Assignment 1 – Text Based Game
Deadline: 16:00, Nov 10, 2025
1 Introduction
In this assignment, you are tasked with creating a basic text-based game in the style of Zork (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork)
The game is played by the user entering in various commands (e.g. "move south", "look", "search chest", "get key"), to which the game responds with text based output (e.g. "You pick up the rusty key").
You need to create your own narrative or story for the game. This narrative can be of any genre: science-fiction, cosy cooking game, fantasy, detective noir, etc. The game consists of "rooms" or "areas" which the player can travel to and perform actions in. Your game also needs to present puzzles to the player. Puzzles involve the player using an item in their inventory. The game will also provide the player with a score based on how many "rooms" they have visited and how many puzzles they have solved.
Finally, the game also needs to display a text-based map of the game world as the player is exploring.
2 Mark allocations
You will receive marks based on two aspects of the game: Firstly, the results of running the test.sh command. We will run our own version of these tests once you have submit- ted. This command will test each class and method (detailed as Task 1 - 6). You need to implement all the classes and methods shown in the Task sections.
Secondly, you will need to submit a screen recording showing you playing the game and discussing the code. Your screen recording needs to have the following:
• Show your face and your student card or any other valid proof of identity (e.g. Passport or drivers license).
• Play through the game once showing all the rooms, puzzles and an example of each of the expected commands. Do this in the order given in Section 2.1
• Show and briefly explain the code in your Game.java file.
• Show and briefly explain anything additional, innovative, or interesting you did in the game.
The screen recording must be shorter than 5 minutes. You can use a text-to-speech app if you do not want to record your own voice.
2.1 Minimum expected commands
The following is a minimum list of commands the game must be able to parse (values in angle brackets refer to arguments given to a command):
• "move <direction>" - ( can be "north", "south", "east", "west"). The player moves to a new room based on the direction.
• "look" - Displays a description of the room the player is in.
• "look <feature>" - Displays a more detailed description of a feature in a room. A feature is a fixed object in the room.
• "look <item>" - Displays a description of an item. This should only work if the item is in the player’s inventory.
• "inventory" - Displays a list of all items the player has obtained.
• "score" - Displays the user’s current score.
• "map" - Displays a text-based map of the current explored game world.
• "help" - Displays a help message.
• "quit" - Quits the game.
2.2 Additional commands
You need to add additional commands of your choice for the puzzles you will create. For example, "open toolbox" will open a toolbox. Then "take crowbar" will take the crowbar out of the toolbox and put it into the user’s inventory.
You can create any other additional commands you want so long as they make log- ical sense in your game. You need to use these additional commands to create your puzzles.
2.3 Minimum game requirements
The following are the minimum requirements for the game. You are welcome to add more if you want to:
• At least ten (10) unique rooms or areas.
• At least two (2) puzzles.
• At least four (4) items.
3 Task 1 - Position.java
The Position class stores an position in terms of an x and y value. The required methods are:
• public Position(int x, int y)
The x and y fields need to be declared as public so that other classes can access them directly.
4 Task 2 - Room.java
The Room class stores information about a Room, including a name, description, a symbol and a Position. The required methods are:
• public Room(String name, String description, char symbol, Position position)
• public String getName()
• public String getDescription()
• public char getSymbol()
• public Position getPosition()
The symbol is used when displaying the room on the map.
5 Task 3 - Map.java
The Map class stores information about the game Map, including the map array, a width and height, and the value used for empty map areas. The required methods are:
• public Map(int width, int height) (this represents therols and columns starting at the top left of the map)
• public void placeRoom(Position pos, char symbol)
• public String display()
Declare the empty area value as follows: final private char EMPTY = ' . ' ;
6 Task 4 - Inventory.java
The Inventory class stores the player’s inventory, and is essentially a wrapper around an array. It includes the maximum items you can store, the current number of items stored and an array to store the items in. The required methods are:
• public Inventory()
• public void addItem(String item) Adds an item to the array if there is space.
• public int hasItem(String item) Returns the position of the item in the array if it is in the array. Otherwise it returns -1
• public void removeItem(String item) Removes a specified item while ensuring there are no empty elements in the array.
• public String displayInventory() Returns a String of all items sepa- rated by spaces (note that there is a space after the last item as well).
Declare the maximum size as follows: final int MAX_ITEMS = 10;
7 Task 5 - Score.java
The Score class stores and calculates the player’s score. It includes the starting score, the current score, the number of rooms visited, the number of puzzles solved and the score per puzzle. The required methods are:
• public Score(int startingScore)
• public void visitRoom()
• public void solvePuzzle()
• public double getScore() Calculates and returns the current score. The score is calculated as the starting score minus the number of rooms visited plus the number of solved puzzles times the score per puzzle.
Declare the score per puzzle as follows: private final int PUZZLE_VALUE = 10;
8 Task 6 - Game.java
The Game class runs the main game loop. You can create any methods you feel you require but you need to use all the other classes to make the game work. The only required method is:
• public static void main(String[] args)
You can write this code in any way you want to but here is a hint for a possible approach:
• Create some Room objects to store information about each Room in your game.
• Create Inventory and Score objects.
• Use a while loop for the main game loop.
• Inside this loop use an if statement to check what commands the user has typed. Based on the command, the Room the user is in and what items the user has in their inventory output a different response and update the Inventory, Score and Map information if appropriate.
9 Submission Procedure
The general steps to take to complete the project are as follows:
• Set up your gitlab ssh access using the setup-git command on vlab.
• Copy your ssh key to your gitlab profile.
• Clone the template repository from your gitlab.
• Do not change any of the code in the template but you may add to it.
• Work on your code, testing it regularly. Use the run.sh script to run the code as this builds the code correctly as well.
• Use the test.sh script to test your code. This will give you an output similar to what we will use to mark the code.
• Make sure you commit and push regularly as well.
• Make sure to add comments to your code to clearly explain what each method is doing.
• Once you have completed the code, record a short video using MS Stream. Refer to Section 2 for more information.
• Submit the video to canvas.
• Submit the latest commit hash to canvas.
• You will receive an automated message indicating whether we are able to mark your code.
• If there are no problems you are done with the assignment.
• If there are problems with your submission, update it accordingly and resubmit the latest commit hash.
10 Rubric
|
Task
|
Submission Type
|
Mark
|
|
Position.java
|
gitlab
|
5
|
|
Room.java
|
gitlab
|
10
|
|
Map.java
|
gitlab
|
10
|
|
Inventory
|
gitlab
|
15
|
|
Score
|
gitlab
|
10
|
|
Game playthrough
|
Canvas video submission
|
20
|
|
Game.java
|
Canvas video submission
|
15
|
|
Additional features
|
Canvas video submission
|
15
|
|
Total
|
|
100
|
Table 2: Mark Rubric
11 Sample Output
Your empty cell in the brig. The only notable feature is the half open cell door to the south .
>> move south
You follow the hallway south >> move south
You follow the hallway towards the control room >> look
You are standing in the control room of the brig. There is a control panel with a number of large button with ’locked ’ written on it .
>> press button
You press the button marked ’locked ’ .
>> look
You are standing in the control room of the brig. There is a control
panel with a number of large button with ’unlocked ’ now written on it . The lock on the door to the east is open .
>> move east You go east .
>> look
You are standing in a dark and dusty storage room. You notice a closed
toolbox standing on a crate . There is a metal grate in the corner of the room .
>> inventory
You have:
>> map
..........
.c........
.h........
.bs.......
..........
..........
..........
..........
..........
..........
>> open toolbox
You open the toolbox . Inside you find a crowbar .
>> take crowbar
You take the crowbar .
>> inventory
You have: crowbar
>> use crowbar on grate
You lift the grate up . A ladder leads down into darkness.
>> look
You are standing in a dark and dusty storage room. You notice a open and empty toolbox standing on a crate . There is a open metal grate in the corner of the room .
>> help
Valid commands are: , , , , , ,
>> score
SCORE: 106 .0
>> quit
Game over