Snake game

This is a snake game made in C using Windows API calls for terminal control

Background:

After deciding to make this game (a long overdue project), I had to tackle the problem of terminal control to achieve the classic look of this game in GUI-like console application.

The options on the table were ncurses library, which is now probably a standard way to implement a portable solution, conio library from the old days of MS-DOS compilers and Windows API. It seemed there are plenty of resources online how to create a console game with ncurses library but not many how to do that with Windows API. I was up for a challenge so I decided not to use ncurses, and instead use just Windows API calls with ANSI escape sequences (supported since Windows 10 version 1511).

Game features:

• snake's position on the screen is stored in three separate structures, the head, the body and the tail. The body only stores coordinates when a snake changes direction, so not every coordinate is stored
• the game uses alternate screen buffer to switch back and forth between game menu and main screen
• different types of food are available with modifiers which appear at random intervals
• the game features ASCII intro graphics

Limitations:

• the graphics will be messed up if the console window is resized during the game (this is an easy fix but I didn't consider it important for this release)
• the game menu is not yet fully implemented, although core functionality exists

Cloning or downloading the repository:

If you have git you can clone this repository by typing the following command at the terminal: git clone https://github.com/pmatkov/Snake-game. If not, you can download a zip file of the repository (code/ download ZIP).

Compiling and running:

• this game can be compiled in MS Visual Studio or in Mingw/ MSYS environment
• to compile in MS Visual Studio put all .c files in the source folder and .h files in the header folder and select build from the menu
• to compile in Mingw/ Msys environment type the following command at the terminal: make (build prerequisites: gcc and make)
• to start the game type snake at the terminal

Playing the game:

• use arrow keys to control snake's movement
• ESC opens a menu
• space bar pauses the game

Anyone is welcome to contribute to this project. Feel free to contact me via GitHub for suggestions and ideas.