Development

When I was a freshman in college I observed one of my friends working on their C++ course homework. The assignment was to make a two player Tic Tac Toe game using OpenGL. Although I was not enrolled in any programming courses at the time I thought making a Tic Tac Toe game would be a fun challenge. I asked my friend for a copy of the assignment then I got to work.

The assignment’s description provided enough background information for me to complete the game. However, I felt like the game was missing something: a single player mode. I decided to attempt to try and add a computer opponent. This was my first foray into artificial intelligence and I had no idea where to start. I went and talked to the professor that gave the assignment and he was kind enough to give me guidance on the concepts behind a potential Tic Tac Toe AI and some pointers on possible implementations. I ended up implementing a recursive depth first search algorithm where after every move the computer evaluates all possible outcomes and selects the move that will most likely result in a win for the computer.

To complete the game I added sound effects and built a Windows installer using Inno Setup.

Legacy

The Tic Tac Toe project was the first big programming challenge I attempted. The thrill of creating the game and solving challenging problems convinced me that I should become a software engineer.

The Tic Tac Toe code base was later used as ths starting point for the Max It! game.

Screen Shots

The player is victorious over the computer after an exciting game of Tic Tac Toe.