In Review
Congratulations! You survived another week. This week you learned
about user input, sound, and Java debugging, in addition to writing
a couple of games along the way. Let's look at what you did each
day in a little more detail before you embark on your final week
of Java game programming.
Day 8
On Day 8, you learned about user input and how it is used in games.
You learned about the two primary input devices supported by Java
(the keyboard and the mouse) and various issues associated with
each. Although it was fairly brief, this lesson gave you the background
necessary to understand how user input works in Java games.
Day 9
Day 9 presented the details of how Java supports user input. More
specifically, it showed how to handle user input events generated
by the user manipulating input devices. You began by learning
about input events and how they are managed in Java by the awt.
You then learned how to trap keyboard and mouse input events,
culminating in an animated sample applet-Flying Saucer.
Day 10
On Day 10, you wrote your first complete Java game-Traveling Gecko.
Traveling Gecko incorporated practically everything you learned
throughout the prior nine lessons, including animation and user
input. In developing Traveling Gecko, you learned the importance
of fully designing the game before beginning the development of
Java code. This strategy served your purposes well and is emphasized
throughout the rest of the book.
Day 11
In Day 11's lesson, you learned about the fundamentals of sound
and how sound is used in games. You began by learning the basics
of digital sound and the sound format supported by Java. You moved
on to learning about how sound is used in games. You then saw
some popular sound editing tools and utilities, and you finished
up by learning how to create, edit, and find sounds for games.
Day 12
Day 12 presented you with the specifics of how to play sounds
in Java. You learned that Java's current sound support, although
still fairly rudimentary, is enough to provide pretty neat sound
effects for games. You finished up the lesson by developing a
sample applet, WildAnimals, that showed off Java's sound capabilities.
Day 13
Day 13 marked another major milestone in your quest to become
a Java game programming expert: You wrote your second complete
Java game-Scorpion Roundup. Scorpion Roundup incorporated much
of the information learned thus far, including animation, user
input, and sound. Hopefully, with the development of Scorpion
Roundup, you started to feel more confident in your skills as
a Java game programmer.
Day 14
You finished up your second week of Java game programming with
a lesson on debugging. This lesson presented some basic strategies
for tracking down and eliminating bugs, along with some thoughts
about bugs specific to games. You'll certainly find that bugs
are as unique as the games they reside in, so think of this lesson
as a starting point in your journey toward bug-free Java game
development.
