The write up and the project are not my work but come from a partner team here at Microsoft. I think it well worth passing along.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do we work on now that the AP exam is over? Hunt the Wombat is a 4-6 week project designed to give AP Computer Science students the opportunity to apply their programming skills, gain broader awareness and understanding of the software development process and have fun along the way. By participating in a “real world” scenario where they build a computer game, students can gain experience with project teams, methodologies and core development phases: Discovery, Design, Development and Deployment.
The idea for the project was conceived when a computer science teacher at a local Seattle area high school talked about post-exam projects with a former student who now works at Microsoft. The Microsoft team created project-based material for the high school students to build the game called, Hunt the Wumpus. The original game was developed by Gregory Yob and published by Creative Computing in the September/October 1975 issue. Since then, it has become a popular game for programming enthusiasts and college students to reprogram in the language of the day.
The “solution” to this project is a working version of the Hunt the Wombat program based on the one created during the Microsoft-student liaison. The course design team has standardized and cleaned up the code as well as added some sophistication to the graphics. However, much of the program design and algorithms remain intact. As with any problem, there can be many ways to solve it. Part of the fascination of this project is seeing how the student teams interpret the requirements and develop their solutions.
Monkey Barrel Software Company Scenario
Our scenario begins with the Project Manager, Chad, welcoming the students to the Monkey Barrel Software Company. The previous Development Lead, Moe, left the company and took his team of developers with him. The students have been “hired” to pick up where Moe and his team left off. The 4-5 member teams are competing against each other to have their software selected as the final product to be distributed in SemiColon Cereal Company's cereal boxes.
