Futoshiki Puzzle Game – Software Maintenance (MVC + Functional Enhancements)

This project is a continuation and enhancement of the Futoshiki logic puzzle game developed in the previous assignment. It was created for the Object-Oriented Programming course at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica and focuses on applying software maintenance techniques through architectural and functional improvements.

🧱 Project Scope

The main goal of this project was to restructure and enhance the existing Futoshiki application by:

• Applying the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern
• Implementing new gameplay features
• Ensuring a scalable, maintainable, and user-friendly system

🚀 New Functionalities

✅ 1. Dynamic Grid Sizes

• Supports board sizes of 5x5 to 9x9
• Grid size is configurable by the user via the settings menu
• XML file format for puzzle data updated to include grid size

✅ 2. Multilevel Gameplay Mode

• Players progress through Easy → Medium → Hard levels automatically
• The game timer spans across all levels
• Each level’s result is evaluated for inclusion in the Top 10 leaderboard
• New Multilevel option added in game configuration

✅ 3. Suggested Moves per Cell

• Users can request possible valid values for a specific cell
• Suggestion logic accounts for:
  • Row and column constraints
  • Inequality restrictions around the cell (>, <, ˅, ˄)
• Real-time validation based on current game state

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🖼 GUI Improvements

• Interactive and dynamic interface supports all new features
• Updated game configuration screen with:
  • Difficulty: Easy / Medium / Hard / Multilevel
  • Clock type: Real-time / Timer / None
  • Digit panel position: Left / Right
  • Grid size: 5–9
• Support for saving/loading the current game
• Improved Top 10 leaderboard by level
• Visual feedback for invalid plays and suggestions

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🗂 File Structure

• futoshiki2022partidas.xml: Puzzle definitions, now includes <cuadricula> tag
• futoshiki2022top10.dat: Leaderboard data (Top 10 per level)
• futoshiki2022juegoactual.dat: Stores current game state
• futoshiki2022configuración.dat: User configuration settings

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🧠 Technologies and Patterns

• Java (OOP principles)
• Java Swing or JavaFX for GUI
• MVC architecture:
  • Model: Game logic, file I/O, and state
  • View: GUI components
  • Controller: Coordinates user actions and model updates
• Stack-based undo/redo
• Java serialization and XML handling

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💾 How to Run

1. Clone the repository
2. Open it in a Java IDE (IntelliJ, Eclipse, NetBeans)
3. Make sure Java 11+ is installed
4. Build and run the main class
5. Use the configuration menu to choose difficulty, grid size, and other preferences

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🧾 Documentation

• JavaDoc comments in source code
• UML Class Diagrams (updated with new features)
• Description of added functionalities
• Overview of the MVC architecture used
• Setup instructions, conclusions, and known issues

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👨‍💻 Authors

Developed by students Steven Sequeira and Brayton Solano of Object-Oriented Programming, Semester II - 2022
Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica

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