Battleship game in 150 lines of C++ 🚢

⚓ Why Battleship?

Battleship is the perfect blend of strategy and nostalgia. You don’t need fancy graphics—just grids, logic, and a little suspense. It’s also a goldmine for learning programming:

• Grid management

• Input validation

• Game state tracking

• Turn-based logic

Perfect for sharpening your C++ skills without getting lost in rendering engines or physics simulations.

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🌟 Why C++?

“Why not Python/JavaScript?” Because C++ forces you to:

1. Think about memory: No garbage collection here!

2. Master arrays: The backbone of the 10x10 grid.

3. Practice OOP: Structs for players/ships keep things clean.

4. Embrace simplicity: No frameworks—just raw terminal I/O.

It’s like building a ship in a bottle: constrained, rewarding, and old-school cool.

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🛠️ What We Built

A two-player terminal game where you:

1. Place 5 ships (Carrier, Battleship, etc.) on a hidden grid.

2. Take turns firing torpedoes (typing coordinates like “A7”).

3. Track hits (X), misses (O), and sink all enemy ships to win.

Features:

• ASCII “graphics” (it’s terminal-friendly!)

• Input validation (no crashing on Z42)

• Hidden enemy ships (no peeking!)

• Game-over detection

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🔍 How It Works

1. The Boards

Each player has two 10x10 grids:

• shipBoard: Where their ships live (S = ship, X = hit).

• attackBoard: Tracks attacks on the enemy (X/O).

2. Ship Placement

Players place ships horizontally or vertically with commands like:

Place Aircraft Carrier (Length: 5)  
Enter start coordinate: C3  
Horizontal (H) or Vertical (V)? V

The code checks for collisions/out-of-bounds!

3. The Game Loop

WHILE no one’s ships are sunk:  
   Player 1’s turn:  
      - See attack board  
      - Enter coordinate (e.g., "F5")  
      - Hit/miss? Update boards  
   REPEAT for Player 2

💻 The Code Breakdown

I have tried to explain key snippets. You can access the complete code here and try it out on your own

1. Structs for Clarity — No classes, no inheritance—just simple data containers*.*

2. ASCII Grid Magic — Hides ships on the enemy’s board with a simple showShips flag.

3. Input Parsing — Converts B7 to row=6, col=1—no regex, no fuss.

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🧠 Key Lessons Learned

1. OOP Lite: Structs > classes for small projects.

2. Validation Matters: Assume users will type 🐬 instead of H.

3. Game Loops Rule: while(true) is your friend.

4. Terminal = Canvas: You don’t need OpenGL to have fun.

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🚀 How to Run

1. Compile:

$ g++ battleship.cpp -o battleship

2. Play:

$ ./battleship

(Tested on Linux/macOS. Windows? Use WSL or Cygwin.)

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🔗 Why You Should Build This

• Learn C++ Fundamentals: Arrays, structs, I/O.

• Practice Debugging: “Why isn’t my ship showing? Oh, showShips is false.”

• Flex Creativity: Add features like save/load, AI, or ANSI colors.

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🏁 Final Thoughts

Is this the prettiest Battleship game? Nope.
Is it a fun weekend project that teaches core programming? Absolutely.

Mod it! Break it! Improve it!
The full code is here—150 lines of pure C++ joy.

Now go forth and sink some virtual ships. 🎯