VectorBreakout-mirror/README.md

Vector Breakout

A clone of Breakout built using swing/awt in Java

Very early proof of concept for a "vector graphics engine" for arcade style games. Eventual plans to create a real vector graphics game engine, potentially using LWJGL, once I have enough knowledge and experience.

Caveat emptor: I am a very novice programmer, and you might gag a bit when you see my code...

The repository as is is built with JDK 21, but I am testing the code as far back as JDK 1.5.

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CONTROLS

• Arrow keys (left and right): Move the paddle
• Space: Spawn a ball
• Enter: Pause
• Escape: Debug menu

These controls may change, and I may add a controls config in the future.

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TODO

• Improve ball collision
  • "Path-casting" (for lack of a better term) for ball collision
    • The idea is to change ball collision to instead check if a brick/paddle/etc will be in its path in the next frame, and if so, execute the collision instructions
  • Bouncing horizontally off the sides of bricks
• Implement levels as their own class
  • Each level will have unique properties, like varying playfield width, brick count/layouts, etc
  • Will be much better than just the single hardcoded level and each individual brick being put into an array

ISSUES

• Ball sometimes passes through paddle, or gets stuck in right wall
  • This should be fixed with the aforementioned collision changes once I get to that

I AM AWARE THAT:

• I could use a switch statement for the score/lives/level display. However, I want backwards compatability because I'm a silly nerd :3, and JDK 1.5 doesn't support passing a split string through a switch statement. If there is a better way to get the individual digits, please let me know.