Save the Hedgehog!

A poor hedgehog has gotten lost in a series of enchanted gardens… It is up to you to find it!

Step into the shoes of a brave gardener and set off on an adventure through maps full of surprises. Collect all the carrots to open the doors, avoid the wasps (they sting hard but do not survive), and beware of hornets (tougher and even more dangerous).

Each step costs energy depending on the terrain. Stay still for a short while and you will recover some energy. But be careful: if you get stung without enough energy to absorb the hit, the game is over.

So, who will dare cross these gardens and save the hedgehog?

Game Principles

Each garden is a rectangular map made of cells.

Some cells can be crossed, others cannot. The gardener, wasps, and hornets move on this grid. Doors let you move from one garden to another, provided they are open. Wasps and hornets never use doors: they are terrified of drafts and refuse to step on them, whether they are open or closed.

To open the doors, all carrots must be collected. But beware: the gardens are full of wasps and hornets… and you are allergic to stings!

Wasps die after stinging you. Hornets can sting twice before dying. Stings are costly: -20 energy for a wasp, -30 for a hornet. If you have no energy left when you are stung, the game is lost.

Fortunately, insecticide bombs are here to help. Each bomb kills a wasp; two bombs are needed to kill a hornet. Insects may also walk onto bombs, which is bad for their health.

Terrain rules:

• Trees are impassable for everyone.
• Flower bushes can only be crossed by insects.
• The gardener spends energy whenever moving, depending on the ground type.
• If the gardener stays still for long enough (energyRecoverDuration), energy is recovered, up to the initial maximum (gardenerEnergy).

Bonuses are collected automatically when walking over them:

• Apples: increase your energy by energyBoost, up to your maximum energy (gardenerEnergy), and cure all diseases (diseaseLevel is reset to 1).
• Rotten apple cores: make you sick (diseaseLevel +1 for diseaseDuration). If you collect several of them, their effects overlap: each core increases the fatigue level for its own duration. diseaseLevel therefore reflects the number of rotten cores still active at a given moment.
• Insecticide bombs: useful for defending yourself.

The energy level, fatigue level (diseaseLevel), and number of bombs are always displayed in the status bar.

Environment

Here are the elements you will encounter in the game:

Image	Name	Description
	Grass	Gardener movement cost: 1 x diseaseLevel
	Dirt	Gardener movement cost: 2 x diseaseLevel
	Flower bush	Passable only by wasps and hornets
	Wasp nest	Spawns one wasp + one insecticide bomb every 5 seconds
	Hornet nest	Spawns one hornet + two insecticide bombs every 10 seconds
	Hedgehog	Frightened hedgehog to rescue as quickly as possible
	Closed door	Impassable until all carrots have been collected
	Open door	Allows travel to another garden
	Carrots	Collect them all to open the doors
	Poisoned apple	Temporary sickness, increased fatigue
	Apple	Cure + energy boost
	Insecticide bomb	Kills a wasp or injures a hornet
	Wasp	Dies after stinging or after touching a bomb
	Hornet	Can sting twice; deals heavy damage and requires two insecticide bombs
	Gardener	That’s you!

We can classify these elements as follows:

• Decor: grass, dirt, flower bushes, wasp nests, hornet nests, open or closed doors, hedgehog
• Bonuses: carrots, apples, poisoned apples, insecticide bombs
• Characters: wasps, hornets, gardener

Getting Started

We provide you with an initial draft of the game.

At startup, a simple map (MapLevelDefaultStart) is loaded: the gardener can move freely on it, regardless of the type of cell.
Game parameters are stored in a .properties file, which is easy to modify.

Work to Do

Starter project archive: UBGarden-student-2025.zip

1. First Steps

• Display all elements, including the hedgehog and bonuses
• Use the MapLevelDefaultStart map
• Prevent movement outside the map and through obstacles
• Implement victory (finding the hedgehog) and defeat (gardener dies) conditions
• Display status information: energy, fatigue level, number of bombs
• Spend energy on each move
• Restore energy when the gardener stays still
• Allow bonus collection
• Implement apple effects: healing and energy boost
• Implement rotten core effects: temporary sickness and increased fatigue (diseaseLevel)

2. World Management

• Allow a map to be loaded from a file
• Implement door logic and carrot collection
• Open doors when all carrots have been collected

3. Bring Wasps to Life

• Wasp nests spawn one wasp every 5 seconds
• Each wasp moves randomly
• A wasp dies after stinging or when touching a bomb
• Take waspMoveFrequency into account

4. Insecticide Bombs

• Each newly spawned wasp also generates one bomb placed randomly
• The gardener can pick up bombs
• When a wasp is present, a bomb is used automatically if available

5. Add Hornets

• Each newly spawned hornet also generates two bombs placed randomly
• Hornet nests spawn one hornet every 10 seconds
• Hornets move like wasps, but they can sting twice
• They are injured if they walk onto a bomb, but not killed in one hit
• Take hornetMoveFrequency into account

Bonus Management

class Gardener {
    void pickUp(Apple apple) { ... }
    void pickUp(PoisonedApple poisonedApple) { ... }

    void doMove(Direction direction) {
        Position nextPos = direction.nextPosition(getPosition());
        Decor next = game.world().getGrid().get(nextPos);
        setPosition(nextPos);
        if (next != null)
            pickUp(next);
    }
}

class Gardener {
    void pickUp(Apple apple) { ... }
    void pickUp(PoisonedApple poisonedApple) { ... }

    void doMove(Direction direction) {
        // ...
        if (next != null)
            next.pickUpBy(this);
    }
}

public interface Pickupable {
    default void pickUpBy(Gardener gardener) {}
}

public abstract class Bonus implements Pickupable {}

public class Apple extends Bonus {
    @Override
    public void pickUpBy(Gardener gardener) {
        gardener.pickUp(this);
    }
}

public class PoisonedApple extends Bonus {
    @Override
    public void pickUpBy(Gardener gardener) {
        gardener.pickUp(this);
    }
}