/wdi_1_miniproject_game

Mini Project: Character Generator and Game

As you approach the end of your first week, consider the vast array of tools that you have been working with this week, including:

  • Executing Ruby programs
  • Flow control (if/while) statements
  • Assignment of variables
  • Basic datatypes (String, Float, Integer, Boolean)
  • Collection datatypes (Array, Hash)
  • Writing methods, scope
  • Writing and inheriting classes (Object Oriented Programming)
  • Using pry to debug code
  • Print to the screen and accepting user input
  • Performing calculations on data
  • Using Git for basic version control

Now is the time to put it all together with something fun: a game, or at least part of a game. Much of this exercise is left up to your imagination, but there are some suggestions and guidelines.

Instructions

This project has 2 parts - building a character generator (required) and writing a game that uses the character generator (optional).

For both parts, you are required to comment your code. See below for detailed instructions on commenting.

This is due Monday morning. Fork and clone this repo, create your own files, then submit a Pull Request on GitHub when you're done.

Make sure to make many (20-50) Git commits along the way to save your progress!

You may reference any materials at your disposal and talk with each other about your problems and progress.

Part 1: Character Generator (Required)

Build a "character generator" using Ruby making use of the majority of topics above, especially classes, arrays/hashes, and methods. You may base your inspiration on any game, including Nethack, World of Warcraft, D20 system, GURPs or Dungeons and Dragons (Basic rulebook from latest edition is [http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules]).

For example (only an example, yours will vary), I may want to be able to create an object that is a Character, who is a Human Wizard named "Harry". The code should be flexible enough that I can also create an Elven Thief named "Locke" and have them both stored in memory.

For all methods, you will comment 3 things: what the method does, the expected datatype/class of each input argument, and the expected datatype/class of the return value. If using a class, make note of where you're using 'self' (implied or explict) to refer to the instance of the class itself. For example:

# 
# Input args: x; FixNum or Float 
# Return datatype: FixNum or Float
def square(x)
  x * x
end

class String
  # Input args: none. Referring to instance of String with .self
  # Return datatype: String
  def my_reverse
    self.reverse
  end
end

Part 2: Game (Optional)

A character generator is only the first step of your adventure. If you choose, try to make a relatively simple game out of it.

Perhaps your character can fight a monster, and take turns attacking each other! Go as far as you'd like with this, and the sky is the limit.

Perhaps you are able to help run a Dungeon and Dragaons gaming session smoother with your tool, or simply keep track of your character sheet with updates as the game progresses.

A simple option might be to write a small fixed "story" using the code that you've built for a character, to execute various methods on the Character class.

You could even try building an(Interactive Fiction)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction] (also known as a Text Adventure Game) with your character generator or rule-set as the basis of the functionality. Writing a good text parser here will be a big challenge.

You could also try (I haven't done this... beware it might be a timesink and even installing the gem might be hard) using a (2d graphic library)[https://www.ruby-toolbox.com/categories/game_libraries] like (Gosu)[https://github.com/jlnr/gosu/wiki/Getting-Started-on-OS-X] or (Chingu)[http://ippa.se/chingu] to make it somewhat graphical.

Remember to comment your code here too!