Starship Game

A simple 2D starship game written in C99 using SDL3. Control your starship to avoid randomly generated asteroids flying across the screen!

Game Overview

In this game, you pilot a green starship through a field of brown asteroids. Your objective is simple: survive as long as possible by avoiding collisions with the asteroids that spawn from the right side of the screen.

Features

• Smooth Movement: Frame-rate independent movement using delta time
• Random Asteroid Generation: Asteroids spawn with random size, speed, and trajectory
• Collision Detection: Precise rectangle-based collision detection
• Asset Management: Efficient texture loading and caching system
• Game States: Game over detection with restart functionality

Controls

• Movement:
  • W / ↑ - Move up
  • A / ← - Move left
  • S / ↓ - Move down
  • D / → - Move right
• Game Controls:
  • ESC - Quit game
  • R - Restart game (when game over)

Building the Project

Prerequisites

You need the following dependencies installed on your system:

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake pkg-config
sudo apt-get install libsdl3-dev  # Required: SDL3 core library

Fedora/RHEL

sudo dnf install gcc cmake pkg-config
sudo dnf install SDL3-devel  # Required: SDL3 core library

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake pkg-config
sudo pacman -S sdl3  # Required: SDL3 core library

macOS (with Homebrew)

brew install cmake pkg-config
brew install sdl3  # Required: SDL3 core library

Note: SDL3_image is included as a vendored dependency and will be built automatically with full format support (PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP, TIFF, AVIF, and more).

Build Instructions

1. Clone the repository (or navigate to the project directory):

   cd /path/to/starship_game

2. Create build directory and configure:

   cmake -B build

3. Build the project:

   cmake --build build

4. Run the game:

   ./build/starship_game

Build Configuration

The build system will automatically detect and configure:

• SDL3: Required - tries system installation first, falls back to pkg-config
• SDL3_image: Included as vendored dependency - supports PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP, TIFF, AVIF, SVG, and more formats

Build messages will show successful detection of vendored SDL3_image with format support details.

Alternative Build (Make)

If you prefer using make directly after cmake configuration:

cd build
make -j$(nproc)  # Use all available CPU cores

Project Structure

├── include/                 # Header files
│   ├── common.h            # Common definitions and types
│   ├── game.h              # Game logic and entities
│   └── asset_manager.h     # Asset/texture management
├── src/                    # Source files
│   ├── main.c              # Entry point and SDL callbacks
│   ├── game.c              # Game logic implementation
│   ├── asset_manager.c     # Asset management implementation
│   └── timer.c             # Timer utilities
├── assets/                 # Game assets (textures, sprites)
├── build/                  # Build output directory
├── vendored/              # Third-party dependencies
│   ├── SDL/               # SDL3 source (if vendored)
│   └── SDL_image/         # SDL3_image source (vendored)
├── CMakeLists.txt         # CMake configuration
├── CLAUDE.md              # Development guidance
└── README.md              # This file

Technical Details

Architecture

• C99 Standard: Fully compliant with C99 standard
• Entity System: Simple entity-component architecture
• Game Loop: Delta-time based updates for smooth gameplay
• Memory Management: Proper allocation/deallocation with cleanup
• Modular Design: Separated concerns (rendering, logic, assets)

Performance

• Asset Caching: Textures are loaded once and cached
• Efficient Rendering: Minimal draw calls per frame
• Collision Optimization: Rectangle-based AABB collision detection
• Memory Efficient: Static arrays for entities to avoid dynamic allocation

Compatibility

• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• SDL3: Uses the latest SDL3 API with callback-based main loop
• Fallback Support: Graceful handling of missing optional dependencies

Development

Adding Assets

Place texture files in the assets/ directory. The asset manager supports:

• BMP files (always supported)
• PNG/JPG files (when SDL3_image is available)

Extending the Game

The modular architecture makes it easy to add new features:

• New Entities: Add to the Entity system in game.h/c
• Visual Effects: Extend the rendering functions
• Audio: Add SDL3_mixer support for sound effects
• Levels: Implement difficulty progression

Debug Builds

For debug builds with additional logging:

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build

Troubleshooting

SDL3 Not Found

If you get "SDL3 not found" errors:

1. Make sure SDL3 development libraries are installed
2. Check that pkg-config can find SDL3: pkg-config --libs sdl3
3. Consider providing vendored SDL3 source in vendored/SDL/

Build Errors

• Ensure you have a C99-compatible compiler (GCC 4.7+, Clang 3.0+)
• Update CMake to version 3.16 or higher
• Check that all dependencies are properly installed

Runtime Issues

• Make sure the executable has necessary permissions
• Verify your graphics drivers support OpenGL/software rendering
• Check console output for SDL initialization errors

License

This project uses SDL3, which is provided under the zlib license. The game code is released under MIT License.

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests to improve the game!