Advanced connect four game

Hi..

this is my first "real" game in c++. It is connect four, only beefed up with features and options. At this stage, only a couple of the options work, and only a few modes work correctly (that's right, there are different modes of play). There are also some bugs in places that i am aware of, and will fix.

i have included the executable and the source in the zip.

The source consists of main.cpp, and engfuncs.h which has some of the options menu stuff in it and other functions that are used by main.cpp. I haven't commented much of the code as i didn't expect anyone else to read it, so you might not get how i used the functions etc at first. But, maybe you will..

Anyway, here it is. This is obviously not my final version.

I think i should explain the modes first...

Standard is obviously standard connect four.
4 player is the same thing, except 4 people will be playing!
2 on 2 is one team versus another, and you must connect your pieces to your team mate's pieces to win. this mode is not done yet.
Iron man mode does not end when you get a connect four. Instead, you get a point for each one. when the board fills up, the player with the highest amount of points wins.

Iron man x2 is the same as iron man, except there are 2 full sized boards to fill up. This mode is not done.

2 on 2 mode is not at all done yet, and all that exists of it is the team selection menu when you start. after that, the game completely bugs up and gets screwy because i haven't finished it yet.

at almost any time during the game when you are allowed to type something in, you can also type in a word to perform the action you want. while in a game, you can type back, reset, or restart to go back to the main menu.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

nice with the colors, but you need some computer ai. not everyone has a freind t play against. i can help you write some AI if you aim me.

Hi,I looked at your code and played your game.Not bad,but could you please explain the cls() function,i mean how it works to clear the screen.I remember seeing DWORD elsewhere but i don't know what it means and the COORD and such,what are those data types and were are they defined?Also,how'd you get the color?

the only thing I can say is.......

NIIIIIIIIICE!

Quote:

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Originally posted by Powerfull Army
Hi,I looked at your code and played your game.Not bad,but could you please explain the cls() function,i mean how it works to clear the screen.I remember seeing DWORD elsewhere but i don't know what it means and the COORD and such,what are those data types and were are they defined?Also,how'd you get the color?

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The CLS() and gotoxy() both use Win32 API commands to paint the screen with blank spaces (CLS), and set the current cursor position (gotoxy)

(and if you're a newbie, don't worry about understanding those functions yet... it takes a little time before you really get into Win32 API stuff)

so it wouldnt work with dos?Would your program work with DOS only,no windows?

What you call DOS, is most likely a DOS console... think of it as the DOS inside of Windows, now the thing about it is that Windows is in supreme control of the system so if you're running or making a DOS console program, it's kinda also a Windows program, because Windows is right there watching the console and managing it. The DOS console can do just about everything real DOS can do, except low-level things like talking to the BIOS etc...

So, since a DOS console is run by Windows, manipulations to the console are done through Windows... which is what he has done in his program

DOS programs run under Windows
DOS consoles are running with Windows and emulate DOS
Windows GUIs are what you're looking at right now

Thanks for the replies :D :)

Kliner, ai would be pretty cool, but i don't have the will to work on it because it would seem daunting to me. you, or anyone however can try and implement ai into my code and then post your new code, if you want.

As for the CLS and gotoxy functions, doob has done a good enough job explaining those. What i really did was just copy and paste those 2 functions from this site's faq, and paste them into my code...since i am not great at windows programming yet.

The scrollprint function i made myself, if you happened to notice it.

I noticed a bug in the code that would allow 4 players to play in iron man mode if you selected 4 player mode and then switched to iron man. I fixed it, and here is the latest version of the program and code.

doob,im asking if it will run in 16-bit DOS(true DOS).

it might, but i dont think so, because it is a 32bit exe file.
(i dont have a true dos box to test it on =\)