[JAVA][Beginning Java 8 Games Development]

Chapter 5 ■ An Introduction to Game Design: Concepts, Multimedia, and Using Scene Builder
debugged. A significant opportunity also exists for developing new types of game genres that use a hybrid
combination of static and dynamic game play in creative new ways that have never before been seen. I am working
on a few of these myself!
Because this is a Java 8 programming title, I am going to approach everything from this standpoint, which
happens to be a great way to divide games into discrete categories (static, dynamic, hybrid), so let’s cover the static
(fixed graphics), turn-based games first. These include board games, puzzle games, knowledge games, memory
games, and strategy games, all of which should not be underestimated in their popularity and marketability.
The thing that is cool about static games is that they can be just as fun to play as dynamic games and have
significantly less processing overhead, as they do not have to achieve the 60FPS real-time processing target to achieve
smooth, professional game play. This is because the nature of the game is not predicated on motion at all, but rather
on making the right strategic move, but only when it is your turn to do so.
There can be some forms of collision detection involved in static games regarding which game piece has been
moved to a given location on the gameboard or playing surface; however, there is no danger of overloading the
processor with collision detection, because the rest of the game board is static, with the exception of the one piece
that is being strategically moved during that particular player’s turn.
The processing logic for strategy games is more strategy logic–based programming, geared toward allowing the
players to achieve an end win, given the right sequence of moves, whereas the dynamic game programming logic
looks more at what collisions are taking place between game sprites. Dynamic games are focused on point score,
dodging projectiles, finding treasures, completing level objectives, and killing enemies.
Complicated strategy games with lots of interrelated rules, such as chess, are likely to have far more programming
logic routines than dynamic games. Yet, because the execution of the code is not as time sensitive, the resulting game
play will be smooth, no matter how powerful the platform and CPU are. Of course, the game rule set logic must be
flawless for this type of game to truly be professional, so, in the end, both static and dynamic games are difficult to
code, albeit for different reasons.
Dynamic games could be termed action games or arcade games and include a lot of movement on the display
screen. These highly dynamic games almost always involve shooting things, such as in the first-person shooter
(e.g., Doom, Half-Life) as well as in the third-person shooter (Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto) genres, or stealing
things, or evading things. There is also the obstacle course navigation paradigm, commonly seen in platform games,
such as Donkey Kong and Super Mario.
It is important to note that any genre of game can be produced using 2D or 3D graphics and assets or even a
combination of 2D and 3D assets, which, as I pointed out in Chapter 4, is allowed by JavaFX.
There are so many popular game types that there is always the opportunity to create an entirely new genre of
game by using a hybrid approach of a static (strategic) game type and a dynamic (action) game type.
Game Design Assets: New Media Content Concepts
One of the most powerful tools you have to make your game highly professional and desirable to buyers is the
multimedia production software that you downloaded and installed back in Chapter 1. Before I go any further, I need
to spend some time providing you with foundational knowledge regarding four primary types of new media assets
that are supported in Java 8, using the JavaFX 8 multimedia engine: digital images, used for sprites, background
imagery, and 2D animation; vector shapes, used in 2D illustration, collision detection, 3D objects, paths, and curves;
digital audio, used for sound effects, narration, and background music; and digital video, used in games
for animated background loops (birds flying through the sky, drifting clouds, and so on) once highly optimized.
As illustrated in Figure 5-1, these four major genres, or areas, are all installed via the JavaFX Scene Graph, using
packages that I described in Chapter 4. Some of the primary classes that will be used are ImageView, AudioClip,
Media, MediaView, MediaPlayer, Line, Arc, Path, Circle, Rectangle, Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Shape3D, Mesh,
and MeshView.
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