OrionShip

A space-themed vertical scrolling shoot-em-up game built with libGDX and Java. Features player-controlled spaceship combat, enemy AI, wave-based progression, and local score persistence.

🎮 Features

• Player Controls: WASD movement, mouse aim, left-click to shoot
• Game Modes:
  • Campaign: Wave-based progression with increasing difficulty
  • Endless: Infinite waves with escalating challenge
• Enemy Types: Multiple enemy behaviors with distinct attack patterns
• Power-ups: Various temporary effects to aid gameplay
• Score Tracking: Local SQLite database for persistent high scores and leaderboards
• Customization: Player and enemy skins with visual variety
• Audio: Sound effects and background music
• UI: Professional menu system with multiple screens

🛠️ Technology Stack

• Framework: libGDX - Cross-platform Java game framework
• Language: Java 17+
• Build Tool: Gradle 7.4+
• Database: SQLite (embedded, file-based, no server required)
• Desktop Platform: LWJGL3 (Lightweight Java Game Library 3)

📋 Project Structure

OrionShip/
├── core/                          # Shared game logic
│   └── src/main/java/io/OrionShip/Orion_Ship/
│       ├── Main.java              # Game entry point
│       ├── entities/              # Game objects (ships, bullets, enemies)
│       ├── managers/              # Game state managers
│       ├── screens/               # UI screens (menu, game, pause, etc.)
│       ├── services/              # Database service
│       ├── utils/                 # Config, hashing, utilities
│       └── spawners/              # Enemy/wave generation
├── lwjgl3/                        # Desktop launcher
│   └── src/main/java/io/OrionShip/Orion_Ship/lwjgl3/
│       └── Lwjgl3Launcher.java    # Window setup and launch
├── assets/                        # Game resources
│   ├── ui/                        # UI fonts and skins
│   ├── sfx/                       # Sound effects
│   ├── player-skins/              # Player ship variants
│   └── enemy-skins/               # Enemy ship variants
└── build.gradle                   # Project configuration

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Java 17 or higher
• Git (optional, for cloning)

Build

# Clean build
gradlew clean build

# Build and run immediately
gradlew lwjgl3:run

# Build executable JAR
gradlew lwjgl3:jar
# JAR output: lwjgl3/build/libs/OrionShip-1.0.jar

Run

# Via Gradle
gradlew lwjgl3:run

# Via JAR (after building)
java -jar lwjgl3/build/libs/OrionShip-1.0.jar

💾 Database

• Type: SQLite (embedded, no external server)
• File: orionship.db (created automatically)
• Location: Working directory (game root)
• Features:
  • User authentication (signup/login)
  • Score persistence
  • Leaderboard storage
  • Automatic table creation on first run

Migration Note: This project was migrated from PostgreSQL (cloud) to SQLite (embedded) for simplified deployment and offline capability.

📖 Gradle Commands

Useful tasks for development:

Command	Purpose
gradlew lwjgl3:run	Run the game
gradlew build	Build all modules
gradlew clean	Remove build artifacts
gradlew lwjgl3:jar	Create executable JAR
gradlew tasks	List all available tasks

Task Flags:

• --daemon - Use Gradle daemon (faster)
• --offline - Use cached dependencies
• --continue - Continue on build errors

🎨 Game Assets

• Textures: PNG files for ships, bullets, enemies, backgrounds
• Fonts: Bitmap fonts for UI text rendering
• Audio: WAV files for sound effects and music
• UI Skins: JSON + Atlas definitions for UI theming

📊 Development

• Classes: 45+ organized in logical packages
• Architecture: Object-oriented design with separation of concerns
• Patterns: Singleton (Config), Object Pool (bullets/power-ups), Manager pattern
• Error Handling: Comprehensive exception handling and validation

🔧 Configuration

Edit Config.java to customize:

• Database file path
• Table names
• Enable/disable database (toggle USE_DATABASE)

📝 License

This project is available as-is for educational and personal use.

🔗 Resources

• libGDX Documentation
• libGDX Community
• SQLite JDBC

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Last Updated: January 26, 2026