Introducing the Wordz Application

Overview

In this section, we will describe the application that we are going to build at a high level, before going on to look at the agile process we will use to build it. The application is called Wordz and it is based on a popular word guessing game.

• Players try to guess a five-letter word.

• Points are scored based on how quickly a player guesses the word.

• The player gets feedback on each guess to steer them toward the right answer.

We are going to build the server-side components of this application throughout the remainder of this book using various TDD techniques.

Describing the rules of Wordz

To play Wordz, a player will have up to six attempts to guess a five-letter word. After each attempt, letters in the word are highlighted as follows:

• The correct letter in the correct position has a black background.

• The correct letter in the wrong position has a gray background.

• Incorrect letters not present in the word have a white background.

Application Programming Interface

The player can use this feedback to make a better next guess. Once a player guesses the word correctly, they score some points. They get six points for a correct guess on the first attempt, five points for a correct guess on the second attempt, and one point for a correct guess on the sixth and final attempt. Players compete against each other in various rounds to gain the highest score. Wordz is a fun game as well as a gentle brain workout. Whilst building a user interface is outside the scope of this book, it is very helpful to see a possible example: