Abstract for group Clue


This project will aim at bringing the classic board game
``Clue'' to embedded systems.

About CLUE[1]

CLUE is a crime fiction board game that tests the analytical skills of
the players. The game is set in a mansion, with the board divided into
different rooms. The players each represent a character who is a guest
staying at this house, whose owner has been found murdered.

Players take on the role of suspects and attempt to solve the
murder. The solution to the murder requires the three components of
Suspect, Weapon, and Room. The game requires 3-6 players.  At the
beginning of play, three cards -- one Suspect, one Weapon, and one
Room card -- are chosen at random and put into a special envelope, so
that no one can see them. These cards represent the true facts of the
case. The remaining cards are distributed among the players.

The aim is to deduce the details of the murder -- that is, the cards
in the envelope. This is done by announcing suggestions to other
players. An example of a suggestion is, "I suggest it was Mrs. White,
in the Library, with the Rope." All elements contained in the
suggestion are moved into the room in the suggestion (so Mrs. White
and the Rope would be moved to the Library).

The other players must then disprove the suggestion, if they can. This
is done in clockwise order around the board. A suggestion is disproved
by showing a card containing one of the suggestion components to the
player making the suggestion (for example, the Rope), as this proves
that the card cannot be in the envelope. Showing the card to the
suggesting player is done in secret so the other players may not see
which card is being used to disprove the suggestion. Once a suggestion
has been disproved, the player's turn ends and moves onto the next
player.

System design

One of the interesting aspects of the project is that it will allow
users to play from different terminals at the same time. To achieve
this, we will be using the Ethernet controller on the DE2
board. Packets sent over the network will contain information on user
actions which will allow synchronization across all terminals
connected to the game.

We will be using the above hardware capabilities and the NIOS
processor to bring the game to life. ``Clue'' will be coded in C, and
will allow a maximum of 6 players.  The system design for Network Clue
game can be broadly divided into 3 components: Networking, video
controller and game logic.

Networking

Networking component will provide communication infrastructure among
players currently on board over the ethernet. Ethernet packets will be
broadcast to every player with information which is to be shared with
every player on board for example rolling of the dice, movement of a
character on the board, suggestion made by a player etc. Ethernet
packets will be unicast to provide point to point communication
between two players.

Game logic

The game logic involves setting up the initial board and controlling
the play. It also involves interacting with the networking and VGA
display components of the system.  Some of the tasks in the initial
setup are:

* UI for players to assume character roles.

* Randomly select Suspect, Weapon, and Room cards and set them aside.
Distribute the remaining the cards to the players.

During the play:

* Rolling the dice

* Enforcing rounds

* Tracking movement of characters on the screen

* UI for players to show a card for disproving a suggestion

* Handling accusations

Video controller

Video will be handled by a hardware/software implementation of a VGA
display logic.  The hardware part will be built on the FPGA and will
be using sprite graphics. While this project may not require fast
video processing capabilities, some of the video functions will still
be performed in hardware mode. This is usually done in order to allow
fast processing and higher frames/second. In this project, we aim to
learn about video hardware acceleration, and we intend to make the
user experience sleek and efficient.

Reference:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo