Thread: Tower Defense on Java

I've always wanted to be able to create a tower defense game somehow, and now that I'm beginning to understand Java much more, I think soon I'd like to take a swing at it. However, my knowledge of Java is still quite limited...

I'm pretty sure I could create Enemy and Tower objects to manage data there, but I guess one of my main confusions is how I could have multiple towers firing at multiple enemies, since I don't know of any way to make Java do more than one thing at once.

Is there any class, API, etc. that someone could direct me to so that I can read up on it and perhaps get a little bit of a kick-start for creating this game?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

@Norm

So... Would each tower, enemy, and special skill have to have its own thread that would constantly update?

Do you know any helpful examples for this (I know the documentation exists, but sometimes I learn a lot more quickly if I can see the code in action)?

Thanks!

Hmm... Okay. Well thank you for your help! I will ponder what you have suggested.

Threading is certainly one way to go, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a beginner.

Think about it this way: all of the stuff going on in a game is not happening at the same time, it's just happening so fast that it appears to be happening at the same time. For example, if you have two bullets going in different directions, you simply update the position of each and then call repaint.

The basic flow of your program might be as follows:

Use a single thread (I would use a Swing Timer) that loops through each of your game Objects, updates them, and then calls repaint. Repeat this multiple times a second (15, 30, or 60 times a second are some common framerates). Your program will appear to be doing multiple things at once, when in reality it's simply doing one thing at a time very fast.

@KevinWorkman

Thanks for the help! I'll see if I can attempt that too. However, one thing concerns me: how can the Swing Time know what to update if there are a variable number of towers, bullets, enemies, etc.? I can't just tell it to update "everything" (unfortunately) ...

Would an array work? I could make the update/repaint Swing Timer refer to an array, and have that array added to or subtracted from whenever a bullet, tower, or enemy is spawned or destroyed/sold... I'm venturing into totally unknown territory, but I guess this is the best way to learn, since there really isn't a definitive guide to tower defense game making.

Anyways, thanks to both of you for your help!

What Norm said.

Okay, another question...

I want to create individual classes for each of the towers so that I can have them behave uniquely, and I can't decide what to do of these two options...
1) Individually create each class
2) Create a superclass, Tower, and base all specific tower types off of it

*Note that example towers used below are hypothetical and are not the focus of my question
I'm also taking into consideration the fact that each individual class needs to have static variables too; for example, the RangeTower may have a range boost because of an upgrade you choose, and that needs to be a static variable in the class that ALL instances of the RangeTower class take into account; however, the BombTower may also have a range boost that is independent of the RangeTower's range boost. My concern is that, if I create a superclass Tower, how can I make sure that each sub-tower class (BombTower, RangeTower, etc.) derived from it has its OWN set of static variables?

Have you tried writing a small set of classes to test what happens?

No, I haven't tried yet. In fact, all I've done so far is created a rough main menu and new game screen. I'm trying to do this in an order that won't prove disconcerting or confusing for me, but I can't stop myself from considering what challenges lie ahead.

However, as I mull it over, it would make sense that if the subclass towers extend the superclass Tower, they should get all of its static variables (why wouldn't they?). But, as you said, I'll have to test it...once I get there.

I seem to remember having another question...but I can't recall right now. I'll ask if I find it again.

Thanks for your help!

Really? Okay, I'll have to try that. Of course, I'll have to totally switch my method of thinking to test the class idea!

But again, thanks for your help!

I still can't remember that other question... :/

I remembered my other question! But, it has a length explanation before I get to it.

In the main menu code, I had multiple JLabels formatted to look like menu buttons. So, I worked on a MouseListener to make them highlight when you mouse over them. I wasn't thrilled about writing four MouseListeners (one for each JLabel), so I tried to find a way to only write one. Luckily I did, using the MouseEvent's getComponent() method. I used this code:

private class LabelListener implements MouseListener
{
   public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e)
   {
      JLabel x = (JLabel)e.getComponent();
 
      x.setForeground(Color.GRAY);
      //...more code to format label here...
   }
 
   //...rest of MouseListener methods here...
}

By doing that, I could format x however I wanted, and whatever changes I made to x would be mimicked into whatever JLabel triggered the event.

So, I'm curious: how can I write a method that could do the same with my Tower objects? I would possibly use this for damaging enemies (perhaps determining what enemy was hit by a bullet, and damaging that enemy so I only had to write a single listener), or other related events (I would have to manually write these events, too). Again, this is unknown territory for me, but I don't want code laid out for me. Some general guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

No, that's not what I meant.

I meant to ask how could I manually write code that would do the same thing as the getComponent() method -- return a component and have whatever edits that are performed on whatever variable getComponent() is assigned to be mimicked to whatever getComponent() originally returned...

Hmm... That ^ doesn't make anything any clearer... Sorry I can't provide a more explicit explanation.

The getComponent() method is in the MouseEvent class, though I am relatively sure that it will also be in other Event classes. It returns the Component that triggered the event.

If you look at my example code above, I have it used correctly there. What it allowed me to do was write one MouseListener that could be used for all of my labels, because it checks which JLabel triggered the event and only applies formatting changes to that JLabel. But my confusion is in the fact that I never explicitly tell the program which JLabel; instead I basically make a copy of the JLabel to JLabel x. However, whatever changes I make to x are also made to whatever JLabel triggered the event, which leads me to believe that a MouseEvent's getComponent() method somehow synchronizes two different variables...

Sorry again for my lack of an ability to explain this correctly.

What event are you going to create that you would want to tailor its getComponent() method to do what you want vs what the normal one does? Would there be listeners that would receive that event?

Well, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to create my own events. For example, there may be an event that enemies used called a HitByBulletEvent, and there may be an event that towers use called a LevelUpEvent (I'm just throwing out possibilities). I'll try to avoid having to do this as much as possible, but I really am unsure of what I'll do in the future. Right now, I see clearly what I'm currently doing: making the general GUI's. However, looking ahead at what I have yet to do yields nothing but a mass of confusion and disorganization. So, I truly don't know whether I'll have to make custom events or not.

However, should I end up having to do so, I may have to make my own getComponent() or perhaps a getTower() or getEnemy() method to get which tower fired a bullet so that the EXP goes to the right place or which enemy a bullet hit so that the damage is given to the correct enemy.

Also, could you expand upon the multiple references to one object idea, or give me a link to a site that does so? I am predicting that that will be a useful technique to know...

Your suggestions have been very thought provoking for me, as well as greatly helpful, so I once again thank you very much for taking so much time to help me.

So, if you would say...

ref2 = "Cake";
System.out.print(ref1 + " " + ref3);

...the result would be...

Cake Cake

...?

But that doesn't seem right... Yet it works with getComponent()... I'm going to give myself a migrane. :p

That's what I thought. But then how does it work with getComponent()?

If...

//Allow an implied MouseEvent, e; let's also say that JPanel trigger caused the event

JLabel x = e.getComponent();

...and I do this...

x.setForeground(Color.ORANGE);

...that means that trigger's foreground color will also be change to orange. But why doesn't that work with the Strings? How could one make such an action work with Strings?