cbfshr / c2048

c2048

c2048 is a version of the 2048 game written in the C programming language using the ncurses library.

• How to Install
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Linux
• How to Play
• MacOS Screen Capture to GIF

How to Install

Windows

This must be done in a Unix-Like terminal environment that can compile and run C programs. Must also support ncurses.

NOTE:

1. Windows must be running a Unix-like command-line environment.
2. It must be able to compile and run C.
3. It must support the ncurses and math libraries.

One such environment is Cygwin. Download it here: http://cygwin.com/install.html

On install, be sure to include the ncurses and math packages.

1. In the 2048.h header file, modify the ncurses #include statement to look like this:

   #include <ncurses/ncurses.h>
   

2. Compile in Cygwin Terminal using the following command:

   gcc -o c2048 2048.c 2048_utils.c -lncurses
   

   Note: In some cases, you will need to link the Math library as well. Cygwin normally does this automatically; however, if it does not, compile using the following command:

    ```
    gcc -o 2048 2048.c 2048_utils.c -lm -lncurses
    ```
   

3. Run the program using the following command:

   ./c2048
   

MacOS

1. In the 2048.h header file, modify the ncurses #include statement to look like this:

   #include <curses.h>
   

2. Compile in Terminal using the following command:

   gcc -o c2048 2048.c 2048_utils.cc -lcurses
   

3. Run the program using the following command:

   ./c2048
   

Linux

This hasn't been tested on Linux, but it should work. The part that may be different is how the compiler uses the ncurses library. This may take some experimentation and research. If anyone finds out, please log an issue, and I'll update this documentation.

How to Play

Run the executable:

./c2048

Use your keyboard's arrow keys to move the tiles horizontally and vertically to play! Try to get to 2048 if you can.

MacOS Screen Capture to GIF

In order to capture the gameplay and convert it to a GIF, I did the following (most credit goes to this article: How to Create a GIF from a Video File Using VLC and GIMP (maketecheasier)):

1. Use the Mac's built-in screen capture program to record gameplay

   In macOS Mojave, the Shift-Command (⌘)-5 keyboard shortcut will open controls to record video and capture screenshots of the screen.

   For recording a specific part of the screen, follow these instructions.

2. Download ffmpeg Open up Terminal and install ffmpeg, a tool for recording, converting and streaming audio and video.

   brew install ffmpeg
   

3. Convert and trim video The command below is trimming the video to the last 20 seconds (-sseof -20) and converting it to a .mp4 video format.

   ffmpeg -sseof -20 -i c2048.mov c2048.mp4
   

4. Separate the video frames into images

   mkdir frames
   

   ffmpeg -i c2048.mp4 -r 10 frames/image-%3d.pn
   

   -r is the frame rate, so approximately 5 per second. This command output 202 images. I deleted duplicates since there is no animation between states in this game (ncurses refreshes after all tiles have been merged and moved). The resulting number of images came out to be 20.

5. Using GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), I added all 20 images using “File” --> “Open as Layers”.

6. Manipulate image as necessary

   1. Image --> Mode --> Indexed...
      • Set Maximum number of colors: 127
   2. Filters --> Animation --> Optimize (for GIF)
   3. Export As --> GIF (select file extension)
      • Check As Animation
      • Use 500ms for delay between frames

c2048's Issues

No Lose Detection

There is no lose detection implemented yet, so when the grid is full and no adjacent tiles can be combined, the game just sits there, and the user must Ctrl+C to end the game.

Combination does not work for two or more pairs in a row/column

Currently, the logic only supports one combination ([2][2] -> [-][4]) per row or column. This means that if a row has two pairs which can be combined ([2][2][4][4]), it will not behave as expected ([2][2][4][4] --> [-][-][4][8]).

Actual: [4][4][4][4] --> [-][-][4][8]

wonAnimation does not work if final tile is below ending tile

wonAnimation works when the winning tile (namely 2048, but changes for testing purposes) is located in the top two rows, but when it is in the bottom two rows, the box is cut off.