Project 3

We are doing our last project for the quarter.
This project actually looks like a very fun one. We are going to work with other teams as a division to build a Tetris game. We have free range to do whatever we want just as long as we practice GSD principles.

For Part A
We must work with the other teams to establish communication, who are the team leaders and what jobs everyone has. Sadly no one wanted to do anything. My team was the only one very excited to do this project and really try to get the ball rolling to get ahead and finish things early.
It’s very disappointing and disrespectful when other teams do even try. I mean 2 days before the project is due the other 3 teams decided finally who their own team leads are…
My time is very valuable and this type of thing I don’t want any part in …
I did like the idea of doing a fun project like building Tetris. I’ve been wanting to try to code my own Tetris game for a few weeks now, from when I watched the movie called Tetris on apple tv. It’s a true story on how the game was invented in the USSR and how it changed history and copy writes. It’s a very inspiring film.

Tetris - apple tv, Movie trailer

Anyway, Sunday I did finish most of my groups part A. I even tried to establish more communication with other teams to coordinate meetings.

Part B
Our team lead divided the work for the Hold feature between three of us, while the other three handled a separate feature. My responsibility was to implement the visual component of the Hold brick function specifically, ensuring the held brick was correctly displayed on screen.
To test and confirm that my part worked properly, I had to work on the entire section of the project. However, I only submitted my portion to maintain balanced contributions across the team. I completed my section on Saturday, a few days before our team’s due date, and reached out to our team lead for clarification on where to submit the work since the structure differed from previous projects.
My team lead and I ended up having a one-on-one Teams call where I shared my screen, and we walked through the GitHub branching, committing, and pushing process together. Later, one of my teammates messaged me accusing me of causing an issue, but the problem turned out to be a simple typo on the branch name made by someone else. It wasn’t a big deal, easy to fix.
Our team finished our components and pushed everything to the main GitHub branch on Monday. I also saw a discussion in our division chat about updating the app’s appearance. I participated in the conversation and helped explore ideas for a theme. Although I personally didn’t like the final theme choices, I created my own alternative that moves, I chose not to submit it because it felt too late to change anything with the presentation being the next day, and I didn’t want to overstep on anyone else’s work.

I didn’t publish my version of the theme code, even though I do think it offered more flexibility with adding more features later on. My version allowed the game to cycle through multiple backgrounds instead of relying on an if-else structure that only supported two.

Here is my code:

   private int currentBackgroundIndex = 0;

    private final String[] backgrounds = {
        "background.gif", 
        "background2.gif",
        "background3.gif",
        "background4.gif", 
        "background5.gif" 
        };

    private void toggleTheme() {
        if (gamePanel == null) return;

        // Move to the next background
        currentBackgroundIndex = (currentBackgroundIndex + 1) % backgrounds.length;

        String style = String.format(
                "-fx-background-image: url('%s'); " +
                        "-fx-background-repeat: no-repeat; " +
                        "-fx-background-size: cover; " +
                        "-fx-background-position: center center;",
                backgrounds[currentBackgroundIndex]
        );

        gamePanel.getScene().getRoot().setStyle(style);
    }

(scroll to the end to see the images better)

The division's theme picks:

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Project3 Reflection summary: “I found this project to be extremely engaging, with many moving parts that required careful coordination. Clear communication was essential to ensure everyone understood the project and next steps. As always, my team did a fantastic job! We collaborated seamlessly, communicated effectively, and supported each other throughout the project. I truly couldn’t have asked for a better group to work with. The division set manageable deadlines for our tasks, and although I was initially nervous when another team requested last-minute changes to the visuals my team and myself have contributed to, everything ultimately worked out smoothly and I think we did a great job overall. “

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Full disclosure: This post reflects my personal option and experience/observation, and no one should take it personally or be offended but instead look at it as a learning experience.