Programming Assignment Week 2:

Boggle (modified Sudoku from text)

Due Sunday May 22 by 6PM

This is a team assignment

Note: This assignment will be time consuming for those completely new to Android, and especially for those also brushing up on Java. Please start early!

The purpose of this assignment is to help you learn more of the basics of creating Android apps and to move you towards an interesting project. To make that simpler, you are starting with the Sudoku example from your textbook and turning it into a functioning Boggle game.

The Sudoku game is similar to Boggle in some respects.

• It displays a grid of text on the screen
• It is possible to select items from that grid
• Based on how the grid is touched certain key events happen in the game
• It pops up various types of common screens/dialogues
• It saves the state of a game

All the basic components that you need to create a Boggle game are used in the Sudoku game, such as use of 2d graphics. Your goal is to study the Sudoku code (reading the chapters in the text related to it) and figure out how to modify the Sudoku game into a functioning Boggle game. The game can have a very simple look and feel, but it needs to work robustly.

There are numerous Boggle-like games on the Market and on the Internet (most are not named Boggle because that name is trademarked). This type of word search game is simple yet, for many people, totally addictive. It can also be modified to play with other people and small variations in game design can make it more or less fun to play.

To get started, find some variations on Boggle and play them for a bit. A search for Boggle on the Android Market will turn up many games: ICED (Lite), BoggleDroid Lite, Dropwords, WordTwist Lite, etc. Make notes about what you like or don't like about game design, interaction, scoring, etc. They are all a bit different. Please do not skip this, because you will see how small changes in the GUI can impact overall experience. Decide on how your would like your game to work.

Your game must have the following:

• A "New Game" button that creates a new 4x4 letter Boggle board. For each new game, a new board should be generated with a randomly selected set of letters.
• A "Pause" button that stops the clock and pauses the game
• A "Resume" button that appears if a game in progress was paused
• A "Quit" button that shuts down the game
• Click sounds or vibration when letters are pressed
• Detection if the selected string of letters is in a master word dictionary
  • Assume the rules from standard Boggle: "The words must only use a single letter on the Boggle board once (unless it appears twice- having more than one die with an "s" on it, for example), and all letters in the word must be connected on the Boggle board horizontally, vertically, or diagonally." This will be obvious if you play the game a bit. Only words of 3 or more letters should result in points.
• Code to prevent the same word from being entered twice
• Autmatic detection if the selected string of letters is in a master word dictionary
• Code to compute how many points a word generates. You can develop your own scoring or go by Boggle rules: "Boggle players receive one point for each unique three or four letter word (that no other player wrote down). For words over four letters long, players receive one point plus one additional point for each letter over four. So, for example, a six letter word in Boggle would be worth three points. One point for the first four letters and then two points for the fifth and sixth letters. Words less then three letters receive no points in Boggle."
• Text showing the current score
• Text showing a counter counting down during each game
• A special sound when a valid word is identified and points are earned
• And most importantly, ROBUST BEHAVIOR. Your game should not crash or behave erratically. Please do systematic testing to ensure this!

You should use this wordlist (compiled from the http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/ website).

If you want to get fancy, you could also add other features, but this is not required. Ideas are adding new background music (different than what is used for Sudoku), sound effects that contribute to game play (countdown sounds when timer close to running out), determining target "bonus" words that someone gets extra points for finding, allowing user to select desired board size, saving scores long-term, or doing something clever with the seeding of the board, etc. You are welcome to change the way the game is scored if you want, but if you do change the game from the basics, add an "Intro" button that will explain the game play.

You are building this game for educational purposes only, not for actual release, so feel free to grab graphics from any source and use them in your game if you want. (Important: For an actual game that was being released you would need to design the graphics yourself or get permission to use all graphics you incorporate, therefore, if you do want to use this app outside of class someday, you might want to deign your own graphics or find graphics that you know do not have copyright restrictions).

Your game should be added to your existing team solution on the Market. As in the first assignment, this should only run on an authorized phone. Begin by copying the Sudoku packages and renaming them. Your main app on the Market will then have 5 buttons: About (with your team info), Generate Error (generates error), Quit (exits), Sudoku (runs sudoko from Assignment 1), and Boggle (runs assignment 2). Do not add a new icon and launcher for this game ... It should be launched from the same icon you used before via a new "Boggle" button on the first screen.

As you complete this assignment and have “aha!” moments where you figure tricky things that might hold other people up, you should add those to class wiki. Every person should add at least one tip to the wiki.

You will be graded based on how well you follow the instructions above using your team app on the Market Sunday night at 6PM.