Connect Four

In this project, you will create a command-line Connect Four game. To do this, you will fill out two classes, cursor.js and connect-four.js. cursor.js contains logic for navigating around the board while connect-four.js contains the game logic.

To render the game, you have been given a Screen API that handles command-line rendering. You do not need to understand how the code in Screen works but you will need to make use of the commands provided. The API is documented below. Try out the commands to see how they work.

To process keypresses, you will need to load Command objects into the Screen API using Screen.addCommand. This function takes a key which triggers the command, a string description, and an action callback which is executed when key is pressed.

The game should alternate turns between O and X until one player wins or the game ends in a tie.

Running the game

1. Type npm install to install all packages
2. Run node game.js to run the game
3. Run mocha to run tests

Tasks

1. Fill out movement logic in class/cursor.js until mocha test/cursor-spec.js passes all tests
2. Fill out game logic in class/connect-four.js until mocha test/connect-four-spec.js passes all tests
3. Create commands for cursor movement in connect-four.js that call cursor.left, and cursor.right
4. Use setBackgroundColor and resetBackgroundColor in cursor.js to highlight the cursor's current position on the grid
5. Create a command in connect-four.js that places a move in the given column
6. Fill out the game state in connect-four.js that checks for wins after each move

Screen API

Screen is a static class with the following methods. You do not need to modify this class at all. The functionality you will need is documented below.

Initialize

• Screen.initialize(numRows, numCols) will initialize a grid with the given dimensions.

Initialize

• Screen.setGridlines(gridLines) will insert lines between each grid element is gridLines is true, or hide them if gridLines is false.

Commands

• Screen.addCommand(key, description, action) will add a command that calls the action callback anytime key is typed on the keyboard. description will be displayed in the help message.
• Screen.printCommands() will show a list of all loaded commands and their descriptions.

Updating the grid

• Screen.setGrid(row, col, char) sets the character at row and col to the given char.
• Screen.setTextColor(row, col, color) sets the text color at row and col to the given color.
• Screen.setBackgroundColor(row, col, color) sets the background color at row and col to the given color.

Valid colors are:

• black
• red
• green
• yellow
• blue
• cyan
• white
• magenta

Quitting

• Screen.setQuitMessage(quitMessage) sets a message to be printed when the user quits.
• Screen.quit(showMessage=true) quits the game and prints the message if showMessage is true.

Rendering

• Screen.render() will update the display. This must be called anytime the grid or messages change.

Displaying a message

• Screen.setMessage(msg) takes in a string to be printed below the grid each time it is rendered.