Pong-SDL: LAN Multiplayer Pong in C

A simple classic Pong game built in C using SDL2 and SDL2_ttf, featuring local multiplayer over LAN using TCP sockets.

Features

• Single-player mode against AI
• Local multiplayer on the same machine
• LAN multiplayer mode (host-client model)
• Real-time ball and paddle physics
• SDL2-based rendering, input handling, and text display

Dependencies

Tested on Linux (Fedora/Ubuntu/Arch)

Install SDL2 and SDL2_ttf:

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install SDL2-devel SDL2_ttf-devel

On Arch/Manjaro:

sudo pacman -S sdl2 sdl2_ttf

Build Instructions

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/AdityaDeshmukh1/pong-sdl.git
cd pong-sdl

Compile the game:

make

Next Planned Features

• Implement non-blocking sockets using fcntl() or select() for smoother real-time multiplayer
• Improve AI opponent behavior
• Add latency/ping display on screen
• Optional sound effects with SDL2_mixer
• Add support for multiple clients (expand to 2v2 or spectators)
• Clean modularized network code structure (network_init(), network_poll(), network_shutdown())
• Frame-rate independent physics
• Network lag compensation / interpolation

Learnings / Concepts Covered

• SDL2 rendering, input handling, and text rendering
• Structuring a C project with modular .c and .h files
• TCP socket programming in C on Linux
• LAN-based multiplayer game architecture
• Debugging low-level networking issues (bad file descriptors, blocking calls, connection resets)
• System-level debugging tools (ip addr, ping, ss, ufw, firewalld)

License

MIT License

Author

Aditya Deshmukh
Systems Programming, Networking, and Game Programming Enthusiast