Breakout : Complete Implementation

Complex systems can be viewed either by focusing upon things or processes; there are compelling reasons for applying object-oriented decomposition, in which we view the world as a meaningful collection of objects that collaborate to achieve some higher level behavior. — Grady Booch

The goal of this part is to build the Breakout game you planned using multiple classes with private instance variables.

GIT

This is a chance to practice using GIT more effectively on your own before working in a team, using many, small, purposeful commits rather than just one or two large "kitchen sink" or "submit-only" commits.

Design Goals

As a reminder, learning the course tools and procedures are the focus of this project, but it can also be a chance to practice the following mindsets about code that will help acclimate you to the course's overall Design Goals:

• consistent, both in formatting (following the course coding conventions which can be easily automated) and in things that cannot be automated like standard naming conventions
  (i.e., using camelCase, proper types of speech, appropriate use of plurals, etc.)
• simple and readable code, by refactoring at least twice after you have gotten each level "working"
  (i.e., making multiple drafts to make sure you understand how every line works together and to get past the ugliness left over from all the things you tried just to "make it work")
• DRY as possible, using parameters effectively or making general methods/classes that support multiple levels
  (i.e., it should be easier to write code for later levels if you are building on a good foundation)

Cheat Keys

To help you debug your game (and us to play it :), in addition to the standard keys to move the paddle, make cheat keys that make it easier

• 'L': add additional lives to the player
• 'R': resets the ball and paddle to their starting position
• '1-9': when the player presses a numeric key, clear the current level and jump to the level corresponding to the number pressed (or the highest one that exists)
• at least three other actions of your choice: here are tons of ideas for other cheat codes

Code Craftsmanship

Your code should be readable with short methods, follow the course coding conventions, and be reasonably commented.

README

Complete your README file, especially documenting your cheat keys, assumptions, and attributions for any images you found online. This file is common for most software projects that helps new developers get started with the project.

Resources

• Representing Vectors and Motion in Animation from The Nature of Code by Daniel Shiffman
• Smartly Load your Resources by Vladimir Roubtsov
• Different ways of reading a text file in Java by Pankaj Kumar
• Writing Javadoc comments and generating Javadoc with IntelliJ