Pac Man Game Help

[Haxifix]

My friend and I were making a pac man console game in C++, and we can't seem to get the AI we wrote for our ghosts to work properly

#include <iostream>
#include <Windows.h>
using namespace std;

struct Player 
{
	int x, y;
	Player()
	{
		x = -1;
		y = -1;
	}
};

struct Ghost
{
	int x, y, direction;
	Ghost()
	{
		x = -1;
		y = -1;
		direction = 1;
	}
};

const char SYMBOL_EMPTY = ' ';
const char SYMBOL_PLAYER = '@';
const char SYMBOL_GHOST = 'G';
const char SYMBOL_WALL = '#';
const int MapDx = 10;
const int MapDy = 20;
const int GameSpeed = 100;
const int LEFT = 1;
const int RIGHT = 2;
const int UP = 3;
const int DOWN = 4;
int direction = RIGHT;

char map[10][20] = 
{
	"###################",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"#                 #",
	"###################"
};

bool isValidPos(int x, int y) 
{ 
	return (x >= 0 && x < MapDx && y >= 0 && y < MapDy);
}

bool movePlayer(Player &player, int x, int y)
{
	if (!isValidPos(x, y)) 
	{ 
		return false;
	}
	
	char ch = map[x][y];
	
	if(ch != SYMBOL_EMPTY) 
	{
		return false;
	}
	
	if (isValidPos(player.x, player.y)) 
	{ 
		map[player.x][player.y] = SYMBOL_EMPTY;
	}
	player.x = x; player.y = y;
	map[player.x][player.y] = SYMBOL_PLAYER;
	return true;
}

bool moveGhost(Ghost &ghost, int x, int y)
{
	if (!isValidPos(x, y))
	{
		return false;
	}

	char ch = map[x][y];

	if (ch != SYMBOL_EMPTY)
	{
		return false;
	}

	if (isValidPos(ghost.x, ghost.y))
	{
		map[ghost.x][ghost.y] = SYMBOL_EMPTY;
	}
	ghost.x = x; ghost.y = y;
	map[ghost.x][ghost.y] = SYMBOL_GHOST;
	return true;
}

void GhostAI(Ghost &ghost, Player &player)
{
	double a = sqrt((pow((double) (ghost.x - 1) - player.x, 2)) + pow((double) ghost.y - player.y, 2)); //UP
	double b = sqrt((pow((double) (ghost.x + 1) - player.x, 2)) + pow((double) ghost.y - player.y, 2)); //DOWN
	double c = sqrt((pow((double) (ghost.y - 1) - player.x, 2)) + pow((double) ghost.x - player.y, 2)); //RIGHT
	double d = sqrt((pow((double) (ghost.y + 1) - player.x, 2)) + pow((double) ghost.x - player.y, 2)); //LEFT
	if(a < b && a <= c && a <= d && ghost.direction != DOWN) ghost.direction = UP;
	else if(b <= c && b <= d && ghost.direction != UP) ghost.direction = DOWN;
	else if(c < d && ghost.direction != LEFT) ghost.direction = RIGHT;
	else if(ghost.direction != RIGHT) ghost.direction = LEFT;
}

void showMap() 
{
	for (int x = 0; x < MapDx; x++) 
	{
		cout << map[x] << endl;
	}
}

void showPlayer(Player &player)
{
	cout << "\nPlayerX: " << player.x << endl;
	cout << "PlayerY: " << player.y << endl;
}

void gameLoop() 
{
	Player player;
	Ghost ghosts[3];
	movePlayer(player, 1, 2);
	moveGhost(ghosts[0], 5, 2);
	moveGhost(ghosts[1], 5, 5);
	moveGhost(ghosts[2], 5, 8);
	while (true) 
	{
		system("cls");
		showMap();
		showPlayer(player);
		if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_UP)) 
		{
			direction = UP;
		} 
		else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_DOWN)) 
		{
			direction = DOWN;
		} 
		else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_LEFT)) 
		{
			direction = LEFT;
		} 
		else if (GetAsyncKeyState(VK_RIGHT)) 
		{
			direction = RIGHT;
		}
		switch (direction)
		{
		case UP:
			movePlayer(player, player.x-1, player.y);
			break;
		case DOWN:
			movePlayer(player, player.x+1, player.y);
			break;
		case LEFT:
			movePlayer(player, player.x, player.y-1);
			break;
		case RIGHT:
			movePlayer(player, player.x, player.y+1);
			break;
		}
		for (int ghost = 0; ghost < 3; ghost++)
		{
			GhostAI(ghosts[ghost], player);
			switch (ghosts[ghost].direction)
			{
			case UP:
				moveGhost(ghosts[ghost], ghosts[ghost].x-1, ghosts[ghost].y);
				break;
			case DOWN:
				moveGhost(ghosts[ghost], ghosts[ghost].x+1, ghosts[ghost].y);
				break;
			case LEFT:
				moveGhost(ghosts[ghost], ghosts[ghost].x, ghosts[ghost].y-1);
				break;
			case RIGHT:
				moveGhost(ghosts[ghost], ghosts[ghost].x, ghosts[ghost].y+1);
				break;
			}
		}
		Sleep(GameSpeed);
	}
}


int main() 
{
	gameLoop();
	return 0;
}

The player movement and map display work fine, but the AI for the ghosts seems to move pretty randomly. What we were doing for the AI was using the distance formula to check the four spots adjacent to the ghost to see which spot would make it closest to the player, and then move the ghost into that spot. We also made it so that the ghost cannot reverse (i.e. go from moving up straight to down) to avoid the AI getting stuck in a corner that will be put into the map. But we can't figure out why the ghosts don't work right, since they rarely move closer to the player. Thanks for any help.

[joshalb]

The problem is all in GhostAI()

First off, in c and d, you're comparing y and x, then x and y. When it should be y and y, then x and x (look at the differences between a,b and c,d and you'll see what I mean).

With that fixed, I noticed one other issue. You had left and right mixed up. If you switched the third if condition to go left, and the fourth to go right, the ghost will follow you perfectly. :)

[Haxifix]

Thank you. That worked perfectly!