2009:Oct:28(Wed)

CS 162[M] Project #1: Chutes and Ladders®

Due Monday, November 8, at Lecture

Write a Java program for playing a simplified version of Chutes and Ladders®.
"Chutes and Ladders® is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley/Hasbro.

For a description of this game, see http://www.hasbro.com/shop/details.cfm?guid=8EC0A8E0-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4&product_id=8626&src=endeca and http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Chutes_and_Ladders_2004.pdf .

Here are images of an implementation of this game:

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• Your implementation doesn't have to look exactly like the images above.  (In fact you may notice that there are actually some differences between some of the images above.)  But your program should possess functionality at least equivalent to what's shown and specified here.  For example, your program's goal doesn't have to be exactly 50, but something like that.
• A player's turn should proceed as follows:
  1. The player clicks the 'spin(ner)'.
  2. The 'spinner' choose a number randomly ranging from 1 to 6.
  3. If the player's current location plus the spun number exceeds the number of spaces on the board, then the player is told this and their turn ends.  Otherwise, the turn continues as follows:
  4. The player clicks the space where their icon is resting.
  5. The space where the icon was resting no longer shows the icon brightly, and the cursor (mouse) changes to the icon.
  6. The player clicks the appropriate destination space.
  7. The space where the icon was previously resting no longer shows the icon at all, the cursor (mouse) changes back to the default one, and the destination space shows the icon.
  8. If that destination space is the 'beginning' of a 'ladder' or 'chute', then the player is informed and the icon automatically moves from that destination to the 'end' of the ladder/chute.
• To earn a "B", it suffices to do that basic work.
• You can earn a "B+" if you do that basic work and additionally write your program in good style, i.e. using Good Programming Practices such as standard "Code Conventions for the Java^TM Programming Language" -- see http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/ .
• If you do the basic work specified above and you additionally write your program in good style, then further, you may earn a higher grade such as "A-" or better by doing extra work. Naturally, the quality of such an extra-credit grade depends on the quality of the extra-credit work that you do. Some suggestions are as follows:
  • Provide instructions.
  • Provide sounds.
  • Enable starting a new game (without completely restarting the program).
  • Number the spaces more like the real Chutes and Ladders game: going upward from the bottom, and having adjacency by going right-to-left sometimes.
  • Have a 'spinner' that appears more like a spinner.
  • Show chutes and ladders.
  • Enable the player to choose an icon.
  • Enable multiple players.
  • Enable keyboard shortcuts.
  • Do some other extra work that you think of.
  Note that writing your program in good style, i.e. using standard Code Conventions, is a precondition for getting a grade such as "A-" or better via extra work.

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