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Boggle Game API

Set-Up Instructions:

  1. Update the value of application in app.yaml to the app ID you have registered in the App Engine admin console and would like to use to host your instance of this sample.
  2. Run the app with the devserver using dev_appserver.py DIR, and ensure it's running by visiting your local server's address (by default localhost:8080.)
  3. (Optional) Generate your client library(ies) with the endpoints tool. Deploy your application.

Working Backend API here

##Game Description: Boggle is a simple two player game where users find words. Game instructions are available here.

The board is represented as a 2-D list of letters organized into 4 rows and 4 cols as follows: [ 'abcd', // row 1 'efgh', // row 2 'ijkl', // row 3 'mnop' // row 4 ]

Note: Each letter is a valid origin or node along a path. Paths can link to an adjoining neighbor only (a can go to b, e, or f but not g or c) The final path the user selects must be an actual word in the English language and must terminate. Points are awarded for valid words according to the following criteria: word has between 3 and 5 letters, 2 points awarded word has 6 letters, 3 points word has 7 letters, 5 points word has 8 or more letters, 11 points

The game ends when there are no more solutions left on the board, or the game is cancelled. The user with the higher number of points during the game is declared a winner.

##Files Included:

  • api.py: Contains endpoints and game playing logic.
  • app.yaml: App configuration.
  • cron.yaml: Cronjob configuration.
  • main.py: Handler for taskqueue handler.
  • models.py: Entity and message definitions including helper methods.
  • utils.py: Helper function for retrieving ndb.Models by urlsafe Key string.
  • boggleBoard.py: Helper function for generating a valid boggle board.
  • boggleWords.py: Helper function for getting all possible words to use in boggle board.

##Endpoints Included:

  • create_user

    • Path: 'user'
    • Method: POST
    • Parameters: user_name
    • Returns: Message confirming creation of the User.
    • Description: Creates a new User. user_name provided must be unique. Will raise a ConflictException if a User with that user_name already exists.

  • new_game

    • Path: 'game'
    • Method: POST
    • Parameters: user_x, user_y
    • Returns: GameForm with initial game state.
    • Description: Creates a new Game. user_x and user_o are the names of the 'X' and 'O' player respectively

  • get_game

    • Path: 'game/{urlsafe_game_key}'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: urlsafe_game_key
    • Returns: GameForm with current game state.
    • Description: Returns the current state of a game.

  • make_move

    • Path: 'game/{urlsafe_game_key}'
    • Method: PUT
    • Parameters: urlsafe_game_key, user_name, move, word
    • Returns: GameForm with new game state.
    • Description: Accepts a move and word and returns the updated state of the game. A move is a tuple of tuples in the format: ((0,1) (1,0)) indicating the movement along the board from one letter to the next. A word is a valid word found along the move path. If this move causes a game to end, a corresponding Score entity will be created based on the player with the most points, unless the game is tied - in which case the game will be deleted.

  • get_scores

    • Path: 'scores'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: None
    • Returns: ScoreForms.
    • Description: Returns all Scores in the database (unordered).

  • get_user_scores

    • Path: 'scores/user/{user_name}'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: user_name
    • Returns: ScoreForms.
    • Description: Returns all Scores recorded by the provided player (unordered). Will raise a NotFoundException if the User does not exist.

  • get_active_game_count NOT IMPLEMENTED

    • Path: 'games/active'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: None
    • Returns: StringMessage
    • Description: Gets the average number of attempts remaining for all games from a previously cached memcache key.

##Models Included:

  • User

    • Stores unique user_name and (optional) email address.
    • Also keeps track of wins and total_played.

  • Game

    • Stores unique game states. Associated with User models via KeyProperties user_x and user_o.

  • Score

    • Records completed games. Associated with Users model via KeyProperty as well.

##Forms Included:

  • GameForm
    • Representation of a Game's state (urlsafe_key, board, user_x, user_o, game_over, winner).
  • NewGameForm
    • Used to create a new game (user_x, user_o)
  • MakeMoveForm
    • Inbound make move form (user_name, move).
  • ScoreForm
    • Representation of a completed game's Score (date, winner, loser).
  • ScoreForms
    • Multiple ScoreForm container.
  • UserForm
    • Representation of User. Includes winning percentage
  • UserForms
    • Container for one or more UserForm.
  • StringMessage
    • General purpose String container.

##Design Decisions

  • I added a field to store the board in Game. I used PickleProperty because it allowed me to store a Python List in the datastore which seemed like the simplest way to record the state of the board.
  • I also added next_move, user_x, user_o, and winner (all KeyProperty) to the Game model to keep track of which User was either 'X' or 'O' and who's move it was.
  • I used a 'game_over' flag as well to mark completed games.
  • I modified the Score model to record which player won and lost each game.

##Additional endpoints

  • get_user_games

    • Path: 'user/games'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: user_name
    • Returns: GameForms with 1 or more GameForm inside.
    • Description: Returns the current state of all the User's active games.

  • cancel_game

    • Path: 'game/{urlsafe_game_key}'
    • Method: DELETE
    • Parameters: urlsafe_game_key
    • Returns: StringMessage confirming deletion
    • Description: Deletes the game. If the game is already completed an error will be thrown.

  • get_user_rankings

    • Path: 'user/ranking'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: None
    • Returns: UserForms
    • Description: Rank all players that have played at least one game by their winning percentage and return.

  • get_game_history

    • Path: 'game/{urlsafe_game_key}'
    • Method: GET
    • Parameters: urlsafe_game_key
    • Returns: StringMessage containing history
    • Description: Returns the move history of a game as a stringified list of dictionaries in the form (username, move, points) eg: [{'Username':'myName', 'Move':('cat',((0,1), (1,1) (1,2)) ), 'Points':'2'}]