The Heist

The Heist is a small Java platformer game where the player moves through dangerous rooms, collects every jewel, and avoids hazards to finish the run. It utilizes core java principles to dynamically load in levels and test functions for programming efficiency. Designed, architected and programmed by Angad Batth. Images/Sprites and game assets generated by ChatGPT Imagine

Screenshots

Quick gameplay preview

What The Game Has

• Multiple text dynamically loaded levels
• Player movement, jumping, collisions, and hazards
• High score saving with file I/O
• A state-driven menu / play / game over flow
• Claymorphic art assets and a packaged desktop build flow

Controls

• A / LEFT = move left
• D / RIGHT = move right
• W / SPACE = jump
• ESC = pause / resume
• R = restart current room while paused
• M = return to menu while paused

What I Learned Making It

This project gave me hands on practice with core Java and object oriented programming ideas:

• OOP by breaking the game into models, views, controllers, and utilities
• Encapsulation by keeping entity data and behavior inside classes like Player, Obstacle, and LevelManager
• Inheritance by building shared behavior through the Entity base class
• Polymorphism by updating and rendering many entity types through shared parent references
• Game State Management by separating menu, gameplay, pause flow, and game-over logic
• File I/O by loading level maps from text files and saving high scores to disk
• Collision Logic through shared physics helper methods
• Recursion in the ScannerAlgorithm utility and its related JUnit test
• Testing with JUnit for utility logic and score loading behavior
• Packaging by turning the project into a runnable jar and a desktop app image

Project Structure

• src/ = main Java source code
• assets/ = levels, data, and image assets
• optimization/tests/ = JUnit tests
• scripts/ = helper scripts for running, building, and packaging

Running The Game

Quick run:

• ./run-game.command
• or bash scripts/run-game.sh

Build The Runnable Jar

• ./build-jar.command
• or bash scripts/build-jar.sh

This creates:

• dist/the-heist.jar

Package The Desktop App

• ./package-app.command
• or bash scripts/package-app.sh

This creates:

• release/The Heist.app