Were creating a simple game in C++, first lets spec it out. I want to to be a square puzzle box tile by 8 tiles. with one, two or three missing tiles (depending on level chosen 1 missing = hard, two=med, 3=easy). The tiles are numbered (Blank = 0, 64) and 1-63 for the hard level. 1-62 for the med and 1-61 for the easy level.
Got it. Letโs spec this puzzle game in C++ terms before we write code.
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## ๐ฎ Game Concept
– **Board Size**: 8 ร 8 grid (64 tiles total).
– **Tiles**: Numbered sequentially.
– Hard (1 missing): Tiles **1โ63** + **1 blank (0/64)**.
– Medium (2 missing): Tiles **1โ62** + **2 blanks**.
– Easy (3 missing): Tiles **1โ61** + **3 blanks**.
– **Blank Tiles**: Represent โholesโ where tiles can move.
—
## ๐งฉ Mechanics
– Tiles slide into adjacent blank spaces (classic sliding puzzle rules).
– Objective: Arrange tiles back into ascending order (1 โ N), with blanks at the end (bottom-right).
—
## ๐ Data Structures
– Represent the board as:
– **2D array**: `int board[8][8]`.
– Or **1D vector**: `std::vector` of size 64 for easier shuffling.
– Blanks are represented by `0`.
—
## ๐ Gameplay Flow
1. **Choose difficulty** (easy, medium, hard โ defines number of blanks).
2. **Initialize board**:
– Fill with numbers `1..(64 – blanks)`.
– Insert blanks (`0`s).
– Shuffle into a solvable configuration.
3. **Game loop**:
– Print board.
– Ask player for a move (tile number or arrow direction).
– Validate move (must be adjacent to a blank).
– Swap tile โ blank.
– Check win condition.
4. **Win condition**: Board is sorted ascending with blanks at the end.
—
## โ
Example Layouts
**Hard (1 blank):**
“`
1 2 3 … 7 8
9 10 11 … 15 16
…
57 58 59 … 63 0
“`
**Medium (2 blanks):**
“`
1 2 3 … 6 7
8 9 10 … 14 15
…
60 61 62 0 0
“`
**Easy (3 blanks):**
“`
1 2 3 … 5 6
7 8 9 … 13 14
…
59 60 61 0 0 0
“`
—
Do you want me to **jump straight into writing the C++ skeleton** (board setup, shuffle, print function, move function), or first map out the **pseudocode flow** step by step?