Thread: Advice on a college project

Hi, I have to make a random number game for a project.

It's a single player game consisting of up to 3 goes per round and 6 rounds.

1. Generate 5 random numbers from 1 to 6 (inclusive)
2. Enter a row to score in
3. Calculate: bonus of 35 awarded if total score>=63
4. Calculate the total score.

5.End game when all 6 rounds/rows completed.

Wondering if anyone could give some advice on how to get started. I tried using rand but I was just generating the same numbers each time. Any help would be appriciated.

Linear congruential generator - Wikipedia

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
    int i;
    int diceRoll;

    for(i=0; i<20; i ++){
        diceRoll = (rand()%6) +1;
        printf("%d \n", diceRoll);
    }
    return 0;
}

That what I was trying to do with the random dice roll. Thanks flp1969 I am reading that now.

Thanks for the reply. Im fairly new to coding not even sure what a random seed is?

Originally Posted by Macman21

Thanks for the reply. Im fairly new to coding not even sure what a random seed is?

The rand() function is often implemented using a "pseudo random number generator" called "linear congruence generator" (LCG). Most (if not all) "pseudo random number generators" depends on an initial value to "make believe" the next call will return a "random" number (it is NOT random, just appears to be!).

LCG uses a formula like:

next_x = ( prev_x * a + b ) % c

the "initial" prev_x is called a "random seed". If you don't give one, using srand() function, rand() will use, always, the same seed and will give you always the same sequence of "pseudo random numbers"... That's why you MUST call srand(), once, with kind of a random value, "seeding" the algorithm used by rand().

flp1969:

Yes, if you run my program 10 times within one second, yes, it will seed with the same value, but this is NOT how 99.999% of programs are run in real life!

Considering the OP is a college student, LEARNING C, my solution should be sufficient.

Hi I have made some progress on the code. Thanx for the help. Here is what I have so far. This is what we have to add to the code now if anyone could help out.

1. Allow the player to select which values to keep and which to regenerate each time.
2. Ensure that user selects a valid row each time (a row not previously used).
3. Only display a value in a row if it is used (i.e.: display nothing if the row is unused)

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

int dice[5], Row, score[5]={0,0,0,0,0,}, reroll=1, total,bonus=63;
int fRoll();
void fTotal();
void fScore();

int main() {
    int i, s;
    srand(time(NULL));
    do {
        for (s = 0; s < 6; s++) {
            for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
                dice[i] = fRoll();
                printf ("\t%d: %d\n",i+1, dice[i]);
            }
            if (reroll<3){
                do {
                    printf ("\n\tRow to use? 0 to Reroll ");
                    scanf ("%i",&Row);
                } while (Row<0 || Row>6);
                if (Row == 0 ) {
                    printf ("\n\t---Reroll---\n");
                    reroll ++;
                    s--;
                    dice[i] = fRoll();
                }else if (Row == 1){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 2){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 3){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 4){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 5){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 6){
                    fScore();
                } else if (Row > 6 || Row < 1){
                    printf ("Please enter a number between 1 and 6!\n");
                    s--;
                }
            }else if (reroll==3){
                do {
                    printf ("\n\tRow to use? Can't Reroll! ");
                    scanf ("%i",&Row);
                } while (Row<1 || Row>6);

                if (Row == 1){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 2){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 3){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 4){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 5){
                    fScore();
                }else if (Row == 6){
                    fScore();
                } else if (Row > 6 || Row < 1){
                    printf ("Please enter a number between 1 and 6!\n");
                    s--;
                }
            }
        }
    }while (s < 6);
    fTotal();
}

int fRoll() {
    int dice[5];
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        dice[i] = (rand()%6)+1;
        return dice[i];
    }
}

void fTotal(){
    total=0;
    for (int i = 1; i < 7; i++) {
        total = total + score[i];
    }
    if (total >= 63){
        total = total + 35;
    }
    printf ("\n\tTotal is %i", total);
}

void fScore(){
    score[Row] = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++){
        if (dice[i] == Row){
            score[Row] += Row;
        }
    }
    reroll =1;
    bonus = bonus - score[Row];
    printf ("\tScore = %i\n\n", score[Row]);
    printf ("\tYou now need %i to get the bonus\n\n",bonus);
}