Thread: Problem! C Programming Begginer Soooo Confused :(

i am trying to create a basic text based game which will simply navigate between rooms when u press the corresponding letter. eg. n = north.
i have a basic code here which i have been given to work with and i keep getting errors where i am trying to define the rooms, in lines 21 - 32. i jus want two rooms for now that i can move back and forth between, the later version should have 13 rooms but once i know how to do the first two i assume the others will be easy to add in. if you have any ideas how to help it would be greatly appreciated. i am new at c and have a very limited knowledge, so i do not understand much which does not help. sorry. here is the code i have so far with annotations of what i am trying to do:

Code:

//Required System Files
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

//Global Definitions
#define North= 0
#define East= 1
#define South= 2
#define West= 3

//Global Structure Type Definition
typedef struct{ //Define new Structure Type
char Description[200]; //Use upto 200 characters for description string
unsigned int Exit[4]; //Use 4 possible different values for Exit array
}Location; //Call this structure type: Location

//Global Location Type Variable Definition
Location Room[13]; //Create 13 Location type Global structures called Room’s

//MY ROOM 1 DEFINITION
strcpy(Room[1].Description, "Entrance");
Room[1].Exit[North]=2; //Going north takes you to Room 2
Room[1].Exit[East]=0;  //Use zero to indicate no exit East
Room[1].Exit[South]=0;
Room[1].Exit[West]=0;

//MY ROOM 2 DEFINITION
strcpy(Room[2].Description, "Lower South Corridor");
Room[2].Exit[North]=4;
Room[2].Exit[East]=3; 
Room[2].Exit[South]=1;
Room[2].Exit[West]=0;.

//Main Function
void main(){
unsigned int RoomNumber = 1; //Setup starting room number as 1
unsigned int Direction;
SetupRooms(); //Setup Room structures
while(1){

system("cls"); //Clear Screen
DescribeRoom(RoomNumber); //Describe current Room
DescribeExits(RoomNumber); //Describe current Room Exits
Direction = GetDirection(RoomNumber); //Get direction to go in
if(Direction == 99) exit(0); //Exit prog if 99 is returned
if(Direction > 0) RoomNumber = Direction;//Set current Room number
}
}

i think i need more functions and stuff but i do not know how to do it, or what really to do. in short i am baffled. like i said before, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Congrats on using CODE tags. You need to clean up the indentation a little.

Code:

#define North= 0
#define East= 1
#define South= 2
#define West= 3

Get rid of the equal signs

thanks

when your in the room, it shopuld say something like "exits are available to your" and let you know where, this is what i have attempted

Code:

//DESCRIBE EXITS FUNCTION

void describeExits() {

printf("\nExits available are to the");

		if Room[roomNumber].Exit[NORTH] > 0
			printf("\nNorth");
		
		if Room[roomNumber].Exit[EAST] > 0
			printf("\nEast");
			
		if Room[roomNumber].Exit[SOUTH] > 0
			printf("\nSouth");
			
		if Room[roomNumber].Exit[WEST] > 0
			printf("\nWest");
			
}

there are something like 16 errors am i on the right tracks with this code or is it completely wrong? thanks soo much for your help

You need parens around the if parameters

Code:

		if ( Room[roomNumber].Exit[SOUTH] > 0 )
			printf("\nSouth");

Originally Posted by sketch8

right tracks

Yes, I suppose with what I can see.

You also need to pass in the room number.

Code:

void describeExits(int roomNumber) {

thanks for your help

i am stuck again now on trying to get the getDirection function. this part i am striggling with as i have very little coding knowledge and am not too sure how to code it any help would again be extremely grateful or just a prod in the right direction here is what i am trying to do:

Code:

//GET DIRECTION FUNCTION

int getDirection(int room){

printf("\nType the letter of the direction you wish to go in \nOr type q to quit");
	
	//To HERE*
	
	user presses "n"
		computer looks at current room // scanf maybe???
		if exit[North]> 0
			goto corresponding room
			else if exit north = 0
				printf("\ncannot go in this diresction, please select a different direction")
		
		if completely wrong key pressed (so not n,e,s,w or q)
			printf("\ninvalid key, please only use n,e,s,w or q")
			//LOOP FROM HERE*
}

i understand a lot of this is not programming language, i am trying to show how i want it to work with what little programming knowledge i have. the example above is jus for the press of "n", im guessign once i have this "e", "s", "w" and "q" should all be fairly similar and possible for me to work out.

thanks so much for your help so far! if you cannot help anymore it is ok the help that you have gave has been invaluable and has been greatly appreciated

You need to make a real effort to learn the language... Moaning about not knowing it is NOT going to solve your problem. Get out the books, read the pages, do the exercises... you'll be glad you did.

For your immediate problem, look up scanf(), getchar() and switch() for some good hints on how to deal with it.

thanks for pointing me in the right direction. i have been trying to get my head around scanf(), getchar() and switch(). so for my problem of trying to navigate would this possibly work:

Code:

int getDirection(int room){

printf("\nType the letter of the direction you wish to go in \nOr type q to quit");

scanf("%d", &room)
	switch(roomNumber){
		case exit[North]<0:
			goto Room[roomNumber]
			break;
		case exit[North]=0:
			printf("\ncannot go in this diresction, please select a different direction")
			break;
		default:
			printf("\nInvalid key, please only use n,e,s,w or q")
			break;
	}
	getchar();
}

i know there are lots of errors i have been trying to solve them but im quite stuck. is this roughly what the code should look like? am i on the right tracks now or still completely lost. thanks for your time and any help again would be extremely grateful

Ok, first off you can't do math in a case statment... You should be getting a compiler error telling you that "case must be const" or something similar...

You're half way there.

You have a user input to decide which exit... now all you need to do is figure out what you need to do with each choice the user can make (i.e. switch on their choice not your room array)...

Also is there some reason you are changing a variable you pass into a function? It would make more sense to declare the user's input variable locally and, if needed, return a roomnumber to tell your main code where the user landed.

What you've called room in getDirection's parameter list, should really be roomNumber. ( Hopefully you understand why)

Then you are going to want to read in one char for direction (could use getchar or scanf) and (if you insist on using a switch/case) then test (switch) on the value of that char - not on the value of roomNumber as you've done.

So

Code:

switch(direction)

the cases will be

Code:

case 'n':

You really don't need a switch/case since

Code:

NewRoomNumber = Room[CurrentRoomNumber].Exit[direction]

Originally Posted by mike65535

You really don't need a switch/case since

Code:

NewRoomNumber = Room[CurrentRoomNumber].Exit[direction]

Doooh... now why didn't I see that?