Thread: Programming a Card Game (noob questions)

Hello.

I am new at programming, but I thought about creating a Card Game using Java.

It is a two player game called "Crapot", and I know the rules very well.

This game uses a lot of "drag and drop" moves, and each player has 52 cards.

I am currently playing with Netbeans' GUI Builder, learning about jpanels, frames, labels, etc...Though, I am not still sure what kind of Swing objects I should use, and I haven't found a "Java card game tutorial for newbies" or something of the sort.

I suppose this might be a too generic question, but I'll give a practical example : 13 of those 52 cards are on a separate deck turned upside down. When clicking on the deck, the top card should face up (so i'm guessing, this is an "Event"). Is it important to use jlabels here or something else?

Thank you in advance and good work.

The project sounds like it needs a lot of fancy GUI. Its hard to recommend anything without knowning more about the mechanics of play.
Can face up cards be partially overlain or will they always show full face?
Can cards be positioned anywhere on the table or only in fixed locations.
How many cards could be shown face up at one time?
Can any card be clicked on to cause an event?
etc

To answer my questions
The cards do not overlap, they go in fixed positions and any card can be clicked on.

Thank you.

If so, am I using the right tools?

Sorry, what tools? Java, Swing ???

Sorry, I meant "what Java Swing objects should I use to represent the columns, the decks, etc...??"
I don't even know what should I use for the game layout (a panel, a frame?).

I guess you should look at the layout managers for how to layout your card positions.
Would a grid layout work?
Then maybe labels or buttons to hold the card images.

Originally Posted by Norm

I guess you should look at the layout managers for how to layout your card positions.
Would a grid layout work?
Then maybe labels or buttons to hold the card images.

I guess I could use GridBag as the main layout.
I don't know how I can get multiple cards on the side columns, overlaying each other. I have to use some sort of resizable Java Swing field which could take up to 13 cards.

By the way, I found a website with the game's explanation. I think english speaking people call it "Russian Bank". The pictures there show(almost) exactly the layout I wish to create.

I used to know how to play Russian bank. I played it with my aunt years ago.

I don't know how I can get multiple cards on the side columns, overlaying each other

Perhaps a custom component where you can draw the parts of the cards that are showing as they are overlapped. There is no problem if the drawing is rectangular. Otherwise draw the images from the bottom up might give the effect you want. Double buffering could be of use here: Draw the cards in an external buffered image and then draw that image in the component's paint method.

The Card class should take care of the jpg it uses. I could be passed in the constructor.

Thank you.

I've been following a java tutorial regarding Interfaces and Abstract Methods.
As I see it, I can use an interface if I want to re-use some of my classes (to create another card game, for instance), but I may not be grasping it's importance.
As for abstract methods, I don't find it necessary to create subclasses, but I'm afraid I may not be looking at the whole picture here.

What do you think? I want to design this project using UML and I should by now get understand these concepts.

Am I following the right order of procedure? Once again, pardon my english and the rookie spam questions.

Kind regards

An interface is not for reusing classes. It is for adding a "type" to a class so an instance of the class can be passed to a method that requires an object of a certain type. A common example is the addActionListener method which requires an object of type ActionListener.

Sorry, I don't know anything about UML.

Russian bank is a double solitaire game. I can't imagine how to play that from the console.
Which cards in which pile to move to which pile.

It's a close call on which would be harder to code: GUI or command prompt.

Yes, I was already persuaded by a friend to create the game first, the GUI later. I was just trying to think ahead, but I got enough obstacles as it is in this starting phase, like choosing to implement interfaces or using abstracts (if they're of any relevance at all), or which class should control X variables, etc...
On the other hand, I was taught (a long time ago) to draw these kinds of projects and being also able to draw the GUI that would go with them, which is why I feel a bit frustrated.

Following your advices, I can try to create the game first and just check a few important functions on the command prompt. Let's see how it goes.

One thing I didn't mention : One of the main objectives is making this playable over the internet. Should this be taken in account at this point, or later?