Ace Hangman in Java: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Fun Game

Ready to build your own interactive Hangman game in Java? This guide provides simple, actionable steps to breathe life into a classic word puzzle using pre-built methods. No more main method mysteries—let's jump straight into turning provided code into a fully functional game!

1. Grasping the Game: Unveiling the Provided Hangman Code

Before swinging into action, take a moment to understand the tools. The GitHub repository offers pre-built methods designed to handle core Hangman functionalities.

• Dive into the Javadoc: This documentation outlines each method's purpose, inputs, and outputs. Think of it as your Hangman dictionary.
• Inspect the existing code: Understand how the given methods interact with each other before you start doing modification of the code by constructing a main method to control the game

Understanding how these methods work together is crucial for a smooth development process.

2. Building the Brain: Creating Your HangmanMain Class

It's time to piece everything together to create the focal point of your program. First you will generate your HangmanMain.java file, where main() method starts building the game's interface and logic.

Here's your mission:

• Craft a HangmanMain Class: This class will house the main() method, the control center of your Hangman game.
• Construct the main() Method: This is where the game logic begins, calling different components to initialize and make the game run.

3. Game Initialization: Setting the Stage for Wordy Challenges

Let's bring the Hangman game to life! These steps will initialize the necessary game objects and settings:

• Instantiate a HangmanGame Object: Create an instance of the HangmanGame class to access its useful methods.
• Display the Game Screen: Use the printScreen() method to show the Hangman interface to the player.
• Determine Difficulty: Get input from the user on whether they want "easy" or "hard" difficulty using the getInput() method. This decision changes the category of words they'll face.

4. Word Selection and Gallows Display

Now, let's select a word from the chosen difficulty level and display the initial gallows:

• Load Words: Call initializeWords() method, passing in the user's difficulty choice ("easy" or "hard").
• Select a Word: Execute the wordSelect() method to randomly pick a word for the player to guess.
• Show the Gallows: Use getZero() to print the initial empty gallows which helps to provide the basis for the game's visual feedback.
• Display Word Progress: Use printWordProgress() to show the correctly guessed letters.

5. The Guessing Game Loop: Engage the Player

This segment focuses on the core gameplay loop which lets player make guesses:

• Loop Condition: Keep the game running as long as it isn't finished, implementing a while loop that checks if the HangmanGame is over.
• Get Player's Guess: Inside the loop, prompt the player to getInput() method to take single-letter input by calling the getInput() method.
• Process the Guess: Use the guess() method, passing in the player's letter, to update the game's progress.

Rinse and repeat until the player wins or loses. Provide feedback after each guess to enhance engagement!

6. Completion and Submission: Finishing Touches

Ready to finalize your masterpiece? Here's how to wrap everything up:

• Thorough Testing: Run the Hangman game multiple times to ensure that every function works seamlessly.
• Submit Your Work: Upload your HangmanMain.java file to the online assignment portal and submit your program.