Tilting Tiles Simulator — ICPC Problem F

Tilting Tiles Simulator is developed as part of the POOB (Object-Oriented Programming) course at Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito. The simulator is inspired by Problem F: "Tilting Tiles" from the 47th ICPC World Finals (Luxor 2023). It aims to mimic a tilting board puzzle where colored tiles move based on the direction of the tilt, with an added twist: a special adhesive called gummy glue that makes a tile stick with its neighbors.

Note: This project solves the original ICPC problem. It is built in iterative cycles, with new features and refinements introduced at each stage.

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🚀 Project Development Cycles

Cycle 1: Basic Simulator and Initial Tile Manipulation

• Objective: Build a functional simulator for tilting the puzzle.
• Key Features:
  • Puzzle Creation:
    • Create a puzzle board based on provided dimensions or preset configurations.
  • Tile Management:
    • Add, relocate, or delete individual tiles.
  • Glue Application:
    • Introduces the first version of a glue mechanism that can be applied over a tile.
  • Basic Board Tilting:
    • Simulate tilts in the four cardinal directions (left, right, toward, and away).
  • State Verification:
    • Compare the current board state with a target configuration.
  • User Interaction:
    • Enable the simulator to be visible (so messages are shown) or invisible (for background processing).
• Design Focus:
  • Clean separation between simulation logic and presentation.
  • Documentation with UML Class and Sequence Diagrams.
• Tools Used:
  • Java & Maven (programmed using BlueJ as the IDE).
  • BlueJ Documentation

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Cycle 2: Enhanced Board Interaction and Additional Commands

• Objective: Extend the simulator with additional commands and refine board interaction.
• Key New Features:
  • Board Exchange:
    • Ability to swap the reference board with the current editing board.
  • Intelligent Tilting:
    • Improved tilt functionality that better simulates natural movement.
  • Hole Creation:
    • Command to “make a hole” in an empty cell.
  • Consultation Enhancements:
    • Identify and highlight tiles that cannot be moved when tilting.
    • Display the number of tiles missing to meet a target configuration.
• Design Focus:
  • Extensibility: Preparing the codebase for future functionalities.
  • Visual cues: Clear messages when an action cannot be performed.

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Cycle 3: Simulation of Puzzle Resolution

• Objective: Extend the simulator to both mimic and solve the tilting puzzle.
• Key New Features:
  • Problem Resolution Simulation:
    • Implement a routine that simulates a potential solution path from the initial to the desired final state.
    • Step-by-step illustration of tile movements.
  • User Feedback:
    • Detailed messages indicating whether a solution was found or if no solution exists.
• Design Focus:
  • Separation of concerns: The core Puzzle class is used solely for simulation, while the resolution logic is modular.
  • Transparent simulation output (each tilt is shown as a step).

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Cycle 4: Final Refactoring and Extension

• Objective: Polish the simulator and introduce new tile and glue types.
• Key New Features:
  • Extended Tile Types:
    • Normal Tile: Standard, movable tile.
    • Fixed Tile: Cannot be relocated or removed.
    • Rough Tile: Resistant to sliding.
    • Freelance Tile: Ignores glue adhesion.
    • Flying Tile: Does not fall into holes.
  • Extended Glue Types:
    • Normal Glue: Basic adhesive effect.
    • Super Glue: Causes a tile and its adjacent tiles to stick strongly.
    • Fragile Glue: Adhesion lasts only for a single tilt.
• Additional Enhancements:
  • Refactored the codebase into two packages: shapes (handling tile geometry and behavior) and puzzle (for the simulation logic).
  • Improved error handling with custom exceptions and logging.
  • Enhanced visual representation for different tile and glue states.
• Design Focus:
  • Meeting full simulation requirements with a clear package structure.
  • Updated UML documentation, including Package Diagrams, generated via Astah.

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📝 Summary of Simulator Components

Tiles:

• Normal Tile: Moves with every tilt.
• Fixed Tile: Cannot be relocated or eliminated.
• Rough Tile: Resistant to sliding.
• Freelance Tile: Does not adhere when glue is applied.
• Flying Tile: Avoids falling into holes.

Glue Types:

• Normal Glue: Basic adhesion.
• Super Glue: Strong adhesive effect with adjacent tiles.
• Fragile Glue: Temporary adhesion for a single tilt action.

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📸 Project View

• Design

• Empty constructor

• Starting and ending constructor with different types of tiles and glues

• Ending constructor

• ICPC Problem

📚 Additional Information & Documentation

For further details about the development environment:

• BlueJ is used for building this project.
• You can check out the BlueJ Documentation for more information.

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📧 Questions & Further Information

If you have any questions regarding the project requirements or need additional details about how the simulator was developed, please reach out via email:

[email protected]

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This repository is a work in progress, built iteratively across multiple cycles to simulate and eventually solve the tilting tiles puzzle. Each development cycle added new commands and refined the simulation, with a focus on clear design, modularity, and extensibility.

Happy coding and enjoy experimenting with the puzzle simulation!