[JAVA][Beginning Java 8 Games Development]

Chapter 14 ■ Setting Up the Game Environment: Creating Fixed Sprite Classes Using the Actor Superclass
As you can see, the InvinciBagel character is behind the Prop object, which means that we need to change
the order of the Java statements inside of the .addGameActorNodes() method, since the order that Node objects
are added to the Scene Graph determines their z-index or z-order. As you can see in Figure 14-23, I have moved
the .add() method call to add iPR0 above the one for iBagel, so as you can see on the right side of Figure 14-22, the
InvinciBagel character is now on top of the Prop object. Once we add collision detection this will not be an issue, of
course. Let’s use the same work process and add a PropH object into the scene, so that I can show you how this tile
image can be flipped and mirrored to create seamless tileable constructs for your Java 8 game development.
Let’s use the same naming convention and name the PropH object iPH0. The Java instantiation statement, which
can be seen in Figure 14-23, should look like the following line of Java code:
iPH0 = new PropH("M150 0 L75 200 L225 200 Z", 0, 0, iP0);
Figure 14-23. Instantiate an iPH0 PropH object, add it to the root Scene Graph, and add it to a CurrentCast List
Our next step in adding a fixed sprite prop, is adding the ImageView Node object for the iPH0 PropH object, into
the Scene Graph root object. This is accomplished using the .getChildren().add() method chain, which references
the spriteFrame ImageView object that lives inside of the iPH0 PropH object, by using dot notation. This is done
using the following Java statement, which is also shown in Figure 14-23:
root.getChildren().add(iPH0.spriteFrame);
Finally, we will use the .addCurrentCast() method that we created in Chapter 10, to add this iPH0 object to the
CURRENT_CAST List ArrayList object, inside of the castDirector CastingDirector object, using the following
line of Java code, also shown at the bottom of Figure 14-23:
castDirector.addCurrentCast(iPH0);
As you can see in Figure 14-23, I have also changed the 0,0 coordinates for the Prop object to 0,148, and the
coordinates for the PropH object to 72,148. This will place the Y-axis mirrored PropH object seamlessly to the right of
the Prop object. If you want to see the seamless tiling effect now, you can use your Run ➤ Project work process. If you
don’t have your NetBeans 8 IDE running currently, and you want to look ahead to Figure 14-26, you can see this tiling
(mirroring) effect now. Eventually, I’m also going to integrate the PropV and the PropB classes (objects) into this tiling.
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