Flappy Bird — Java Swing Edition

A simple recreation of the classic Flappy Bird game using Java Swing. This project demonstrates fundamental game development concepts like animation, collision detection, event handling, and GUI rendering.

🖥️ Preview

2D game window with a bird flapping between pipes while the player tries to avoid hitting them.

📂 Project Structure

/flappy-bird
├── App.java               // Main game launcher class
├── FlappyBird.java        // Game logic, rendering, and user interaction
├── flappybird.png         // Bird sprite
├── flappybirdbg.png       // Background image
├── toppipe.png            // Top pipe image
└── bottompipe.png         // Bottom pipe image

🚀 Getting Started

Requirements

• JDK 8 or later
• Any Java IDE (Eclipse, IntelliJ, VS Code) or terminal

How to Run

javac App.java FlappyBird.java
java App

Make sure all the image files are placed in the same directory as your .java files or adjust the getResource(…) paths accordingly.

🎮 Game Controls

• SPACEBAR → Makes the bird flap (jump upward).
• If the bird hits a pipe or falls off the screen, Game Over is displayed.
• Press SPACEBAR again to restart after a game over.

🧠 Key Concepts Used

• Java Swing GUI: JFrame & JPanel for rendering the game window, ImageIcon for loading images, KeyListener for detecting user input.
• Game Loop: javax.swing.Timer runs at ~60 FPS (1000/60 ms interval), Pipe generation every 1500 ms.
• Object-Oriented Design: Bird and Pipe classes are defined as inner classes for structure and encapsulation.
• Collision Detection: Simple rectangular bounding box logic:

  a.x < b.x + b.width &&
  a.x + a.width > b.x &&
  a.y < b.y + b.height &&
  a.y + a.height > b.y

📌 TODO / Improvements

• Add sound effects
• Add start/pause menus
• Optimize image loading
• Track high scores
• Mobile compatibility with JavaFX

🔗 Project Link

GitHub Repository