so_long

A small 2D tile-based game written in C with MiniLibX (X11). Navigate a maze, collect all collectibles, avoid enemies, and reach the exit. After collecting the last collectible, you must take an optimal path to the exit, deviating from the shortest path results in a loss.

Overview

• Rendering with MiniLibX (Linux/X11) using 50×50 px tiles
• Smooth viewport following the player on large maps
• Animated sprites for player, enemies, and exit
• Enemies patrol randomly and chase the player with A* pathfinding
• Map parsing and validation with detailed error messages
• Move counter overlay and pause mode

Requirements

• Linux with X11 available (Xorg)
• X11 runtime libraries (dev packages only required if you rebuild MLX)
• A standard C toolchain (cc, make)

This repository vendors MiniLibX and a custom libft, so you do not need network access to build.

Build

make

Artifacts:

• Executable: ./so_long
• Clean object files: make clean
• Clean objects + binary: make fclean
• Rebuild from scratch: make re

Run

./so_long maps/map5.ber

You can try any of the sample maps under maps/ (e.g., map1.ber, map5.ber, pacman.ber).

Controls (Linux)

• Arrow keys: move
• Space: pause/resume
• ESC: quit

Notes:

• The exit activates (is rendered) only after all collectibles are gathered.
• Enemies patrol between random points and will chase when close.
• Getting caught (adjacent to an enemy) leads to a loss after a short hit animation.

Game Rules and Win Condition

1. Collect all collectibles (C).
2. After you pick up the last collectible, the game computes the shortest path length to the exit using A*.
3. From that moment, every move you make is counted toward your “route to exit”.
4. Reach the exit (E) with exactly the same number of moves as the optimal path to win. Any deviation results in a loss.

Map Format (.ber)

• Text-based grid using these characters:
  • 1: wall (blocked)
  • 0: free space
  • C: collectible
  • P: player start (exactly one)
  • E: exit (exactly one)
  • N: enemy (zero or more)
• Rules validated at startup:
  • Map is rectangular
  • Map is closed (outer borders are all 1)
  • Exactly one P and one E, at least one C
  • All collectibles and the exit are reachable from the player

Example (maps/map1.ber):

111111
10P0C1
100001
100001
100001
100001
100001
100001
100001
100001
10E0N1
111111

Project Structure

• srcs/: game source files
  • parsing/: .ber map loading and validation (shape, walls, elements, reachability)
  • init_game/: initialization of MLX, window, sprites, and game state
  • render/: drawing routines
    • draw/: static tiles, animated sprites, HUD (moves)
    • viewport/: camera centering on the player and bounds
    • load_img/: loading XPM textures (player, enemy, exit, walls, floor, coins)
  • handle_game/: main loop, input hooks, movement, patrol, chase, end conditions
  • a_star_search/: A* with a binary-heap priority queue for pathfinding
  • utils/: error handling and cleanup
• include/: headers (so_long.h, assets_paths.h)
• assets/: XPM textures (player, enemy, exit, walls, ground, collectibles)
• maps/: sample and invalid maps
• mlx/: MiniLibX (Linux) sources and prebuilt static libraries
• libft/: custom utility library used by the project

Technical Notes

• Window size: 1600×1200, tile size: 50×50 (tweakable in include/so_long.h)
• Viewport follows the player while clamping to map bounds
• Animated sprites advance based on clock ticks (no frame cap dependency)
• Enemy behavior:
  • Patrol between randomly generated valid points within a range
  • Switch to chase mode when within a Manhattan distance threshold
  • Movement is rate-limited by a configurable delay
• A* pathfinding:
  • Manhattan distance heuristic on a 4-neighbor grid
  • Custom min-heap priority queue

Errors and Exit Codes

• Invalid usage (wrong number of args) prints an error to stderr and exits with failure
• Map validation failures print a precise “Error\n...” message before exiting
• Runtime failures (e.g., MLX/image allocation) print an error and exit cleanly

Developing and Tweaking

• Change assets or paths in include/assets_paths.h
• Adjust window and tile sizes, keycodes, and AI constants in include/so_long.h
• Add your own maps under maps/, then run ./so_long maps/your_map.ber

Credits

• Graphics framework: MiniLibX (included under mlx/)
• Utility library: libft (included)