c programing. "left of comma not working"?

im making this program that should output 10 lines of 8 asterisks, every other line should be indented. my indentation is not working

#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)

{

int counter = 0;//stars on line

int stars = 0;//stars in total

int space = 0;

while (stars < 81) {//program will stop at 80 stars

if(space = 0 , counter <= 8){//rows 8 stars long

printf( "%s" , "* " );//prints a star

printf( "%s" , " " );//prints a space

counter = counter + 1 ; stars = stars +1; space = space + 1;}//increments counter and stars for new line and program termination

else if (space > 0 , counter <= 8){//rows 8 stars long

printf( " " );//prints a space

printf( "%s" , "* " );//prints a star

printf( "%s" , " " );//prints a space

counter = counter + 1 ; stars = stars +1; space = 0;}//increments counter and stars for new line and program termination

else if (counter = 8) {printf( "\n" );//new line after 8 stars

counter = 0;}//controls row length of 8 stars

}

}