My first Graphics based Video Game

I just finished my first completely GUI based video game complete with multiple levels, various characters, and so many cool features!

As part of CS200, every two weeks we complete a homework assignment and for the past few weeks I have been working on “A Bird’s Life.” The first homework was a text based game that scrolled sideways and allowed the user to move through the world, avoiding obstacles and trying to eat the most food as possible.

This was the text based version we implemented first

The second homework was an upgrade of this game and involved making the game GUI based instead of text based. GUI is simply a Graphical User Interface in which the user interacts with images instead of text. GUI is a fundamental part of Java and really opens the door to many more possibilities.

This is the 2nd version of the project where the game is played in the graphics frame, but the name box is not yet implemented

In the third homework, we upgraded our homework 2, and eliminated all command line input (which probably doesn’t make sense to most of you). But basically, instead of printing the menu in text, in a separate window from the game, the menu is a part of the game and has buttons which allow the user to make choices throughout the game. This version also stores and displays high scores which are updated and maintained from one game to the next. We also added more characters and more levels in homework 3.

This is the opening screen for the 3rd edition paired with the high scores screen that pops up when the player clicks Score

The final game, A Bird’s Life, was a side scrolling video game with 3 levels, each one unlocking when the level before is completed. The User is asked to enter their name and prompted to reload their old game if the are a returning player.

This is the name box that pops up at the beginning where the user is asked to enter their name.

Players can then choose to see the rules, high scores, save game, pause game, and start the game. The player is the red bird and is trying to eat the grass and bugs. But there is a catch, the bugs are moving and they must avoid the KILLER obstacles! The telephone poles, raindrops, and evil blue birds all move in different patterns and will kill them if they get too close. To counter act the evilness of the blue birds (which hover around the player), I did add bonus stars in level three, which will boost the players score by 20 points. Player’s must also watch out for the top of the telephone poles because they will reset the bug count (score) back to zero and they shoot out electricity which will kill the player if it gets hit.

The pink background is level 2 and you can see the lightning coming from the telephone poles, and the black background is level 3 where you can see the evil blue birds and the bonus purple stars.

I’ve now spent almost two months on this project and I’m so glad its over and something I can be proud of! I just wish someone besides my TA’s got to play it 🙂