Question

I am developing a game, the game have different mode. Easy, Normal, and Difficult.
So, I’m thinking about how to store the game mode. My first idea is using number to represent the difficulty.

Easy = 0 Normal = 1 Difficult = 2

So, my code will have something like this:

switch(gameMode){

case 0:
//easy
break;

case 1:
//normal
break;

case 3:
//difficult
break;

}

But I think it have some problems, if I add a new mode, for example, “Extreme”, I need to add case 4… … it seems not a gd design.

So, I am thinking making a gameMode object, and different gameMode is sub class of the super class gameMode.
The gameMode object is something like this:

    class GameMode{
    int maxEnemyNumber;
    int maxWeaponNumber;
      public static GameMode init(){
         GameMode gm = GameMode();
         gm.maxEnemyNumber = 0;
         gm.maxWeaponNumber = 0;
         return gm;
      }    

    }

class EasyMode extends GameMode{

      public static GameMode init(){
         GameMode gm = super.init();
         gm.maxEnemyNumber = 10;
         gm.maxWeaponNumber = 100;
         return gm;
      }    
}


class NormalMode extends GameMode{

      public static GameMode init(){
         GameMode gm = super.init();
         gm.maxEnemyNumber = 20;
         gm.maxWeaponNumber = 80;
         return gm;
      }    
}

But I think it seems too “bulky” to create an object to store gameMode, my “gameMode” only store different variables for game settings…. Is that any simple way to store data only instead of making an Object? thz u.

Answer 1

I think you are trying to represent a table of configuration data. Either put this in a configuration file if you’re using a language that supports that, or use literal data in your code.

For instance, you might write this in C:

typedef enum difficulties {
  DIFFICULTY_EASY,
  DIFFICULTY_MEDIUM,
  DIFFICULTY_HARD
} difficulties;

struct {
  int max_enemies;
  int max_weapons;
} difficulty_settings[] = {
  {10, 4},
  {20, 5},
  {30, 6}
};

And when you want to read a particular setting, for example max_enemies for the easy level, then you can writedifficulty_settings[DIFFICULTY_EASY].max_enemies

It’s easy to add more configuration (either more parameters, or more difficulty levels) by extending the table.