Java - Game Submission

For my Software Development module this year we were tasked with producing a game in Java. The primary purpose of this was to demonstrate our knowledge of patterns as well as other techniques learned in the module such as multi-threading. From this I created a space game with trading elements, inspired by the likes of Elite and FTL.

Figure 1. Main Screen

The players ship is at the bottom of the screen, the player can move by clicking in any of the squares surrounding the ship. If they try and click on a space too far it won't let them. When the player successfully moves the rest of the ships will take their turns and subsequent conflicts will all get resolved.

Figure 2. The results of fighting a single enemy ship

The main things that can happen when the player is on another square as something is Fighting and Trading. The player can battle space pirates, the current system just compares the health value of the player to the cumulative health value of the enemy and whoever has the highest wins! If the player is on a planet when they are attacked, the planet will send reinforcements to assist. In future I intend to upgrade this system to be more detailed, to include things like weapons and shielding and health bars that are affected by each combat, allowing the players and enemies to run away.

Figure 3. The result after a player is attacked in orbit around a planet.

Trading is the other part that plays a key role in my game, when the player lands on the same spot as a civilian ship or a planet with no enemies on it they may trade with them.

Figure 4. The options to trade with either planet or civilian ships.

 If the player decides  to trade with either they will be shown the trading screen and their trade partners inventory. They can trade any item for any other item and the value will automatically be calculated and deducted. I intend to upgrade this system so it could include more resources and so that resources have some form of function for your ship, such as fuel and armour etc. I also plan to have a central economic manager, much like a universe trade centre in which buying and selling of goods affects their worth in different planets and sectors of space. This way you could visit a planet, buy the goods that are bountiful there and sell them at a profit on the other side of the universe.

Figure 5. The trade screen

Overall I feel my game was a good start in my foray into the world of Java and Eclipse. It took me a while of battle with the IDE but eventually I managed to get something functional out of it. It requires much more work and a few of the systems still require a lot of polish but hopefully with a bit of time I will be able to get that done.