[FEATURE REQUEST] Adding Nightfall to the Console Game Hub.

[TylerAndreasen]

As work time in class has been (typically) specified to be in relation to the Console Game Hub, I spoke with @jody who mentioned that it would be advisable/acceptable to fold Nightfall into the class's Console Game Hub repo.
I would intend to keep the game in a branch separate from main until it is in a reasonably playable state as to minimize conflicts and confusion for the rest of the class.

A description TL:DR, Nightfall is a text-based horror game (setting unclear/undecided) in the which the game describes spaces with prose in the style of Zork or a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-Book (ie, not a map in the style of Rogue).

This game should structurally fit in very well with the other listed games, while hopefully being more sophisticated at the end of development.

[TylerAndreasen]

Question: Should the code for Nightfall be added within a subpackage as to avoid confusion and stray edits to Nightfall files, or remain at the unnamed package?
@jody

[jody]

Question: Should the code for Nightfall be added within a subpackage as to avoid confusion and stray edits to Nightfall files, or remain at the unnamed package?

Good insight into code organization and collaborative development! I appreciate your thinking about how best to structure the Nightfall game source code to avoid confusion and accidental edits.

In Java, it’s not possible to create subpackages within the unnamed package. Classes in the unnamed package have no package declaration at all. The unnamed package is intended primarily for small, temporary projects or very early development work before a modular structure has been developed for a maintainable project.

This project and repository were created specifically for this section of the course, without expectation of future viability. The fact that it seems to be turning out a potentially useful product is cause to rethink its future, including refactoring at the package level.

I'm thinking about two alternative next steps.

One is to simply integrate Nightfall into the existing structure, adding it to the game chooser and creating an initial stubbed class that implements the Game interface. Then continue to develop the game in the current context.

Another next step is to migrate the existing code out of the unnamed package, designing appropriate packages and subpackages that include a place for Nightfall. At this point in the semester, and with the number of people currently working in the repository, that's not a particularly likely scenario for the main branch right now. That level of refactoring could be appropriate in an alternative development branch, which would likely require manual effort to keep it up to date with main until activity quiesces after the semester ends.

That said, although this repository is private, the contents are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) You have the opportunity to use the existing source code in any project you choose or create, subject to the terms of that license.

[TylerAndreasen]

I did not realize you could not create packages within the unnamed package. I think that at this point in the semester, there is too much complexity (not to mention work put on others) by trying to restructure the CGH at this point. And as such leaving Nightfall in the unnamed package will be the simplest option.
I appreciate the detail, thought, and clarity you give in your responses. Thank you for that.

[jody]

I suggest making this issue a full-fledged user story from the perspective of a player, for example, change the type from "[FEATURE REQUEST]" to "[USER STORY] and include a story similar to:
"As a player, I want a text-based horror-themed adventure game included in the product, so that I can play an adventure-style game with a horror theme."

It's an epic, so the acceptance criteria are likely to be pretty high-level. The important point is that the epic gets supported by sub-stories that provide for actionable tasks; things like, including "Nightfall" in the game chooser along with its stubbed game class and test class. External work already done will speed up that game's development progress.