Thread: Beginner having trouble with OOP programming

Hello everyone, I am very new here and even newer when it comes to Java. In my current course, my final assignment, I have to create a game, quick summary, you have a 5x5 grid, a sheep is in one spot, a wolf in another and a dog in another. The wolf randomly goes from spot to spot looking for the sheep and the dog does the same looking for the wolf. If the user finds the sheep that level is complete. I have this all working OK, my problem is when it starts a new level, I cannot get the sheep, wolf and dog to refresh and start again in another random spot, the grid just continues from where it left off on the previous level. There is a lot of code and 6 different classes (my instructor wants it this way to get used to OOP). There is a lot of code, so I only put some of it here, I hope it is enough.

This is the game set up code;

 /**
 * GameSetUp class - sets up the first round of the game
 */
public class GameSetUp {
    Wolf newWolf = new Wolf();
    Dog newDog = new Dog();
    Sheep newSheep = new Sheep();
 
    int levelNumber;
    int startWolfXPosition;
    int startWolfYPosition;
    int startSheepXPosition;
    int startSheepYPosition;
    int startDogXPosition;
    int startDogYPosition;
 
    /**
     * GameSetUp constructor - sets all the needed variables
     */
    public GameSetUp(){
        //setting the initial start locations for all animals
        startWolfXPosition = newWolf.getWolfXPosition();
        startWolfYPosition = newWolf.getWolfYPosition();
        startSheepXPosition = newSheep.getSheepXPosition();
        startSheepYPosition = newSheep.getSheepYPosition();
        startDogXPosition = newDog.getDogXPosition();
        startDogYPosition = newDog.getDogYPosition();
    } //end of GameSetUp constructor
 
    /**
     * newGameSetUp method - prints the header with current level number
     */
    public void newGameSetUp(){
        //adds 1 to the current level number
        levelNumber++;
 
        // if level number is over 1, this refreshes all the information so we can start another round
        if(levelNumber>1){
 
//THIS IS WHERE I AM HAVING TROUBLES
 
        } // end of if statement
 
        System.out.println("*********************");
        System.out.println("*   SHEEP HERDER    *");
        System.out.println("*      LEVEL " + levelNumber + "\t\t*");
        System.out.println("*********************");
    } // end of newGameSetUp method
 
} // end of GameSetUp class

and this is the code that creates the grid

public class Grid extends GameSetUp {
 
    //initializing animal starting location variables
    int wolfXPosition = startWolfXPosition;
    int wolfYPosition = startWolfYPosition;
    int sheepXPosition = startSheepXPosition;
    int sheepYPosition = startSheepYPosition;
    int dogXPosition = startDogXPosition;
    int dogYPosition = startDogYPosition;
 
    int newWolfXPosition;
    int newWolfYPosition;
    int newSheepXPosition;
    int newSheepYPosition;
    int newDogXPosition;
    int newDogYPosition;
 
    int currentLevel = levelNumber;
 
    // link this to the current level above
    int gridSizeMax = currentLevel + 6;
 
    /**
     * createStartGrid - initializes the first grid will all animal locations
     */
    public void createStartGrid()  {
        System.out.println("Current grid size is " + (gridSizeMax-1));
 
        do {
            //******************************************************************************
            //*     CHECKING TO SEE IF ANY ANIMAL LANDS ON TOP OF ANOTHER AT THE START     *
            if ((dogXPosition == sheepXPosition & dogYPosition == sheepYPosition)
                    || (wolfXPosition == sheepXPosition && wolfYPosition == sheepYPosition)
                    || (dogXPosition == wolfXPosition && dogXPosition == wolfYPosition)) {
 
                //******************************************************************************
                //******************************************************************************
 
                Wolf newWolf = new Wolf();
                wolfXPosition = newWolf.getWolfXPosition();
                newWolfXPosition = wolfXPosition;
                wolfYPosition = newWolf.getWolfYPosition();
                newWolfYPosition = wolfYPosition;
                Dog newDog = new Dog();
                dogXPosition = newDog.getDogXPosition();
                newDogXPosition = dogXPosition;
                dogYPosition = newDog.getDogYPosition();
                newDogYPosition = dogYPosition;
                Sheep newSheep = new Sheep();
                sheepXPosition = newSheep.getSheepXPosition();
                newSheepXPosition = sheepXPosition;
                sheepYPosition = newSheep.getSheepYPosition();
                newSheepYPosition = sheepYPosition;
            } // end of if statement
            else {
                wolfXPosition = startWolfXPosition;
                wolfYPosition = startWolfYPosition;
                sheepXPosition = startSheepXPosition;
                sheepYPosition = startSheepYPosition;
                dogXPosition = startDogXPosition;
                dogYPosition = startDogYPosition;
            } // end of else statement
 
 
            for (int xValue = 1; xValue < gridSizeMax; xValue++) {
                System.out.print("  " + xValue);
            } // end of for statement
 
            System.out.println("");
 
            for (int yValue = 1; yValue < gridSizeMax; yValue++) {
                System.out.print(yValue + " ");
                for (int xValue = 1; xValue < gridSizeMax; xValue++) {
                    if (xValue == wolfXPosition && yValue == wolfYPosition) {
                        System.out.print("W  ");
                    }  // end of if statement
                    else if (xValue == dogXPosition && yValue == dogYPosition) {
                        System.out.print("D  ");
                    } // end of if statement
                    else if (xValue == sheepXPosition && yValue == sheepYPosition) {
                        System.out.print("S  ");
                    } // end of if statement
                    else {
                        System.out.print("*  ");
                    } // end of else statement
                } // end of inner for statement
 
                System.out.println("");
            } // end of outer for statement
 
 
        }while (((dogXPosition == sheepXPosition & dogYPosition == sheepYPosition)
                || (wolfXPosition == sheepXPosition && wolfYPosition == sheepYPosition)
                || (dogXPosition == wolfXPosition && dogXPosition == wolfYPosition)));
    } // end of createStartGrid method
} // end of Grid class

and lastly this is the code to generate the wolfs location

public class Wolf{
    int wolfXPosition;
    int wolfYPosition;
 
public int getWolfXPosition() { //link the 6 with the gridMaxSize in the Grid class
        wolfXPosition = (int) (Math.random() * (6)); //change 5 to starting grid size once you import that
        if (wolfXPosition == 0) {
            wolfXPosition++;
        }
        return wolfXPosition;
 
public int getWolfYPosition() { //link the 6 with the gridMaxSize in the Grid class
        wolfYPosition = (int) (Math.random() * (6)); //change 5 to starting grid size once you import that
        if (wolfYPosition == 0) {
            wolfYPosition++;
        }
        return wolfYPosition;

I cannot figure out how to refresh or reload either the wolfs class or the grids class or both. (sheep and dog classes as well)

Any advise would be greatly appreciated and possible get this handed in on time.

Thanks,

I put in the game setup class, a method that is supposed to create a new instance of the grid,

 public void newGameSetUp(){
        //adds 1 to the current level number
        levelNumber++;
 
        // if level number is over 1, this refreshes all the information so we can start another round
        if(levelNumber>1){
 
//THIS IS WHERE I AM HAVING TROUBLES
 
        } // end of if statement

I tried putting in Grid newLevel = new Grid();, (Grid class is where the starting locations variables are) but this did nothing, I will take a look at your suggestion to see how that works out.

The use of the 'extends' are most likely not needed. Like I said, I am very new to Java and am just starting to learn it. As I was researching my current problem, I saw someone in a you tube video use the 'extend' and thought that may help me (I'm not even sure I understand what they are even doing at this point, as they are not something we have learned about yet). As for the separate classes, no they are not necessary, however my instructor wants us to use different classes just so we get used to OOP and connecting and retrieving information from them.

Thanks Norm, I took your suggestions and have made great stride. I now only have an Animal class, GameSetUp class and a SheepHerder class. None of them extends and the program now resets after each level. There are a few bugs still to work out bug and I have to add a StringBuilder to the program (manitory for a good grade), but I have to study up more on that as it was not 100% clear to what it does and how it works. In the mean time, I am going to mark this thread as solved. Thanks again.