Connect 4

Description

Connect 4 is a two-player zero-sume connection game. For more details on rules, please refer to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connect_Four

Features

· Allows either the AI or the user to play.

· It is possible for the AI to play against itself.

· Auto-saved game on close using serialization.

Implementation

The game's implemented using the MVC design pattern.

Intelligent Computer Player

Computer player's using Minimax alogrithms with alpha-beta pruning. More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimax

Network Protocol

Establishing Client and Server Roles

The Server will always take the first turn. If it is a human player, the player will click and send the event to the client. Otherwise the AI will generate its turn and send it to the client. The client will go second. This will repeat until the game is over.

A move made over network is implemented using serialization. Here's the details:

public class Connect4MoveMessage implements Serializable {

   public static int YELLOW = 1;

   public static int RED = 2;

   private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

   private int row;

   private int col;

   private int color;


   public Connect4MoveMessage(int row, int col, int color) { … }
  
   public int getRow() { … }

   public int getColumn() { … }

   public int getColor() { … }

}