BACK TO THE STORY OF MIGHTY MOLLY
Now it is time to turn your attention back to the development of this chapter's game project, the Story of Mighty Molly. To create this game, you will follow the same five development steps that you've used to create previous chapter projects.
Designing the Game
The Story of Mighty Molly will be played on a single window, although the InputBox() function and MessageBox.Show method will be used to collect and display stored input and output. The game will therefore be made up of one form and the 11 controls listed in Table 5.5.
| Control Type | Control Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Label | lblWelcomeMsg | Displays the game's welcome message |
| Label | lblIntroText | Displays a brief prologue to the Story of Mighty Molly |
| Label | lblInstructions | Displays instructions for playing the game |
| Button | btnquestion1 | Controls access to the game's first question |
| Button | btnquestion2 | Controls access to the game's second question= |
| Button | btnquestion3 | Controls access to the game's third question |
| Button | btnquestion4 | Controls access to the game's fourth question |
| Button | btnquestion5 | Controls access to the game's fifth question |
| Button | btnPlayGame | Displays the game story |
| StatusBar | stbControl | Displays status information as the game progresses |
| ProgressBar | prbControl | Provides a graphical indication of the game's progress |
Step 1: Creating a New Visual Basic Project
The first step in creating the Story of Mighty Molly is to start Visual Basic and open a new project.
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If you have not already done so, start up Visual Basic 2005 Express and then click on File and select New Project. The New Project dialog will appear.
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Select Windows Application template.
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Type The Story of Mighty Molly as the name of your new application in the Name field located at the bottom of the New Project window.
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Click on OK to close the New Project dialog.
Visual Basic will now create a new project for you, including an empty form, which you'll use to create the game's user interface.
Step 2: Creating the User Interface
Let's continue by adding the controls required to set up the game's user interface. The overall design of the game's interface is shown in Figure 5.11.
Figure 5.11: Completing the interface design for the Story of Mighty Molly game.
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Begin by adding three Label controls to the form. By default, Visual Basic assigns the names Label1 through Label3 to these controls.
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Add six Button controls to the form and line them up horizontally beneath the last Label control. By default, Visual Basic names these controls Button1 through Button6.
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Add a StatusBar control to the form. By default, Visual Basic assigns this control the name StatusBar1.
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Add a ToolTip control to the form. By default Visual Basic assigns this control the name of ToolTip1.
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Finally, add a ProgressBar control to the form and move it on top of the StatusBar control, as shown in Figure 5.11.
The overall layout for the application's form is now complete.
Step 3: Customizing Form and Control Properties
Now it is time to customize the form and its controls. By this point in the book, you should be comfortable with the steps involved in modifying form and control properties. So, instead of walking you through each step that is involved in modifying every control, I am going provide you with tables for each control that identify the property changes that need to be made and leave it up to you to go ahead and make the changes.
The property modifications that need to be made to form1 are listed in Table 5.6.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | frmMain |
| BackColor | White |
| Cursor | Hand |
| FormBorderStyle | Fixed3D |
| MaximizeBox | False |
| MinimizeBox | False |
| StartPosition | CenterScreen |
| Text | The Story of Mighty Mo11y |
The property changes for each of the form's three Label controls are listed in Table 5.7.
| Control | Property | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Label1 | Name | lb1WelcomeMsg |
| ForeColor | DarkBlue | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Font.Italic | True | |
| Font.Size | 16 | |
| Text | Welcome to The Story of Mighty Molly. | |
| Label2 | Name | lbllntroText |
| Text | Mighty Molly was the bravest of all the Mollys. She was fearless in battle and relentless in everything else. No one who ever met her was left untouched, for the mighty one had a certain mystical way about her that almost magically seemed to rub off on those around her. | |
| Certainly, there never was before and may never be again anyone as mighty as Mighty Molly. For those of you who have not heard the tales of the mighty one, you are in luck, because today you get the chance to participate in the telling of the mighty one's last great adventure! | ||
| Label3 | Name | lblInstructions |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Instructions: To play the game and participate in the telling of "The Story of Mighty Molly," you must click on each of the following 5 buttons and supply the required information. |
The property changes for each of the six Button controls are listed in Table 5.8.
| Control | Property | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Button1 | Name | btnQuestion1 |
| BackColor | LightYellow | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Question # 1 | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to answer the first question. | |
| Button2 | Name | btnQuestion2 |
| BackColor | LightGray | |
| Enabled | False | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Question # 2 | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to answer the second question. | |
| Button3 | Name | btnQuestion3 |
| BackColor | LightGray | |
| Enabled | False | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Question # 3 | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to answer the third question. | |
| Button4 | Name | btnQuestion4 |
| BackColor | LightGray | |
| Enabled | False | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Question # 4 | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to answer the fourth question. | |
| Button5 | Name | btnQuestion5 |
| BackColor | LightGray | |
| Enabled | False | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Question # 5 | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to answer the fifth question. | |
| Button6 | Name | btnPlayGame |
| BackColor | LightGray | |
| Enabled | False | |
| Font.Bold | True | |
| Text | Tell me the story! | |
| ToolTip | Click on button to see the story. |
The property changes for the StatusBar control are listed in Table 5.9.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | stbControl |
| Panels | StatusBarPanel1 (Text = Game Ready!) |
| StatusBarPanel2 (Text = Progress:) | |
| ShowPanels | True |
| Size.Height | 24 |
| SizingGrip | False |
The property changes for the ProgressBar control are listed in Table 5.10.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | prbControl |
| Size.Height | 22 |
Step 4: Adding a Little Programming Logic
Now that the game's user interface has been created and you have modified the appropriate form and control properties, it is time to begin coding. Start by double-clicking on form1. This will open the code editor and display code for the form's Load event. However, you don't need the code for the load event, so you can delete it, leaving just the opening and closing Class statements, as shown below.
Public Class frmMain End Class
Now add the following statements in between these two statements.
'Declare constant used to specify titlebar message in pop-up Windows Const cTitleBarMsg As String = "The Story of Mighty Molly" 'Declare variables used throughout the application Private strCreature As String Private strRoom As String Private strColor As String Private strWeapon As String Private strFood As String
The first statement defines a constant that will be used to supply a title bar message for all the pop-up windows displayed by the game. The next five statements declare variables. Each variable will be used to store a piece of information supplied by the player. Notice that the Friend keyword is used to limit the scope of each variable to the Class in which the variables were defined (such as form1). I could have just as easily used the Dim keyword and the application would have performed just the same. However, as a general rule, it is best to try and limit scope whenever possible.
Next, switch back to the form designer and double-click on the first button control. Then modify the button's Click event procedure, as shown below.
'This Sub procedure prompts the player to answer the 1st question Private Sub btnQuestion1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnQuestion1.Click 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Be Brave!" 'Prompt player to answer the first question strCreature = InputBox("What scary creature scares you most?", _ cTitleBarMsg) 'Make sure the player entered something If strCreature = "" Then MessageBox.Show("You must answer all questions to " & _ "continue.", cTitleBarMsg) Else strCreature = strCreature.ToLower 'Convert input to lower- case StatusBarPanel1.Text = "" 'Clear statusbar btnQuestion1.Enabled = False 'Disable the 1st button con rol btnQuestion2.Enabled = True 'Enable the 2nd Button control btnQuestion1.BackColor = Color.LightPink 'Turn button pink btnQuestion2.BackColor = Color.LightYellow 'Turn button yellow prbControl.Value = 20 'Update the ProgressBar control End If End Sub The first statement inside the procedure sets the Text property of the StatusBarPanel1 to "Be Brave!" The next statement uses the InputBox() function to prompt the user to provide the name of a scary monster. The player's input is stored in a variable named strCreature. The next statement checks to make sure that the player did not click on the Cancel button or that the player did not click on the OK button without supplying any information. The MessageBox.Show method is used to display an error message if the player fails to provide input. Otherwise the following actions are performed:
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The text string supplied by the player is converted to all lowercase using the ToLower method.
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The text displayed in the first Status Bar panel is cleared out.
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The btnQuestion1 button is disabled, preventing the player from clicking on it again.
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The btnQuestion2 button is enabled, allowing the player to click on it.
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The background color of the btnQuestion1 button is set to LightPink to indicate that the input collected from the player for the first question was accepted.
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The background color of the btnQuestion2 button is set to LightYellow to indicate that it is the currently active game button.
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The ProgressBar control is updated to show that the application has collected 20 percent of the input that is required to tell the story.
Now, access the procedure of the btnQuestion2 control and modify it as shown below.
'This Sub procedure prompts the player to answer the 2nd question Private Sub btnQuestion2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnQuestion2.Click 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Any Room Will Do!" 'Prompt player to answer the second question strRoom = InputBox("What's the worst room in a castle?",_ cTitleBarMsg) 'Make sure the player entered something If strRoom = "" Then MessageBox.Show("You must answer all questions to " & _ "continue.", cTitleBarMsg) Else strRoom = strRoom.ToLower 'Convert input to lowercase StatusBarPanel1.Text = "" 'Clear statusbar btnQuestion2.Enabled = False 'Disable the 2nd button control btnQuestion3.Enabled = True 'Enable the 3rd Button control btnQuestion2.BackColor = Color.LightPink 'Turn button pink btnQuestion3.BackColor = Color.LightYellow 'Turn button yellow prbControl.Value = 40 'Update the ProgressBar control End If End Sub As you can see, the code for the btnQuestion2 control is almost identical to the code that you added to the btnQuestion1 control, the only differences being:
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A different status bar message is displayed.
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A different question is asked.
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The player's response is stored in a different variable.
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This time, btnQuestion2 is disabled and btnQuestion3 is enabled.
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This time, the background color of btnQuestion2 to set to LightPink and the background of btnQuestion3 is set to LightYellow.
Now, access the procedure of the btnQuestion3 control and modify it as shown below.
'This Sub procedure prompts the player to answer the 3rd question Private Sub btnQuestion3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,_ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnQuestion3.Click 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Any Color Will Do!" 'Prompt player to answer the third question strColor = InputBox("What is your favorite color?",_ cTitleBarMsg) 'Make sure the player entered something If strColor = "" Then MessageBox.Show("You must answer all questions to " & _ "continue.", cTitleBarMsg) Else strColor = strColor.ToLower 'Convert input to lowercase StatusBarPanel1.Text = "" 'Clear statusbar btnQuestion3.Enabled = False 'Disable the 3rd button control btnQuestion4.Enabled = True 'Enable the 4th Buttoncontrol btnQuestion3.BackColor = Color.LightPink 'Turn button pink btnQuestion4.BackColor = Color.LightYellow 'Turn button yellow prbControl.Value = 60 'Update the ProgressBar control End If End Sub Next, access the procedure of the btnQuestion4 control and modify it as shown below.
'This Sub procedure prompts the player to answer the 4th question Private Sub btnQuestion4_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,_ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnQuestion4.Click 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Better be enough to kill a " & _ strCreature & "!" 'Prompt player to answer the fourth question strWeapon = InputBox("Name something that can be used as " & _ "weapon that you might find on the ground.", cTitleBarMsg) 'Make sure the player entered something If strWeapon = "" Then MessageBox.Show("You must answer all questions to " & _ "continue.", cTitleBarMsg) Else strWeapon = strWeapon.ToLower 'Convert input to lowercase StatusBarPanel1.Text = "" 'Clear statusbar btnQuestion4.Enabled = False 'Disable the 4th button control btnQuestion5.Enabled = True 'Enable the 5th Button control btnQuestion4.BackColor = Color.LightPink 'Turn button pink btnQuestion5.BackColor = Color.LightYellow 'Turn button yellow prbControl.Value = 80 'Update the ProgressBar control End If End Sub Access the procedure of the btnQuestion5 control and modify it as shown below.
'This Sub procedure prompts the player to answer the 5th question Private Sub btnQuestion5_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnQuestion5.Click 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "What's Your Preference?" 'Prompt player to answer the fifth question strFood = InputBox("What is your favorite thing to eat?", _ cTitleBarMsg) 'Make sure the player entered something If strFood = "" Then MessageBox.Show("You must answer all questions to " & _ "continue.", cTitleBarMsg) Else strFood = strFood.ToLower 'Convert input to lowercase StatusBarPanel1.Text = "" 'Clear statusbar btnQuestion5.Enabled = False 'Disable the 5th button control btnPlayGame.Enabled = True 'Enable the last Button control btnQuestion5.BackColor = Color.LightPink 'Turn button pink btnPlayGame.BackColor = Color.LightGreen 'Turn button green prbControl.Value = 100 'Update the ProgressBar control End If End Sub Finally, modify the code for the btnPlayGame control as shown below.
'This Sub procedure is responsible for displaying the game's story Private Sub btnPlayGame_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnPlayGame.Click 'Declare local variable used to store the game's story Dim strText As String = "" 'Post message in the first panel on the statusbar StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Let's Rock!" 'Assemble the game's story strText &= "A long time ago in a land far away, there " strText &= "was a castle where the great Prince William lived." strText &= "Prince William was a kindly boy who cared more for " strText &= "his people than he did for himself. One day a storm " strText &= "from out of nowhere swept upon the land where " strText &= "Prince William lived. A mysterious " & strColor strText &= " mist soon followed the storm. Out of this mist " strText &= "appeared an evil " & strCreature & "." strText &= ControlChars.NewLine & ControlChars.NewLine strText &= "The " & strCreature & "'s heart was dark and cold. " strText &= "The " & strCreature & " killed William's father, the strText &= "good King Stefford. So William became the new king. " strText &= "Summoning up all his bravery, King William rode out " strText &- "ahead of his armies to do battle with the fearsome " strText &= strCreature & ". However, King William's army was strText &= "quickly crushed and King William was captured and " strText &= "locked away in the castle's " & strRoom & " strText &= ControlChars.NewLine & ControlChars.NewLine strText &= "A call went out from far and wide for a great hero " strText &= "to rescue King William. But no one dared answer " strText &= "the call except for Mighty Molly, mightiest of all strText &= "the Mollys. Within a fortnight the mighty one " strText &= "arrived in the land where King William once ruled. " strText &= "Upon hearing of the mighty oneâ_™s arrival, the strText &= strCreature & " quickly rushed out to meet her." strText &= ControlChars.NewLine & ControlChars.NewLine strText &= "Mighty Molly and the dreaded " & strCreature strText &= " fought for 4 days and 4 nights. As they did battle " strText &= "a cloud of " & strColor & " dust gathered around " strText &= "them, making them invisible to all who tried to " strText &= "watch. Finally, at the end of the 4th day, the " strText &= strCreature & " fell dead at the mighty oneâ_™ s feet. strText &= "With her strength all but gone, Mighty Molly had " strText &= "slain the " & strCreature & " with her final " strText &= "blow, using a large " & strWeapon & " that she had " strText &= "fallen on during the fight." & ControlChars.NewLine strText &= ControlChars.NewLine & "When the fight was finally " strText &= "over and the " & strColor & "mist finally cleared, " strText &= "a great roar arose from the people who had gathered " strText &= "around to watch. Happily, the people followed the " strText &= "mighty one to King Williamâ_™S castle where she strText &= "freed him. In gratitude, good King William declared " strText &= "a holiday and ordered his cooks to prepare a great " strText &= "feast of meat, wine and " & strFood & ". At the " strText &= "feast, King William offered to give his kingdom over " strText &= "to Mighty Molly and he knelt at her knees and " strText &= "offered up his crown. But Mighty Molly turned down " strText &= "his offer, for she knew that King William was the " strText &= "true king and that as mighty as she was, she needed " strText &= "to be mightier still to rule as wisely as King " strText &= "William." & ControlChars.NewLine strText &= ControlChars.NewLine & "The End." 'Display the fully assembled story MessageBox.Show(strText, cTitleBarMsg) 'Get the game ready to tell another story StatusBarPanel1.Text = "Game Ready!" 'Update statusbar message btnPlayGame.Enabled = False 'Disable the Button labeled Play 'Reset variables to prepare the game to allow the player to create 'a new story strCreature = "" strRoom = "" strColor = "" strWeapon = "" strFood = "" 'Reset Button controls back to their original colors btnQuestion1.BackColor = Color.LightYellow btnQuestion2.BackColor = Color.LightGray btnQuestion3.BackColor = Color.LightGray btnQuestion4.BackColor = Color.LightGray btnQuestion5.BackColor = Color.LightGray btnPlayGame.BackColor = Color.LightGray 'Reset the ProgressBar control's value property to zero prbControl.Value = 0 'Enable the first Button control btnQuestion1.Enabled = True End Sub
The first statement in this procedure declares a variable named strText, which will be used to hold the game's story line. The second statement posts a message of "Let's Rock!" in the left-hand status bar pane. The next series of statements builds the game's story line using the &= operator to append the lines of the story together. If you look closely at the text of the story, you see where the variables that contain the input provided by the player have been inserted throughout the story line. The MessageBox.Show method is then used to display the fully assembled story.
| Trick | The &= operator can be used as a shortcut for concatenating a text string to a String variable. It can be use as shown below.
strText &= "Once upon a time..." An alternative to using the &= operator is to take the String variable and set it equal to itself before using the & operator to append a text string as demonstrated below.
strText = strText & "Once upon a time..." As you can see, using the &= operator is easier and reduces the length of your code statements. |
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Display the string text "Game Ready!" in the left status bar pane
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Disable the btnPlayGame button
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Reset the value stored in each of the games variables to " "
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Set the background color of btnQuestion1 to LightYellow and the background of all the other buttons to LightGray
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Reset the Value property of the ProgressBar control to 0
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Enable the btnQuestion1 button
Step 5: Testing the Execution of the Story of Mighty Molly Game
OK. That's it. The Story of Mighty Molly should be ready to run. Press F5 and put the game through its paces. If you have any errors, double-check your typing. Once you think you have things working the way you want, try testing the game again, this time feeding data that the game doesn't expect to receive and see how it handles it.
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 126