Reference no: EM13766132

Project Overview

For this assignment you will be provided with incomplete sample starter code that you can modify and build upon. Your task will be to carry out the design, analysis, coding and testing to add several additional features to this sample code. You are expected to fully comment the provided code as well as your own code.

This project will implement a simple menu-driven text adventure. Text adventure games were very popular in the early days of computer gaming, as they could run even on low-end computer systems which could not support advanced graphics. The player controlled a character within an environment such as a fantasy castle or a spaceship. The environment was made up of a series of interconnected locations, which were described to the player by written descriptions. By entering short text commands such as "go north" or "get key" the player could explore these locations, pick up and use objects within the environment, fight enemies and so on. Generally the player had to solve a series of puzzles to enable them to achieve a goal in the game such as reaching a goal location where treasure was stored. Many of the classic text adventures are now freely available online, so if you are interested you may want to try some of them:

• Colossal Cave (the first text adventure):

• The Hobbit (made in Melbourne!):

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-game-30th-anniversary-edition
Developing a complete text adventure is too challenging at this stage of the course, so we will make a number of simplifications:

• To avoid having to process commands made up of one or more words, all user input will be through a numeric menu.

• Interaction with objects in the game will be very limited.
The provided partial solution source code implements some fundamental aspects of the text adventure:

• The use of arrays (both 1D and 2D) to store information about the map which defines the game world, the descriptions of locations, and the description and location of game objects

• A simple numeric menu which the player uses to enter commands

• The ability for the player to move between locations in the game world by moving in the four cardinal compass directions (north, east, south and west)

Your task will be to first answer some questions testing your comprehension of the partial solution, and then to extend this partial solution to provide additional features:

1. Answer the questions listed below under Part A - save your answers into a Word document for submission along with remainder of your assignment.

2. Design your own unique game world, which must exhibit the following characteristics:
a. It should consist of between 10 and 20 interconnected locations (please don't exceed this limit as it will slow down the marking process)
b. All eight possible directions of movement (N, S, E, W, NE, SE, SW, NW) must be used at least once in the game map.
c. The world should contain 10 objects. At least one location must contain no objects, and at least one location must contain multiple objects.
d. Every location and object must have its own unique description.
e. There must be a specified ‘goal' location which the player is aiming to reach - this will be used later within Stage 6 of the project.
Your design should be clearly documented in the form of a world map and table of descriptions similar to the example provided on moodle.

3. Extend the menu and related code so that the player can also move in the ordinal directions (north-east, south-east, south-west, north-west)

4. Modify the program code and data so as to implement the game world designed in Stage 2.

5. Add a ‘quit' option to the menu, and modify the loop in the main() method so that it exits if the user enters this command.

6. Further modify the loop so that it exits and displays a suitable congratulatory message if the player reaches a specific ‘goal' location within the game-world.

7. Modify the room description method so that the player automatically picks up any objects in their current location. If the room description is redisplayed, those objects should no longer be listed as being in that location (hint: use a special value such as -1 to indicate that an object is in the player's possession).

8. Add an additional ‘inventory' command to the menu and implement a method which is called when this command is entered, which will list all of the objects currently in the player's possession.

9. Now that no further commands will be added to the menu, modify the menu code to ensure that a valid selection has been made by the player. If not, display an error message and prompt them to enter a new value. Repeat this until valid input is obtained.

10. This is the most advanced aspect of the project - do not attempt this unless you have all the other requirements working. Modify the program code so that the goal location cannot be entered unless the player is carrying a particular object (e.g. a key). If the player tries to enter the room without this object then an appropriate message should be displayed. For full marks for this section, your solution should be easily applicable to other game worlds (for example worlds with multiple locked doors).

Resources Provided
The following files/links are available on Moodle:

• An electronic copy of this assignment specification sheet

• The General Guide for the Presentation of Academic Work

• A sample incomplete program to get you started (TextAdventure.java)

• A video of a complete version of the project

• A sample design document for the game world used in the video.

Part A - Code Comprehension
Sample code has been provided in Moodle. Use the sample code provided to answer the following questions. Save your answers in a Word or pdf file, and include that file in your assignment submission:

1. Explain why NO_EXIT has been declared and used in defining the contents of the map array, rather than just directly using the value 99999 in the map array definition.
2. What is the value stored in map[2][1]? What is the interpretation of this value in terms of the structure of the game world? .
3. Explain what change would need to be made to the code in order for the potato object to be in the log-cabin rather than the clearing.
4. Describe the change (if any) in the program behaviour if the describeLocation() method was changed to the following code:
private void describeLocation()
{
System.out.println();
System.out.println("You are in " + description[playerLocation]);
System.out.println("In this location there is: ");
for (int i=0; i<objectLocation.length; i++)
{
if (objectLocation[i]==playerLocation)
{
System.out.println("\t" + objectName[i]);
numObjects++;
}
else
{
System.out.println("\tnothing");
}
}
}
5. The move method contains the following statement:
if (nextLocation==NO_EXIT)

Explain why the == operator is used here rather than the = operator.

6. What is the purpose of the do..while loop in the startGame method?
7. Within the startGame method, the following call is made to the move method:
move(selection-1);
Explain why the actual parameter is set to selection-1 rather than selection.

Part B - Design
Design and document a game world which meets all of the requirements specified under Stage 2 of the Project Specification. Include your design within the file produced during Part A.

Part C - Program Analysis, Implementation and Development
It is suggested that you design, implement and test each of Stages 3 to 10 in order - completing each section completely and correctly before proceeding to the next.

For each stage you should first design a solution in the form of pseudo-code to carry out the required task. Include this pseudo-code as part of your project documentation, clearly indicating which Stage it belongs to. Once you have completed your pseudo-code, perform a desk check of your logic. If you find any problems with your pseudo-code you should redesign and retest.
Once the design is correct, implement the program in Java. You could be using the sample java code provided as a starting point and your first task would be to appropriately comment the code provided. Once you have finished this task, then you can update the code so that it implements the algorithm you have designed.

Your code should use appropriate programming standards and should be well documented/commented. You are permitted to discuss the sample program with your peers in order to understand it. However, you must ensure that you complete this section individually. It is expected that no two students will have the same program.

Part D - Testing
You should be testing your program as each stage is completed, and again once the program is complete. You should document the testing data, process and results (e.g. in the form of a table) and include this within your project documentation. Your mark for this section will reflect the thoroughness of your testing and the quality of your documentation.

Your assignment should be completed according to the General Guidelines for Presentation of Academic Work.
The following criteria will be used when marking your assignment:
• successful completion of the required tasks
• quality of code that adheres to the programming standards for the course including:
• comments and documentation
• code layout
• meaningful variable names (it is expected that you will change the names of variables in the sample code provided and alter the size of the array to suit your circumstances)
• check that data entered is valid
You are required to provide documentation, contained in an appropriate file, which includes:
• a front page - indicating your name, a statement of what has been completed and acknowledgement of the names of all people (including other students and people outside of the university) who have assisted you and details on what parts of the assignment that they have assisted you with
• a table of contents and page numbers
• answers to the questions from Part A
• the design of your game world
• the pseudocode for each Stage of the project
• details of test data and evidence that the testing was conducted
• list of references used (APA style); please specify if none have been used.