Introduction
In this assignment, you are going to develop the Ludo Game, a board game that runs in the
command line environment. Ludo game is a board game for two to four players. The players
race their four chesses from start (“Base”) to finish (“Home”) according to the rolls of a
single die. The player who first moves all chesses to “Home” is the winner.
Write a Win32 Console Application program called LudoGame.cpp. The requirements are
listed below.
System Requirements
R0 When the program starts, the console should display a welcome message, and then
the Game Menu of the program. User can enter the options of the corresponding
actions (see R1 to R6 below).
Welcome Message designed by your group
*** Game Menu ***
[1] Start Game
[2] Settings
[3] Game Demo
[4] Instructions
[5] Credits
[6] Exit
Option (1 - 6):
R1 [1] Start Game
When the user inputs 1 in the Game Menu, the game starts with the current game
settings (see R2). Each player has FOUR chesses. Names of the chesses for each
player are listed in the table below.
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p
Initially, all chesses are at their starting location “Base”. By rolling a die (i.e.,
generating a random number from 1 to 6) and according to the rules of the game (see
R1.3), the player can race the chesses to the finishing location “Home”.
R1.1 Game board
The players play on a square game board, with ‘.’ showing the board positions and ‘X’
showing the “Home” location. When the game begins, the game board together with
each player’s chess information should be displayed. In the example below, there are
two players. Player 1 is the human player whereas Player 2 is the computer player.
. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. X .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
Player 1: Human
Base: a b c d
Home:
Player 2: COMP
Base: e f g h
Home:
R1.2 Moving paths
Chess Information for each player
When a chess leaves its “Base”, it enters the game board and stops at the first position,
which is different for each player:
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
Top-left corner Top-right corner Bottom-right corner Bottom-left corner
For each player, the moving paths for the chess to complete are shown below. Note
that after a chess leaves its “Base”, it needs to move 45 steps to reach ‘X’, i.e.,
“Home”.
Player 1 Player 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. X . . X .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Player 3 Player 4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. X . . X .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
R1.3 Game rules
• To have a chess leaving “Base” and entering the game board, a player must roll
‘6’. If the player has no chess on the game board and fails to roll ‘6’, the turn
passes to the next player.
• If a player has one or more chess to move, he chooses a movable chess from the
given list and moves the chess along the path by the number of positions
according to the rolling result.
• If a player rolls a ‘6’, he gets a bonus turn. If the bonus turn rolls a ‘6’ again, he
gets one more bonus turn. If he rolls a ‘6’ once again, there is no more bonus turn;
after his move the turn passes to the next player.
• A player cannot move a chess into a location that is occupied by other chesses of
that player.
• If a chess ends on a position occupied by an opponent’s chess, the opponent chess
is sent back to the opponent’s “Base”. Any chess that has reached “Home” should
be “safe” from being sent back.
• A chess can reaches “Home” only if it exactly steps on ‘X’. If the rolling value
exceeds the number of steps required, the chess should move backward for the
remaining steps.
R1.4 Human and Computer Player
There can be 2 to 4 players to play the game. Players can be human players or
computer players. A human player will select which chess to move among the
movable chesses, whereas a computer player will choose one of the movable chesses
randomly. Choice made by the computer should be displayed clearly on the console
screen.
When the program begins, the game is played by two players, one human and one
computer player, as the default setting.
R1.5 Game play – Players take turns
Each player takes turn (starting from Player 1 to Player 4) to roll a die to get a number
from 1 to 6. Based on the game rules (see R1.3), the system shows a list of movable
chesses according to the rolling result. The player then can choose a movable chess to
move on the game board according to the moving path of the player (see R1.2).
R1.6 Game play – Command “q”
Player can input ‘q’ to quit the game at any time during the game when he is asked to
choose a movable chess. If this happens, the system should prompts for player’s
confirmation. If the player inputs ‘y’ or ‘Y’, the game ends and the system returns to
the Game Menu. If the player inputs ‘n’ or ‘N’, the game continues at its current
status. Other input is not acceptable and the system should ask the player to confirm
again.
R1.7 Game Play – Game ends
The game finishes when there is a winner, who moved all four chesses to “Home”, i.e.,
‘X’ on the game board. If the game finishes, the system should display who is the
winner, and the program returns back to the Game Menu.
R2 [2] Settings
When the user inputs 2 in the Game Menu, the console displays the Settings Menu.
User can enter the options of the corresponding actions (see R2.1 to R2.3 below).
*** Settings Menu ***
[1] Number of players
[2] Number of human players
[3] Return to Game Menu
Option (1 - 3):
R2.1 [1] Number of players
When the user inputs 1 in the Settings Menu, the console displays the current game
setting of how many players play the game, and prompts for the user input of the new
setting. Note that acceptable number of players is from 2 to 4 only, and should not be
less than the current number of human players.
After the setting is updated, the new setting should be displayed and the system
returns back to the Settings Menu.
R2.2 [2] Number of human players
When the user inputs 2 in the Settings Menu, the console displays the current game
setting of how many human players play the game, and prompts for the user input of
the new setting. Note that acceptable number of human players is 0 to the number of
players of the game.
After the setting is updated, the new setting should be displayed and the system
returns back to the Settings Menu.
R2.3 [3] Return to Game Menu
When the user inputs 3 in the Settings Menu, the system returns back to the Game
Menu.
R3 [3] Game Demo
When the user inputs 3 in the Game Menu, the console displays the Demo Menu.
User can enter the options of the corresponding actions (see R3.1 to R3.4 below).
**** Demo Menu *****
[1] Three consecutive ‘6’
[2] Chess touches home and reverses, reaches home and wins
[3] Chess does not self-overlap, and sends back opponent chess
[4] Return to Game Menu
Option (1 - 4):
Under the Game Demo options, a game is played by two computer players. By
presetting the positions of chesses for the players and the rolling results (both to be
designed by yourself), you are required to show the required scenarios (see R3.1 to
R3.3 below) within 5 turns of plays by the players, after an option 1 to 3 is entered.
R3.1 [1] Three consecutive ‘6’
To design and show a scenario that a player gets three consecutive ‘6’ during a game.
R3.2 [2] Chess touches home and reverses, reaches home and wins
To design and show a scenario that a player moves the last chess that touches “Home”
and goes backward, because the rolling value exceeds the number of steps required to
step on “Home”. Finally, this player can move the chess home and win the game.
R3.3 [3] Chess does not self-overlap, and sends back opponent chess
To design and show a scenario that a player cannot move a chess into a location that
is occupied by other chesses of that player. Afterwards, the player’s chess ends on a
position occupied by an opponent’s chess, causing the opponent chess to be sent back
to the opponent’s “Base”.
R3.4 [4] Return to Game Menu
When the user inputs 4 in the Demo Menu, the system returns back to the Game
Menu. The previously used game setting (i.e., number of players and number of
human players) will be restored.
R4 [4] Instructions
The system displays the instructions for playing the Ludo game. After displaying the
instruction, the system returns back to the Game Menu.
R5 [5] Credits
The system displays the personal particulars (e.g. student name, student ID, class,
tutorial group, etc.) of the group members. After displaying the information, the
system returns back to the Game Menu.
R6 [6] Exit
When the user inputs this option, the system prompts for user’s confirmation. If the
user inputs ‘y’ or ‘Y’, the program terminates. If the user inputs ‘n’ or ‘N’, the system
returns to the Game Menu. Other input is not acceptable and the system should ask
the user to confirm again.
Other General Requirements
R7 Meaningful guidelines should be printed to assist with user’s input. Whenever an
option is selected, meaningful messages should be displayed.
R8 Suitable checking on user’s input is expected. Appropriate error messages should be
printed whenever unexpected situation happens, e.g., invalid input, input out-of-range,
etc.
R9 The use of functions (in addition to main function) and classes are expected in your
program. Appropriate comments should be added in your source code file.
R10 Creativity and Critical Thinking: other features that you find useful (such as the
“intelligence of computer player”) or can enhance the user experience can also be
implemented.
Grading criteria
Aspects Percentage
Program correctness
(Follow ALL instructions, marks deduction on errors found)
70%
Program design
(Appropriate use of functions, use of class, modularity, etc.)
10%
Program standard
(Use of variable names, indentation, line spacing, clarity, comments, etc.)
5%
Algorithm design
(Use of reasonable algorithms and data structures)
5%
User-friendliness
(Clear guidelines to users, messages to users, etc.)
5%
Creativity and critical thinking
(Additional useful features)
5%
Total (Group Mark) 100% (max)
Note: the length of your program does not affect the grading of the assignment. However,
appropriate use of loops and functions are expected to avoid too many repeated codes in your
program, which contributes to the program design score of this assignment.
Individual mark is determined by both group mark (80%) and individual contribution (20%),
where individual contribution is directly proportion to the average marks given by group
members in the peer-to-peer evaluation form.
Marks deduction
Marks will be deducted if the program fails to be compiled. The deduction is from 5 to 20
marks, depending on how serious the syntax error is. Note that if the program contains
unacceptably too many serious syntax errors, your program will score 0 marks.
Syntax errors also lead to failure in the program correctness if the function cannot be tested.
So please make sure that your program can be compiled successfully before your submission.
Tips
To refresh the console screen, you may use the following windows platform command
appropriately in your program by adding the header file :
system(“cls”); // Clear everything on the screen
system(“pause”); // Wait until user pressing any key to continue
To handle unexpected input error (e.g. input a character to an integer variable), you may use
the following code appropriately in your program:
cin.ignore(); // Discard the content in the input sequence
cin.clear(); // Reset the input error status to no error