keyPressed.Key) { case ConsoleKey.NumPad1: case ConsoleKey.D1: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 0)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad2: case ConsoleKey.D2: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 1)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad3: case ConsoleKey.D3: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 2)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad4: case ConsoleKey.D4: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 3)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad5: case ConsoleKey.D5: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 4)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad6: case ConsoleKey.D6: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 5)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad7: case ConsoleKey.D7: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 6)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad8: case ConsoleKey.D8: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 7)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; case ConsoleKey.NumPad9: case ConsoleKey.D9: if (MakeMove(board, marker, 8)) { validKeyPressed = true; break; } break; default: Console.WriteLine("\nPlease use your numpad or the keys 1-9 to choose a spot to mark."); break; } } while (!validKeyPressed); } // Check to see if the board has no unmarked spots left static bool BoardFull(char[] board) { for (int i = 0; i < board.Length; i++) { if (board == ' ') { return false; } } return true; } // Check to see if someone has won or if there is a tie // Return a string to annouce the game's final state static string CheckWinner(char[] board, char marker) { // Horizontal Win if ((board[0] == marker) && (board[1] == marker) && (board[2] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } else if ((board[3] == marker) && (board[4] == marker) && (board[5] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } else if ((board[6] == marker) && (board[7] == marker) && (board[8] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } // Vertical Win else if ((board[0] == marker) && (board[3] == marker) && (board[6] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } else if ((board[1] == marker) && (board[4] == marker) && (board[7] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } else if ((board[2] == marker) && (board[5] == marker) && (board[8] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } // Diagonal Win else if ((board[0] == marker) && (board[4] == marker) && (board[8] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } else if ((board[2] == marker) && (board[4] == marker) && (board[6] == marker)) { gameOver = true; return marker + " wins!\n"; } // Tie Game else if (BoardFull(board)) { gameOver = true; return "No one wins, it's a tie!\n"; } return null; } // Introduce the game to users and explain how to play static void Intro() { Console.WriteLine("\n\n Welcome to Tic Tac Toe!\n\n"); Console.WriteLine(" Currently you can only play against another human player."); Console.WriteLine(" To pick a spot on the Tic Tac Toe board use the keypad or the numbers 1-9."); Console.WriteLine(" You must have num-lock on to be able to use the keypad for input."); Console.WriteLine(" The keypad positions correspond to the Tic Tac Toe board."); DrawExampleBoard(); Console.WriteLine(" Press any key to start the game!"); Console.ReadKey(true); Console.Clear(); } // The Tic Tac Toe Game's heart static void TicTacToeGame(char[] board) { int playerTurn = 1; string winner = ""; while (!gameOver) { // Player 1/O's if (playerTurn == 1) { Console.WriteLine("It is O's turn to move!"); TakeInput(board, 'O'); DrawBoard(board); winner = CheckWinner(board, 'O'); playerTurn = 2; } // Player 2/X's turn else { Console.WriteLine("It is X's turn to move!"); TakeInput(board, 'X'); DrawBoard(board); winner = CheckWinner(board, 'X'); playerTurn = 1; } } Console.WriteLine(winner); } static void Main() { // The Tic Tac Toe board char[] board = {' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' ',' '}; // Used to keep track of whether a new game has started bool newGame = true; // Do-While loop that runs through the intro and a full game of human vs. human tic tac toe // The loop continues until the user responds with a n or no to another game of tic tac toe do { Intro(); DrawBoard(board); TicTacToeGame(board); Console.WriteLine("Would you like to play again? [Y]es/[N]o?\n"); string response = Console.ReadLine(); switch (response.ToLower()) { case "yes": case "y": gameOver = false; Console.Clear(); ClearBoard(board); break; case "no": case "n": newGame = false; Console.Clear(); ClearBoard(board); break; default: break; } } while (newGame == true); } } } [/source]

For Beginners

Started by Maurice Harris November 15, 2012 11:32 PM

10 comments, last by Khatharr 11 years, 5 months ago

Maurice Harris

126

Author

November 19, 2012 10:55 AM

I figured out how to generalize my win checking like you said Trienco. Lately I've been trying to make it work so if for example I had a 9x6 board it would check for n in a row every time someone made a move, however I find that I end up repeating myself, my code becomes bloated, and I haven't figured out how to check for diagonal wins where x != y.

I've changed the board from a 1D char array to a 2D int array so I could better visualize logic:
[source lang="csharp"]using System;

namespace TicTacToeTests
{
class Program
{
const int BOARD_WIDTH = 9;
const int BOARD_HEIGHT = 6;
static int turnCount = 0; // Is going to be used to determine when the game is at a tie
static int[,] board = new int[BOARD_WIDTH, BOARD_HEIGHT];

static void Move(int x, int y, int player)
{
// Number of spots in a row to win
int n = 4;
// Check to see if the spot is empty
if(board[x,y] == 0)
{
board[x,y] = player;
}
turnCount++;

int i = 0;
int xMatch = 0;

// Check Column
while (i < (BOARD_WIDTH))
{
if (board[i, y] != player)
{
xMatch = 0;
}

else
{
xMatch++;
if (xMatch >= n)
{
Console.WriteLine("\nPlayer " + player + " wins!");
break;
}
}

i++;
}

int j = 0;
int yMatch = 0;

// Check Row
while (j < (BOARD_HEIGHT))
{
if (board[x, j] != player)
{
yMatch = 0;
}

else
{
yMatch++;
if (yMatch >= n)
{
Console.WriteLine("\nPlayer " + player + " wins!");
break;
}
}

j++;
}
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
board[2, 4] = 1;
board[2, 3] = 1;
Move(2, 2, 1);
Move(2, 5, 1);
}
}
}
[/source]

Khatharr

8,814

November 20, 2012 12:39 AM

Small tip:

keyPressed = Console.ReadKey(true); switch (keyPressed.Key) { case ConsoleKey.NumPad1: case ConsoleKey.D1: // etc... }

Can be shortened if you test ConsoleKeyInfo.KeyChar instead:

keyPressed = Console.ReadKey(true); switch (keyPressed.KeyChar) { case '1': // etc... }

Nice. That's what I was hoping someone would mention. (I don't use C#, but I knew it was there somewhere.)

Once you have the char you can just convert it to an int and have the value mathematically. (If it's ASCII or Unicode then just sub 0x30 from it and cast it to int.) After that just check the range and you have your number with far less code.

@Trienco - I know it's not something that's derived from OOP, I just figured that OOP seems to be the next step for him and it will move him into that paradigm.

Also, I realized last night that I posted something wrong earlier:
[source lang="csharp"]
//this is not right
static bool CheckWinSet(char board[], int a, int b, int c) {
return (board[a] == board) && (board == board[c]);
}[/source]

But looking above it seems that you caught and corrected it.

Looking at your most recent post, it looks like you've almost already got a 'Board' or 'Game' class trying to climb out of that. Why not try to make it one?

The class could:

Accept and process a request to place a player's mark in a specific location
Check for win/tie
Draw the board
Eventually be configurable for different board sizes, more than 2 players?, etc

void hurrrrrrrr() {__asm sub [ebp+4],5;}

There are ten kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't.

Completed Tic Tac Toe - Critical Critiques and Advice

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Completed Tic Tac Toe - Critical Critiques and Advice

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