pacman_clone

Definitely not PACMAN
Daniel Pindur, 2020
Project for the course Introduction to Programming

---

1. Compilation

The project is built using CMake. It requires the following libraries:

• SDL2
• SDL2_IMAGE
• SDL2_TTF
• SDL2_MIXER
• Math library

---

2. Program Functionality

When the program starts, it:

1. Loads the high score from a file (or creates one if it doesn't exist).
2. Loads the map layout from the map_data.bit file.
3. Launches the Main Menu.

Main Menu

In the Main Menu, you can navigate using the U and S keys (or Up and Down arrow keys).

• Hover over Play and press ENTER to start the game.
• Navigate to the configuration options, where you can adjust settings using A and D keys (or Right and Left arrows):

Configuration Options:

• Difficulty:
  • Choose between Easy and Hard.
  • On Easy, ghosts move once every two frames, making the player twice as fast as the ghosts.
  • On Hard, ghosts move at the same speed as the player.
• Number of Ghosts:
  • Select the number of enemies (minimum: 1, maximum: 4).
• Music:
  • Toggle the background music on or off.

---

Gameplay

The player starts with:

• 3 lives

• 0 points

• Objective:
  Collect coins scattered throughout the map. Each coin adds 1 point to the player's score.

• Gameplay Mechanics:

  • At the beginning, the player and ghosts remain stationary until the player makes the first move.
  • Once the player moves, the ghosts activate and begin chasing the player using the A pathfinding algorithm*.
  • The player can use teleporters located on the left and right edges of the map to instantly appear on the opposite side.
  • The game ends when the player loses all 3 lives, i.e., gets caught by ghosts 3 times.

• Ghost Catching Mechanics:

  • When a ghost catches the player:
    • The player loses one life.
    • All positions on the map are reset.
  • If the player collects all the coins on the map:
    • All positions on the map are reset.
    • The player does not lose a life.

---

High Score

After the player loses all lives:

• The program checks if the new score is higher than the current high score.
• If it is, the high score is updated both in the file and on the screen.

From the Game Over screen, pressing ENTER allows the player to return to the Main Menu, adjust settings, and restart the game.

---

3. Memory Leaks

After program termination, the address sanitizer reports a memory leak of 17 bytes. This appears to originate from within the SDL library.

---