CMIS1301 Tic Tac Toe

In this assignment, you will learn the following:

• How to handle inputs and outputs in C#
• How to use if/else in C#
• How to use switch in C#
• How to use loops in C#
• How to implement arrays in C#
• How to implement methods in C#
• How to implement a simple game in C#

Gameplay Requirements

• You must write your programs in C#.
• You will develop a text-based Tic-tac-toe game.
  • Do not create a graphical user interface.
• There are two players: human and computer.
• At the beginning of the game, ask the human player to enter their name.
• The human player will play against the computer program.
• The player will use the X mark, and the computer program will use the O mark.
• To keep it simple, the human player always plays first.
• The game is played on a 3x3 grid. The 9 squares are identified by 2D coordinates shown below. For example, if the player wants to place a mark in the square in the middle, the player enters 1 and 1.

• The conventional rules of Tic-tac-toe apply.
• Gameplay
  • Ask the player to enter their name.
  • Ask the player to enter the row number for the next play.
  • Ask the player to enter the column number for the next play.
  • The computer program generates a play.
  • Display the current board in text
  • If one player wins, break the loop. Otherwise, go to b.
  • Declare the winner. Game over.

Programming requirements

The board must be stored in a 3x3 2D array.

You must implement two methods and use them in your program.

• static int checkWinner(char[,] board)
  This method takes a 3x3 2D array as input. This array stores the current board. The method checks if any player wins the game. If the human player wins, return 0. If the computer wins the game, return 1. Otherwise, return -1.

• static int[] checkWinningPlay(char[,] board)
  This method takes a 3x3 2D array as input. This array stores the current board.This method checks if either player has a winning play.
  • If the human player has a winning play, return an array (0, i, j) where i and j are the coordinates of the winning square. For example, if the winning square is (0, 2), return (0, 0, 2). Otherwise, return (-1, -1, -1).
  • If the computer has a winning play, return an array (1, i, j) where i and j are the coordinates of the winning square. For example, if the winning square is (1, 0), return (1, 1, 0). Otherwise, return (-1, -1, - 1).
  • This method is a little tricky, and I'll explain it in class.
• You may implement other methods. But checkWinner() and checkWinningPlay() are required.

Program logic. The following is for your reference. Your program does not need to follow this logic strictly. But you must implement and use the two methods checkWinner() and checkWinningPlay() in your code.

• Ask the human player to enter their name.
• Big loop
  • Display the board
  • Ask the player to enter the row number for the next play.
  • Ask the player to enter the column number for the next play.
  • Call checkWinner() to check if any player wins. If yes, record the winner and exit the loop. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
  • Call checkWinningMove() to check if any player has a winning play.
  • If computer has a winning play, occupy that square, record the winner, and exit the loop.
  • If human player has a winning play, occupy that square to prevent that play. Cointinue to the next step.
  • If there is no winning play, randomly choose an available square and occupy it. You can choose the first available square or find all 3 the available squares and randomly choose one. Continue to the next step.
  • Continue to step i.
• Display the board.
• Declare the winner.

What I'm asking you to do is to implement a decent computer Tic-tac-toe player who does not miss obvious winning or losing moves but does not use the perfect strategy either.

Make it a multi-round game and let the human player and computer take turns to make the first play. You decide how many rounds to play. Display the overall winner.