Skyline

Skyline displays an animated, side-scrolling, randomly-generated skyline. It was written in Java for an AP Computer Science class project.

Download and run

This application requires Java, so please ensure it is installed. Then, download and extract the .zip file from the latest release of Skyline. Finally, run Skyline.jar, which may be a little tricky:

• Double clicking on the file may work.
• Right-click the file, look for an "Open With" option, and select the Java runtime. (Such an option may not exist on all operating systems.)
• Open a terminal and enter java -jar, followed by the path to Skyline.jar. For example, if Skyline.jar is located in C:\Documents\Skyline_v1.0.0, enter java -jar C:\Documents\Skyline_v1.0.0\Skyline.jar.

Under the hood

Random building generation is handled by the BuildingEngine class. Here's how it works:

• buildings is a list of all buildings in the skyline.
• genPosition is the x-position of the left edge of the next building to be generated.
• Each frame, all buildings are translated left by a small amount to create the side-scrolling effect, and genPosition is also translated left by the same amount. Then, generate() is called.
• generate() works as follows: while genPosition is onscreen, a new building is generated with left edge at genPosition, and genPosition is translated right by a random value. When genPosition is offscreen to the right, the method ends.
• In the BuildingEngine constructor, genPosition starts at the left edge of the screen, and generate() is called. Thus, the skyline is filled with buildings from the very beginning.
• Newly generated buildings have random widths, heights, and colors. They are also inserted into buildings at random positions. Since the order of buildings in buildings is also the order in which they are painted, this allows for random overlap of buildings.