Battleship Game

A multiplayer online Battleship game implemented in Python using pygame for the client interface and socket programming for networking.

Features

• Multiplayer Online Gameplay: Two players can connect and play against each other over a network
• Classic Battleship Rules: Standard 10x10 grid with traditional ship placement (Carrier, Battleship, Cruiser, Submarine, Destroyer)
• Interactive GUI: Pygame-based graphical interface with mouse controls
• Real-time Communication: Server-client architecture with JSON message protocol
• Ship Placement: Interactive ship placement with rotation support
• Attack System: Click-to-attack interface with visual feedback
• Game State Management: Turn-based gameplay with proper state synchronization

Game Rules

Ships

Each player places 5 ships on their 10x10 grid:

• Carrier: 5 cells
• Battleship: 4 cells
• Cruiser: 3 cells
• Submarine: 3 cells
• Destroyer: 2 cells

Gameplay

1. Players take turns attacking each other's boards
2. Click on the opponent's board to attack a cell
3. Hits are marked with 'X', misses with 'O'
4. When all cells of a ship are hit, the ship is sunk
5. First player to sink all opponent ships wins

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 or higher
• pip package manager

Setup

1. Clone or download the game files
2. Navigate to the game directory
3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

How to Run

Starting the Server

1. Open a terminal in the game directory
2. Run the server:

   python server.py

3. The server will start on 0.0.0.0:8888 and wait for connections

Starting the Client

1. Open another terminal (or run on a different machine)
2. Run the client:

   python main.py

3. The client will automatically connect to localhost:8888

For Network Play

To play over a network:

1. Start the server on one machine
2. Edit main.py and change the host in the BattleshipClient() initialization to the server's IP address
3. Run clients from other machines

Game Controls

Ship Placement Phase

• Mouse Click: Place ship at cursor position
• R Key: Rotate ship orientation (Horizontal/Vertical)
• Ships must be placed within the grid boundaries
• Ships cannot overlap

Battle Phase

• Mouse Click: Attack opponent's board
• Click on any cell in the opponent's grid to attack
• You can only attack on your turn
• Already attacked cells cannot be attacked again

File Structure

battleship_game/
├── main.py              # Main client application with pygame GUI
├── server.py            # Game server handling multiplayer connections
├── client_network.py    # Network client class for server communication
├── game_logic.py        # Core game logic and rules
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
├── README.md           # This documentation
└── bin/unused/         # Unused files from original project

Technical Details

Architecture

• Server: Multi-threaded TCP server handling multiple client connections
• Client: Pygame-based GUI with network communication thread
• Protocol: JSON messages over TCP sockets
• Game Logic: Separate module handling game rules and state

Message Protocol

The game uses JSON messages for client-server communication:

• join_game: Request to join a game
• place_ships: Send ship placement data
• attack: Send attack coordinates
• game_state: Request current game state

Network Configuration

• Default Host: localhost (127.0.0.1)
• Default Port: 8888
• Protocol: TCP
• Message Format: JSON over UTF-8 encoded strings

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Failed to connect to server"

• Ensure the server is running before starting clients
• Check that the host/port configuration matches
• Verify firewall settings allow connections on port 8888

"Module not found: pygame"

• Install pygame: pip install pygame
• Ensure you're using the correct Python version

Game freezes during ship placement

• Press 'R' to rotate ships if they don't fit
• Ensure ships don't overlap with existing ships
• Ships must be placed entirely within the 10x10 grid

Network play doesn't work

• Edit the host address in main.py to match the server's IP
• Ensure both machines can reach each other over the network
• Check firewall settings on both client and server machines

Development

Adding Features

The modular design makes it easy to extend:

• Game Logic: Modify game_logic.py for rule changes
• UI: Update main.py for interface improvements
• Networking: Extend server.py and client_network.py for new features
• Protocol: Add new message types in the JSON protocol

Testing

• Run python game_logic.py to test core game mechanics
• Run python client_network.py to test network connectivity
• Use multiple client instances to test multiplayer functionality

License

This project is provided as-is for educational and entertainment purposes.