🚀 Space Invaders - Console Edition (C++)

🎮 Overview

Space Invaders is a classic 2D arcade shooter game implemented in C++ using Windows console graphics. The game features a player-controlled spaceship that must shoot down waves of descending aliens before they reach the bottom of the screen.

📁 Project Structure

├── spaceinvaders.cpp  # Main game logic and engine
├── help.h             # Graphics & input helper functions (Windows API-based)

🧱 Features

• Full console-based graphics using Windows GDI
• Real-time keyboard input (no delays)
• Dynamic alien movement and shooting
• Player shooting with collision detection
• Score and lives tracking
• Game states: Menu, Playing, Game Over, Win

🕹️ Controls

| Key | Action |

| ← / → | Move the player left/right |

| SPACE | Shoot bullets |

| ENTER | Start / Restart game |

| ESCAPE | Exit or go to menu |

💡 How It Works

• The game starts in the menu state.
• Pressing Enter starts the game, and the player can move and shoot aliens.
• Each alien destroyed adds to your score.
• If all aliens are destroyed: You Win!
• If the player is hit 3 times or aliens reach the bottom: Game Over.

🖥️ Requirements

• Windows OS
• C++ compiler (MSVC recommended)
• Windows API and Console subsystem support

🛠️ How to Compile

If using g++ (with Windows setup):

g++ spaceinvaders.cpp -o spaceinvaders -lgdi32

Or using Visual Studio:

• Create a new Win32 Console Application project.
• Add spaceinvaders.cpp and help.h to the project.
• Build and run.

---

📌 Notes

• The game uses Windows-specific API functions such as GetAsyncKeyState, SetConsoleCursorPosition, and GDI for simple drawing.
• This will not work on Linux/Mac terminals without porting.

---

📄 License

This is a personal or academic project and is free to use and modify.

---

👨‍💻 Author

Developed with modern C++ principles to demonstrate data structure design, class organization, and logical gameplay programming.

---

Collaboration Guidelines

We welcome contributions from the open-source community. If you'd like to collaborate on this project, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix.
3. Implement your changes and commit them with descriptive messages.
4. Push your branch to your fork and submit a pull request.

---

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or suggestions!