iSecretGifter

We have been making a ton of java classes.  However it's a little hard to follow along.  It would've been great this idea was planned before hand that way we have something to reference to. 

New game stuff

Jaspher has been working hard trying to get a score system going.  But hes running into all kinds of problems with the features of the package that hes trying to work with.  Mr. Nickles has been helping him alot.  Christian has been assigned the duty of creating the splash screen and adding sound. 
I've been working on just upgrade the game and cleaning up unused and code that's not needed.
I've been busy with so much other end of semester projects that I haven't really had much time recently.
I got a chance to talk to other groups outside of class and we are sharing our ideas.  There are still some issues that I need to bring up like the sprite generation upon collision.  Once I can generate the Sprites needed upon collision I think our game should be presentable.

j2me Zombie Invaders game

Game progression went great this week.  Threw in a boss, implemented new levels, and got some help and tips from our instructor, David Nickles. We resolved the array out of bounds error by implementing stacks to our collection.  We are working on a high score screen and a start game splash screen.

Implementing class timers

Finishing up today.  Added a timer to the game.  Got the Hunter Sprite to be animated and move along a confined area.  Working on randomly generating zombies and how frequently.  Also thinking about adding a boss in like a WEREWOLF.  that would be really cool to do. time to get some shut eye.

Zombie Invaders

This weekend I revisited the game Zombie Invaders.  My team and I were starting to feel like our project was going no where.  I decided to scrap all our old code  because nothing was working.  No game boundaries, no sprites, no timer, memory errors, you name it, it happened.  Anyway I started off simple using the Tank example that Mr.Nickles showed us in class.  I have made insane amounts of progress over the weekend spending countless hours learning and working on my code.  Ive created a game canvas, with a nice background image and Ive also animated the zombie sprite, AND created the hunter sprite with boundaries based on key input.  I am now going to work on implementing a clock class to keep track of the timer that we wanted to implement.  This clock class will implement when each level ends and determines the score.  This is going to be challenging.

In class learning blog

This week in class we did some eclipse GWT designer project examples.
Mr.Nickles showed us how to create multiple Java UI composites that act as a web page and communicate with the server.  We have created all the necessary composites for the secretgifter application that we will be building, the login screen, favorites screen, and pick a person screen.  Now on Tuesday all we have to do is build the code to link these all together.  JAVA IS GETTING FUN!

GWT Designer

I was creating my project and realized that I my eclipse did not have a designer.  I had to install the GWT Designer package
Install new software > Add > GWT Designer @ http://dl.google.com/eclipse/inst/d2gwt/latest/3.6

Eclipse Java SDK

Just installed the GWT toolkit for the Eclipse Java SDK.  I copied the addons from Mr.Nickles flashdrive in class.  Now I'm going to start my homework for the datebox project using GWT.  Wish me luck!

4/4/2011

Finally got around to working on the project again.  Instantiated the bullet class.  But can't get it to create a new bullet.  Working on the clock class because it seems to be bugging out and causing a stack overflow.  Still trying to workout boundaries for the game; When to limit the sprite from moving further than the game boundaries.

Zombie Invaders

Group Members: Thomas, Christian, Jaspher, and Kevin

We've decided that we are going to produce a Space Invader type of game that we call Zombie Invaders.  The game play is straight forward like Space Invaders with a few tweaks.

Storyline: The world has suffered a zombie apocalypse and you are one of the few survivors left.  After finding your parents murdered in the barn you decide to take up arms and avenge your families death.  You hit the streets as the only "Zombie Survivor!"...  Will you be able to survive the apocalypse?

Gameplay: Zombies are going to be generated in packs of 20 but will increase as levels and time progress.  Bosses will appear after every handful of levels or packs of zombies.  However if the zombies reach you before you can execute them all the game will end.  Your highscore will be recorded.  Try to beat your highscore!

Scoring: Every second user is alive will award 1 point. Every zombie killed rewards 100 points.  Bosses reward 1000 points depending on their difficulty.  At the end of each level 500 points will be rewarded.

Goal: With 1 life, defeat as many enemies as you can to achieve the highest score!

I think our biggest challenge is going to be getting the graphics into play.  Since this is our first project I think this is going to be a big challenge because of our inexperience of game making.  However, I think we can do it! 

Enviromental Variables

Setting up Environmental Variables is critical to having the software development kits working properly.  It allows a developer to by in any directory and still have command access to developers tools.

For Windows:

1. Click Start
2. Right click my Computer and select Properties
3. On the left menu of the system properties select "Advanced System Properties"
4. A new box will load and select the "Advanced" Tab and click the "Environmental Variables" button towards the bottom of this window.
5. An Environmental Variables window loads up and this is where we enter our new system variables
6. In the System Variables section click the "New..." button to add a new environmental variable
7. In the new box window that pops up there are 2 input sections.
8. For the Variable Name and the Variable Path fields I entered the following
1. Name:ANT_HOME
   Path: C:\Development\apache-ant-1.8.2;
2. Name:APPENGINE_HOME
   Path:C:\Development\appengine-java-sdk-1.4.0;
3. Name:CLASSPATH
   Path:%CLASSPATH%;%JAVA_HOME%\lib;%ANT_HOME%\lib;%GWT_HOME%;%APPENGINE_HOME%\lib;
4. Name:GWT_HOME
   Path:C:\Development\gwt-2.1.1;
5. Name: PATH
   Path: %PATH%;%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%ANT_HOME%\bin;%GWT_HOME%;%APPENGINE_HOME%\bin%;
9. I clicked okay to close the windows and save the variables. 
10. To test to make sure my variables were working I opened up a command prompt and typed in java -version and the following is what should be displayed:
    C:\Users\open>java -version
    java version "1.6.0_23"
    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_23-b05)
    Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 19.0-b09, mixed mode, sharing)

Installing GWT, GWT Designer, App Engine

I started out by visiting http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/download.html and scrolling down to the GWK SDK.  I clicked on the  Download GWT SDK link (http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-2.1.1.zip) and Google prompted me to download the gwt.zip file.

1)  After the download was complete I extracted the GWT files into my C:\Development directory

Apache Ant

I visted the Apache Ant website at http://ant.apache.org/ivy/download.cgi and downloaded the zip file apache-ivy-2.2.0-bin.zip from the URL http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/apache//ant/ivy/2.2.0/apache-ivy-2.2.0-bin.zip .

1. After I downloaded the .zip file I extracted the items my C:\Development\
2. I then Added the Apache Ant to my Enviromental Variables

Java ME (Mobile Edition) 3

My Java Mobile Edition 3 installation experience.

To start off I visited the http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javame/downloads/sdk30-jsp-139759.html
and scrolled down to view this tall, gray, and rectangular box.  I verified that my platform I will be installing this on was Windows and the language used by the application is English. 

1. I clicked "Continue" to start the download of Java ME 3.
2. I was redirected to another page where Oracle has asked me to register with them and to read the terms and conditions of this product.  I just bypassed this by clicking continue.
3. I was redirected to the actual download page with the link http://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_Developer-Site/en_US/-/USD/VerifyItem-Start/sun_java_me_sdk-3_0-win.exe?BundledLineItemUUID=uZqJ_hCyRskAAAEtHy5KP8Q1&OrderID=IVGJ_hCybaoAAAEtFC5KP8Q1&ProductID=r21IBe.ofQgAAAEgwpMzLqHu&FileName=/sun_java_me_sdk-3_0-win.exe  I was at school when I downloaded this so the time taken to get this 116 MB file was within seconds.
4. After the download was complete I ran the installation file.
5. I was asked to read the terms and conditions again. So I checked the box and proceeded by clicking Next. The installation then began.
6. The installation gave me the option of which directory I would like to install the application in. I chose C:\Java_ME_platform_SDK_3.0
7. The installation took about 5 minutes to complete.
8. I then ran the application to make sure that everything worked and the installation was credible.

Installing Java SDK 6

In order to develop Java applications I need to install a SDK (software development kit).  These are the steps I took to get this installed and working.

1) I went to the Oracle website to download the Java 6 SDK package.
     http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
2)  I then clicked the "Download JDK" button under the this specific version of Java:
     Java Standard Edition 6 Update 23
3)  After clicking this button you will be redirected to a page where you must select which platform you will be developing on.  Selected your Operating system, check the I agree box and click OK.  After you click OK you will be redirected to another page instructing you to click a link to continue downloading the appropriate kit based on which platform you selected.
4)  When the download is complete I ran the executable file I downloaded and followed the on screen instructions to prepare my system for proper installation. Depending on the speed of your system the installation should take a few minutes to install.