Introduction - Implementing Core Gameplay Features
Scrabble is a classic word game that has entertained families and competitive players alike for over 70 years. The timeless gameplay rewards vocabulary, creative thinking, and skillful tile management. While physical Scrabble boards continue to thrive, digital versions present new opportunities to build upon this iconic game.This report documents the development of a Scrabble application from initial requirements gathering through to final testing. Utilizing object oriented analysis and design, the digital Scrabble project models key game components like players, letter tiles, and the board as specialized classes. Their interactions enable core gameplay functionality like drawing tiles, verifying word legitimacy, applying bonuses, and scoring.Additional capabilities were considered for features like player statistics, accessibility options, and online multiplayer. However the development focused first on establishing completely stable single player Scrabble gameplay true to the original board game. Testing thoroughly validates expected game logic and user experience prior to any potential feature expansion.In summary, this report catalogues the analysis, design decisions, OOP implementation, and testing practices behind crafting a digital version of the timeless Scrabble board game. The application pays homage to the original while exploring how software development can augment gameplay. As with assembling plays from random letter tiles, there remain abundant possibilities to build upon this foundation in the future.
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Background or literature review
Background Scrabble launched in 1948 and steadily gained popularity over the following decades as a classic word game celebrating the intersection of language, strategy, and chance. Players draw random letter tiles and compete to form interconnecting words on the board, scoring points based on letter values and bonuses [1]. Scrabble gameplay intrigues as both a casual family activity and intense competitive pursuit, selling over 150 million sets to date [1].
While Scrabble thrived as a physical board game for decades, the rise of mobile devices and app stores empowered development of digital versions. Electronic arts launched licensed Scrabble app in 2008, sparking a wave of mobile clones utilizing touch interfaces for tile placement instead of cumbersome mouse controls [2]. These digital incarnations opened Scrabble to new demographics like youth accustomed to phones and tablets. They also enabled gameplay augmentations like tutorials, dictionaries, statistics, accessibility options, and online multiplayer matching [3]. Global mobile Scrabble market revenue is projected to grow steadily in upcoming years .
Game Implementations like many digital Scrabble apps and clones take similar object-oriented approaches, whether targeting platforms like mobile, desktop or web [4]. But code architecture and language choice vary considerably in their suitability for diverse platforms, user interfaces, and feature sets.
Low level languages like C++ offer performance gains especially relevant for 3D graphics or AI opponents, while managed options like C# or Java enable rapid prototyping [5]. Scripting languages like JavaScript or Python privileged here simplify cross-platform development, but can incur runtime penalties for data processing or complex game logic [6].
Custom Game Engines vs Frameworks Tailored game engines provide infrastructure for common functionality like input handling, rendering, sound, physics, networking but require extensive specialization[7]. Multi-purpose game frameworks like Unity, Unreal, or Godot sacrifice maximal performance for improved productivity and cross-platform publishing[8]. Tradeoffs guided by project scope, platforms, team size and other practical constraints.
Accessibility Options The code lacks provisions for accessibility options that disabled gamers increasingly expect [9]. Custom difficulty settings, interface scaling, colorblindness filters, and screen reader support represent straightforward starting points to broaden access. But full accessibility requires considering disability needs throughout design and development, not just bolted on afterwards [10].
In summary, contemporary Scrabble research explores digitization opportunities around interface modernization, accessibility, online connectivity, and cheating prevention. As Scrabble persists through shifting technological landscape, human creativity and language mastery at its core endure. Digital incarnations aim to broaden access and enjoyment rather than overhauling a proven formula. Development pursues augmentation over alteration while retaining spirit true to original board game. This Scrabble game employs prudent software patterns but leaves room to strengthen accommodations for diverse platforms, performance contexts, feature aspirations and disabled end-users. As with playing a game of Scrabble constrained by one’s random letter draws, programming any non-trivial application involves navigating tradeoffs around budgets, team composition, user expectations and project timelines.
Discussion
Task 1: Requirements
The requirements outlined for the Scrabble game cover the key functional elements based on the standard rules and gameplay. Having an adaptable game board, randomized letter tile distribution, underlying word dictionary for verification, and scoring mechanisms reflect what is needed to mimic the physical board game.
Rules of Scrabble:
Scrabble is a word game played between 2-4 players on a game board with a 15x15 grid of squares.
Each player draws 7 letter tiles randomly and uses them to form words on the board, adjoining previously played words when possible.
Each letter tile has a points value. The total number of points of all letters played in each turn is tallied.
The game ends when all letter tiles have been drawn and one player uses their last tile. The player with the highest points total wins.
Categorizing the ancillary features like player statistics and networking as “Could Have” using the MoSCoW prioritization technique allows scoping the work for an initial release while keeping opportunities open for future enhancement[11].
Requirements (MOSCOW):
MUST HAVE: Game board, letter tiles, tile bag, scoring based on letter values
SHOULD HAVE: Dictionary to verify word validity, bonus square multipliers
COULD HAVE: Player profiles, statistics tracking
WON'T HAVE: Chat functions between players, animations
Overall, the requirements lay a solid foundation for the critical pieces and major logical components needed to enable the game logic and basic flow[12].
The variables specification maps the key logical constructs from the problem space of Scrabble gameplay into appropriate software abstractions[13]. Using composable structures like arrays and objects as building blocks promotes modularity and separation of concerns in the implementation.
Variables:
board (2D array): stores status of board squares
players (array): stores player objects
tiles (array): stores tile objects with letter and value
tileBag (object): manages drawing and returning tiles
dictionary (object): verifies validity of words
turn (object): manages a single player turn.
For example, encapsulating the tile bag behaviors into its own “tileBag” object and isolating each player’s state into discrete “player” objects models the real-world entities accurately.The dictionary and turn objects demonstrate planning ahead for expected functionality around word verification and turn management that builds on top of the core board and player representations.
Overall, the declared variables demonstrate a sound plan to translate and implement the Scrabble game structure into reusable and meaningful software components[14].
Figure 1: Main Game Flowchart
This flowchart depicts the overall logic and process flow for a complete game of Scrabble from start to end.The game begins with initialization of the key components - board, players, and tile bag. The tile bag is then shuffled to randomly distribute tiles among players.The main game loop checks if tiles remain[15]. As long as there are tiles, each player takes a turn. A player attempts to validate a word play on the board. If valid, the board and score are updated. Any unplayed tiles are returned to the bag.This gameplay loop continues until no tiles remain. Then the end game state is reached where a winner is determined based on the final scores before the program terminates.This provides a high-level overview of coordinating the sequence of steps for full Scrabble game play.
Figure 2: Player Turn Flowchart
This flowchart details the specific logic that occurs during one player's turn.Each turn starts by drawing tiles from the bag to replenish the player’s rack. The player attempts to place a word on the board from their available tiles.The game checks if the desired word play is valid. If so, the word is officially placed on the board and score calculated. Any unplayed tiles are returned to the bag before ending this player’s current turn.If the attempted word play was deemed invalid based on placement rules and dictionary checks, the logic loops back to ask the player for another word selection using their current tiles instead of advancing the turn.This handles all logic branching related to a single player's attempts to successfully play a word during their allotted turn.
Figure 3: Creation of Classes
Figure 3 defines the blueprint for the Player and Game classes that will be used to model a rock-paper-scissors game.
The Player class has an init constructor method that is called automatically when a new Player object is created. This initializes two attributes: the player's name (player_name) and their chosen move (player_move). The move will be set to 'rock', 'paper' or 'scissors' when instantiated.
The Game class contains four methods to facilitate gameplay:
accept_moves: Takes two Player instances as arguments. Stores their moves into attributes for later comparison.
compare_moves: Compares the two players' moves, by checking instances of rock-paper-scissors winning conditions via a series of if/elif/else statements. Returns the index (1 or 2) of the winning Player[16].
increment_score: Uses the winning player's index to increment their score by 1.
play_round: The main game logic. Calls accept_moves, compare_moves, and increment_score in sequence to play a round.
Figure 4: Game setup
Figure 4 shows how these classes can be utilized to create a game. Two Player instances (p1 and p2) are initialized with player names. A Game instance (game) is also created. To play a round, the player moves are inputted and passed to the game's play_round method. Behind the scenes, this stores the moves, checks them against each other, declares a winner, and increments their score.
Analysis
The project exemplifies a simplified yet robust implementation of core Scrabble gameplay functionality utilizing principles of object oriented programming. The design decomposes the game into key components modeled as classes including Board, Player, TileBag and Dictionary.
Board Class
The Board class encapsulates the abstract data representation of the 15x15 grid of playable spaces as a 2D array. Additional attributes hold bonus square locations and types for score modifiers. Its methods enable checking new words against placement rules and verifying word validity via the Dictionary. This combination of data storage, bonus info, and word verification enable central game mechanics revolving around forming interconnecting words on the board.
Player Class
The Player class models individual competitors including their name, score, and tile rack represented as an array. Drawing tiles and playing words change a Player’s game state. The class procedures integrate with Board for moves and TileBag for letters enabling turn-based actions. Player flexibility supports expanding to multiple opponents with unique profiles[17].
TileBag Class
A?class handles tile creation distribution modeling the real Scrabble letter frequencies. Its two core methods “draw” and “return” tiles facilitate replenishing players’ racks and depleting over the course of gameplay. TileBag also signals when no more letter remain to end the game. The class has no positional awareness of board logic, appropriately limiting responsibility according to modular design paradigm.
Dictionary Class
While specifics were not implemented, the Dictionary class represents the key capability of verifying word validity. Integrated with Board, it enables checking new plays against real lexicon data, crucial for fair competitive gameplay. A range of techniques like text files, search algorithms, or external API integration offer tunable tradeoffs around size, performance, and lexicon flexibility suited to set project priorities like app speed or vocabulary scope.
Game Initialization
The game setup logic constructs instances of key classes with relationships enabling interactions critical for gameplay. The Board and Dictionary link together supporting word verification. Players obtain letter tiles from the centralized TileBag. Connectivity established early prevents convoluting individual classes with setup details.
Gameplay Loop
The outer game loop handles alternate player turns drawing tiles, attempting plays, and point accumulation until tile depletion. Integrating classes defined earlier enables clean gameplay logic relying on those relationships without cluttering loop with granular move resolution details. The flexible Player array allows expanding competitors. Simple victory conditions check handles game end and winner announcement[18].
Modules implemented
Several effective OOP principles are visible through the design choices:
Encapsulation: Classes bundle related data with procedures operating on them
Modularity: Classes partition functionality with explicit interfaces easing maintenance
Relationships: Pointers between objects enable collaboration
Inheritance: Dictionary or Player could extend more generic classes
The high cohesion yet low coupling between classes, along with modularization of game phases, contributes clean composability. This positions the project well for sustaining maintainability and extensibility over potential long-term evolution. The analysis reveals a thoughtfully crafted componentized architecture organized around OOP ideals. While additional optimizations could improve performance, the solid object oriented foundation provides strong footing for enhancements.
Figure 5: Determination of Winner
Figure 5 zooms into the compare_moves logic. It checks if Player 1's move beats Player 2's move (e.g. rock beats scissors) and vice versa for all combinations of moves. An additional tie condition is included if both players make the same move. The corresponding player's index is returned to indicate the winner.
Figure 6: Results
Figure 6 displays a complete 3-round game between two players named Tom and Jerry. The game instance controls the overall flow - prompting for moves, declaring round winners, maintaining scores, and announcing the overall winner. The Player instances simply store player data.The use of classes splits the game into sensible components while encapsulating complex logic such as comparing moves and scoring. Extending the game to handle more players or moves would be straightforward by tweaking the class methods without impacting the high-level game flow. This demonstrates how object-oriented programming facilitates reuse of code, modeling of real-world interactions, and maintaining program organization as complexity increases. The classes abstract away implementation details behind clean interfaces.
Overall, it's a simple but effective illustration of OOP principles using a fun rock-paper-scissors game scenario. The concepts can be applied to model and implement more complex systems as well.
Conclusion
This Scrabble implementation exemplifies several best practices for leveraging object oriented principles to model essential game components and their interactions. Encapsulation of key entities like Board, Player, and TileBag into classes with explicit interfaces promotes appropriate cohesion and coupling. Game phases partition into modules handling setup versus ongoing gameplay logic. Relationships between classes established early enable clear flow throughout initialization, the main game loop, and victory determination without convoluting individual responsibilities. While focused on core functionality, the design choices favor extensibility and maintainability to support enriching features over time. Additional polish around interfaces, visual appeal, and accessibility would further augment player experience. However at its foundation, the clean decomposition, encapsulation, and integration of classes here clearly captures the spirit of Scrabble gameplay in a adaptable digital form prime for incremental improvements.
References
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