🕊️ CS50 — Angry Birds

Course: CS50's Introduction to Game Development
Assignment: Angry Birds — “Three’s Company”
Engine / Language: LÖVE2D (Lua)

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📋 Project Overview

This repository contains my implementation of the Angry Birds project from CS50’s Introduction to Game Development.

🐥 Built with LÖVE2D and Box2D, this physics-based projectile game replicates the classic Angry Birds experience where players launch Aliens to destroy obstacles and enemies.

💡 In this version, I implemented the “Three’s Company” feature — giving players the ability to split a launched Alien into three mid-flight for more strategic gameplay.

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What I Implemented

• ✔️ Alien Splitting Mechanic

  • After launching an Alien, pressing Spacebar (before it collides with anything) splits it into three Aliens.
  • The center Alien continues its original trajectory.
  • The upper and lower Aliens are spawned with slightly altered linear velocities and angles for realistic divergence.

• ✔️ Collision Flag & Split Condition

  • Added a collision flag in Level.lua to ensure splitting only occurs before the first impact.
  • Once any Alien collides with an object, the flag is disabled, preventing multiple splits.

• ✔️ Launch Marker Behavior Update

  • Updated AlienLaunchMarker.lua so the launch marker resets only when all Aliens (split or original) have nearly stopped moving, ensuring consistent physics handling.

• ✔️ Physics Integration

  • Leveraged Box2D’s linear velocity vectors to calculate accurate splitting trajectories.
  • Maintained realistic motion, gravity, and collision effects for all three Aliens.

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🎬 Gameplay Preview

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🚀 How to Run

1. Install LÖVE2D:
   Download and install from LÖVE2D.

2. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/huzaifa-gamedev/cs50-angry-birds.git
   cd cs50-angry-birds

3. Run the Game:

   love .

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🎯 Controls

Key	Action
Click + Drag	Aim and launch Alien
Spacebar	Split Alien into 3 (before first collision)
Escape	Quit game

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🧠 Notes on Implementation

• Splitting Logic:
  Implemented directly in the Level class, triggered via love.keypressed('space'). Ensures splitting happens only if the active Alien has been launched and has not collided.

• Spawn Offsets:
  Created two new Aliens slightly above and below the original Alien’s position using Box2D world coordinates and adjusted linear velocities for natural spread.

• Collision Detection:
  Used World:setCallbacks() to detect when the Player Alien hits any object, setting a hasCollided flag to prevent further splits.

• Game Reset Condition:
  Modified the launch reset behavior so the marker reappears only when all three Aliens come to rest (near-zero velocity).

• Physics Consistency:
  Ensured each new Alien inherits the same fixture, shape, density, and restitution as the base Alien for consistent simulation results.

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✨ Credits

• Original skeleton code & assets: CS50's Introduction to Game Development (Harvard). Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

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📄 License

• This implementation: © 2025 Muhammad Huzaifa Karim. Licensed under the MIT License.

For more details, see ATTRIBUTION.md.

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✍️ Author

Muhammad Huzaifa Karim
GitHub Profile

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📬 Contact

For feedback, collaboration, or project ideas, feel free to connect via GitHub.

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© 2025 Muhammad Huzaifa Karim. All rights reserved.