Battleship Game

Read about the development process: Vibe Coding with Claude

A terminal-based Battleship game built with Go and Dolt database, featuring Git-style branching for game isolation.

Prerequisites

• Dolt - SQL database with Git-style versioning
• Go 1.19 or later

Setup

1. Install Dolt

sudo bash -c 'curl -L https://github.com/dolthub/dolt/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash'

2. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/dolthub/vibin-battleship
cd vibin-battleship
git checkout claude

3. Build the Game

From the source root, build the battleship binary:

go install .

4. Start Dolt SQL Server

Navigate to the db directory and start the Dolt SQL server:

mkdir db
cd db
dolt sql-server

The server will start on 127.0.0.1:3306 by default.

How to Play

1. Create a New Game

battleship new

This will output a game ID that players can use to join.

2. Join a Game

Each player joins using the game ID and chooses red or blue:

battleship join <game_id> red
battleship join <game_id> blue

Players will be prompted to place their 5 ships:

• Carrier (5 spaces)
• Battleship (4 spaces)
• Cruiser (3 spaces)
• Submarine (3 spaces)
• Destroyer (2 spaces)

3. Play the Game

Start the interactive game session:

battleship play <game_id> red
# In another terminal:
battleship play <game_id> blue

Players take turns attacking coordinates (e.g., A5, J10) until one player sinks all of the opponent's ships.

Additional Commands

The following commands are primarily for debugging and inspection.

Print Current Board State

battleship print <game_id> <red|blue>

Attack a Specific Coordinate

battleship attack <game_id> <red|blue> <coordinate>

List All Games

battleship list

How It Works

This game leverages Dolt's unique branching capabilities:

• The main branch contains a games table with game metadata and results
• Each game creates its own branch with three tables:
  • turn - Manages turn order with random values
  • red_board and blue_board - Store ship positions and attack results
• When a game completes, temporary tables are dropped and the branch is merged back to main

This approach provides complete game isolation and a full audit trail of every move through Dolt's commit history.

Game Rules

• Standard Battleship rules apply
• 10x10 grid using coordinates A1-J10
• First player is determined by random roll when both players join
• Hit all enemy ships to win
• Ships cannot overlap or extend off the board

Development

Running Tests

go test -v

Database Schema

The game uses a branching strategy where each game gets its own isolated branch:

Main Branch:

• games table - Game metadata and final results

Game Branches:

• turn table - Turn management with player values
• red_board / blue_board tables - Ship placements and attack results

This design ensures games are completely isolated and provides full versioning of game state.