What should the program do if the player enters a valid direction? What output should result?

Programming by Geoffrey

You work for a small company that creates text-based games. You have been asked to pitch an idea to your team for a text-based adventure game with a theme and environment of your choice. Your game must include different rooms, items, and a villain. The basic gameplay will require the player to move between different rooms to gather all of the items. A player wins the game by collecting all the items before encountering the villain. The player will have two options for commands in the game: moving to a different room, and getting an item from the room they are in. Movement between rooms happens in four simple directions: North, South, East, and West.

You must include the designs for your game as a part of your idea pitch. Specifically, you have been asked to provide a map that displays the different rooms and items. You have also been asked to use pseudocode or flowcharts to design code for moving between rooms and getting items. If your pitch gets approved, these designs will help your team members understand the pitch, and will help the team develop the game in the future.

Directions

In this project, you will break the problem down into a set of requirements for your game program. Then you will design your game by creating a storyboard and pseudocode or flowcharts. Remember, in Project One, you are only designing the game. You will actually develop the code for your game in Project Two.

  1. Review the Sample Dragon Text Game Storyboard in the Supporting Materials section to see a sample storyboard for a dragon-themed game. You will begin by creating a storyboard to plan out your game. Using one of the templates located in the What to Submit section, write a short paragraph that describes the theme of your game by answering all of the following questions:
    • What is your theme? What is the basic storyline?
    • What rooms will you have? (Note: You need a minimum of eight.)
    • What items will you have? (Note: You need a minimum of six.)
    • Who is your villain?Next, you will complete your storyboard by designing a map that organizes the required elements of the game (rooms, items, and villain). Using the blank map in your template, organize the different rooms and the items in each room. The following requirements must be met:
      • There must be a minimum of eight rooms.
      • Each room must contain one item, with the exception of the “start” room and the room containing the villain.
      • The “start” room is where players will begin their moves and should not contain any items.
      • The room containing the villain should not contain any items.

      Remember, to win the game, the player must move through the rooms, collect all the items, and avoid the room with the villain until all of the items have been collected. Make sure that it is possible for the player to win the game. For example, the room with the villain should not block a room containing an item.

      Note: The blank map in the template is provided as a guide. You may add more rooms or change the locations of rooms to suit your needs. This map is for your planning purposes; the player will not have access to this map in the game. You will be able to use your map later when creating and testing your code as a part of Project Two.

    • Carefully review the Sample Dragon Text Game Walkthrough video and Sample Dragon Text Game Output reading, located in the Supporting Materials section. These will give you an understanding of how the text-based game should work. As you read, consider the following questions:
      • What are the different steps needed in this program? How might you outline them in a way that a computer can understand?
      • What information would you need from the player at each point (inputs)? What information would you output to the player at each point?
      • When might it be a good idea to use “IF” and “IF ELSE” statements?
      • When might it be a good idea to use loops?
      • When might it be a good idea to use functions (optional)?

      Note: You are not required to turn in anything for this step. However, this step is important to prepare you to design your code in Steps #4 and 5.

    • Create pseudocode or a flowchart that logically outlines the steps that will allow the player to move between rooms using commands to go North, South, East, and West. Use your notes from Step #3 to help you design this section of code. Be sure to address the following:
      • What input do you need from the player? How will you prompt the player for that input? How will you validate the input?
      • What should the program do if the player enters a valid direction? What output should result?
      • What should the program do if the player enters an invalid direction? What output should result?
      • How will you control the program flow with decision branching and loops?
    • Create pseudocode or a flowchart that logically outlines the steps that will allow the player to get the item from the room they are in and add it to their inventory. Use your notes from Step #3 to help you design this section of code. Be sure to address the following:
      • What input do you need from the player? How will you prompt the player for that input? How will you validate the input?
      • What should the program do if the player enters a valid item (the item in their current room)? What output should result?
      • What should the program do if the player enters an invalid item (an item not in their current room)? What output should result?
      • How will you control the program flow with decision branching or loops?