Retro Gaming Console

A glassmorphic Java arcade cabinet that bundles three fully featured minigames—Snake, Flappy Bird, and Space Shooter—inside a single Swing application. Each title includes modernized physics, buff stacking, score combos, and a shared pause/restart system.

Arcade Lineup

Snake

• Core loop: Weave through a neon grid, collect food to grow, and chain combos by eating quickly.
• Hazards & debuffs: Toxic crystal obstacles spawn dynamically, the arena walls are lethal, and self-collision ends the run. Missed combos decay over time and streaks reset when crystals despawn off-screen.
• Buffs & boosts:

Power-up	Effect	Stack/Duration
Double Score Chip	Adds +1 to the score multiplier (up to x5) and extends timer; countdown shown in HUD.	Timers stack additively and decay one at a time.
Quantum Shield	Queues a 7-second shield charge that blocks a crystal or body hit; consumes one charge per collision.	Charges are stored in a deque so you can carry multiple safeties.
Chrono Berry	Slows the entire board, reduces snake speed, and eases control for tight corridors.	Duration accumulates up to 15 seconds and instantly re-tunes movement speed.

Flappy Bird

• Core loop: Thread the bird through reactive pillars, chase precision passes, and maintain combo chains for bonus points.
• Hazards & debuffs: Moving pillars close gaps, vertical boundaries are lethal, and falling out of rhythm drains combo streaks. Difficulty ramps every 480 frames.
• Buffs & boosts:

Power-up	Effect	Stack/Duration
Prism Shield	Grants a 7-second barrier that vaporizes the next pillar and logs a “shield save.”	Multiple charges queue; HUD shows remaining time for the foremost shield.
Score Multiplier Orb	Adds +1 to the active score multiplier (capped at x5) and refreshes its timer.	Timers add together; multiplier decays only when the clock reaches zero.
Time Warp Rune	Slows pillars, power-ups, and gravity, also dampens current velocity for emergency recovery.	Stacks up to 16 seconds while adjusting gravity/jump force each frame.

• Combo Frenzy: Every fifth perfect gap triggers a temporary “frenzy” state with hotter physics and audio feedback.

Space Shooter

• Core loop: Pilot the starfighter across the sector, shred asteroids and enemy saucers, and juggle power-ups to escalate firepower.
• Threats & debuffs:
  • Asteroids with variable size, armor, and drift.
  • Enemy saucers that chase and fire predictive shots.
  • Enemy projectiles that punish stationary play.
  • Failing to destroy hazards lowers streaks, reducing passive rewards.
• Power-ups:

Power-up	Effect	Stack/Duration
Shield Matrix	Adds a 8-second shield charge; absorbs any damage source.	Charges queue and decay sequentially.
Triple Shot	Fires a spread of three bolts.	Duration stacks up to 30 seconds.
Rapid Fire	Halves fire delay; stacks with overdrive.	Durations accumulate (cap ~30s).
Temporal Drag	Slows world speed (enemies, asteroids, drops).	Timer stacks to 20 seconds.
Hull Repair	Restores up to 3 hull or, when full, increases max hull by 1.	Instant effect.
Heart Core	Big heal scaling with difficulty; drops from elite kills.	Instant effect.
Overdrive	Grants rapid fire, speed boost, and empowered bullet visuals.	6-second base, timers stack.
Drone Wing (new)	Summons orbiting drones that auto-fire angled shots.	12-second timer with additive stacking; drones stay active while any time remains.
Phase Shift (new)	Makes the ship intangible to damage while active.	Duration stacks to 15 seconds; all damage ignored.
Nova Burst (new)	Detonates a screen-wide blast clearing enemies and shots.	Instant—adds streak rewards and screen flash feedback.

Buff System at a Glance

• All games share a queue-based stacking model: new pickups add time/charges to a deque rather than overwriting existing buffs.
• HUD overlays show both remaining duration (in seconds) and stack counts.
• Shield mechanics remove the nearest lethal obstacle (Flappy) or consume a charge without damage (Snake & Shooter).
• Slow-time effects rescale object speeds using profile-aware multipliers so difficulty profiles stay consistent across RELAXED/STANDARD/TURBO modes.

Project Structure

src/
├── consoles/
│   ├── GamingConsole.java        # Template method skeleton for every mini-game
│   ├── SnakeConsole.java         # Snake rules, HUD, power-up logic
│   ├── FlappyBirdConsole.java    # Flappy pillars, combos, power-ups
│   └── SpaceShooterConsole.java  # Shooter waves, enemies, buff stacking
├── exceptions/
│   ├── CollisionException.java
│   ├── InvalidGameStateException.java
│   └── GameInitializationException.java
├── gameobjects/
│   ├── GameObject.java           # Base renderable entity
│   ├── MovableObject.java        # Adds velocity & movement helpers
│   ├── ImmovableObject.java      # Static obstacle base
│   ├── Bird.java, Pillar.java, FlappyPowerUp.java
│   ├── Snake.java, Food.java, SnakeObstacle.java, SnakePowerUp.java
│   ├── Spacecraft.java, SpacePowerUp.java, Bullet.java
│   ├── Asteroid.java, EnemySaucer.java, EnemyProjectile.java
│   └── Heart core & helper assets live alongside each game object
├── interfaces/
│   ├── Drawable.java             # Paint contract
│   └── Updatable.java            # Update tick contract
└── utils/
      ├── RetroConsole.java         # Launcher + glassmorphic menu
      ├── GamePanel.java            # Swing panel with timing + input
      └── GameObjectList.java       # Thread-safe CopyOnWriteArrayList wrapper

Build & Run

Prerequisites

• Java 11 or newer (tested up to 21)
• Windows users can run the included batch scripts; cross-platform builds work via javac

Quick start (Windows PowerShell)

cd "c:\Users\sam\OneDrive\one drive back up\OneDrive - SSN-Institute\Documents\projects\java_game"
.\build.bat
java -cp bin utils.RetroConsole

Manual compilation (any platform)

javac -d bin $(find src -name "*.java")
java -cp bin utils.RetroConsole

Controls

Game	Movement	Action	System Keys
Snake	WASD	—	P = pause, R = restart, ESC = menu
Flappy Bird	Space / W / Up = flap	—	P, R, ESC
Space Shooter	Arrow keys or WASD = strafe	Space = fire	P, R, ESC

Additional Documentation

• Snake Console Deep Dive – movement tuning, combo math, obstacle spawning, and buff queues.
• Flappy Bird Console Deep Dive – pillar logic, precision scoring, and shield saves.
• Space Shooter Console Deep Dive – enemy behaviours, power-up distribution, and HUD wiring.
• Power-Ups & Buff System – cross-game overview of buffs, debuffs, and stacking rules.
• Object-Oriented Design Overview – inheritance, composition, and design patterns underpinning the project.

Exception Handling

• CollisionException – bubbles up fatal collisions to trigger game over transitions.
• InvalidGameStateException – guards against inconsistent console state changes.
• GameInitializationException – signals failures during setup.

Recent Highlights

• Shield, multiplier, slow-time, and drone timers now stack seamlessly across all games.
• Flappy shields vaporize the offending pillar instead of bouncing the bird backward.
• Space Shooter adds drone wing, phase shift, and nova burst power-ups alongside the existing arsenal.
• Shared GameObjectList leverages CopyOnWriteArrayList to avoid concurrent modification when iterating plus spawning.

Ready to add your own mini-game? Start by extending GamingConsole, drop new objects into gameobjects/, and wire the mode into RetroConsole’s menu.