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Connect+
Inspiration
Nowadays, we all have got bored staying at home almost all the time due to COVID-19. People are finding new ways to entertain themselves at home. Hence, we found the idea of recreating and reimagining a classic physical board game to be a great opportunity! We quickly realized that developing a digitalized, unique and more enjoyable version of Connect4 would reignite the popularity for the game, bringing back old players as well as new ones!
What it does
Connect+ is a more user-friendly, enjoyable and creative approach to the classic physical board game, Connect4.
The unique features about Connect+ is that the number of rows, number of columns and the winning length of consecutive discs can all be set by the users! There are no fixed dimensions in the game.
Additionally, the winning move is displayed! These features make the game more entertaining.
How we built it
We built the code from scratch in C language because we all have been learning C at University.
Firstly, we digitalized the basic features of Connect4. Then, we brainstormed ideas together and came up with new features to add onto the game, keeping in mind the 24 hour time limit. After building a repository on Git Hub, we split the work among ourselves and began to work on different features.
We used Visual Studio Code, Git Hub, Sublime Text Editor, and an online C compiler to build our project.
Website link to the Online C Compiler: link
Challenges we ran into
We ran into certain issues when building the basic features of Connect4, especially checking whether a player has won the game with a diagonally aligned set of discs.
We all were new to the concept of a repository on Git Hub and so we ran issues into creating and approving pull requests.
We realized that our program was not working properly with invalid input so we had to find ways to fix that problem.
Luckily, we did not face any major challenges and solved all our problems just before the deadline!
Accomplishments that we're proud of
This is not only our first ever Hackathon but also the first time that we all have worked together as a team!
Most of us in the team used Git Hub for the first time and we quickly realized why it is so popular among software developers. We all learned a lot from this project and we also built upon certain skills, such as communication and cooperation within a team.
Our biggest accomplishment would be the fact that we came together and created a standalone project, Connect+, that would put a smile on anyone's face if he/she played the game!
What we learned
To implement new features in the game, we had to research new C libraries and their functions.
We all are beginners in C and working on this project has definitely increased our knowledge by a considerable amount in this language.
We learned many C language concepts at University and for the first time in such a large scale, we were able to implement them effectively in this project.
We also learned how to use Git Hub and repositories effectively!
What's next for Connect+
Over time, Connect4 lost popularity mainly because it’s a physical board game. Bringing Connect+ to all the mobile app stores would reignite that popularity, bringing back previous players and attracting new ones!
In the app, we are thinking of implementing global online multiplayer, worldwide tournaments, custom online and offline games, the ability to play against an AI, and the option to have more than 2 players in a single game.
There is a lot of potential for Connect+! Working on an app to play this fun game is definitely our next step!
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