Vocal Galactic

Vocal Galactic is a Java-based arcade game which involves destroying asteroids to get the highest score. Power ups are collected and are only activated through voice command.

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Inspiration

We took inspiration from the hackathon tracks themselves. We did not know what to expect or have any game plan as this is our first hackathon, so we let the tracks guide our idea. The goal was to implement the AssemblyAI API and decided on a space-related game for the foundation of the hack.

What it does

Vocal Galactic is a game that allows you to move around a spaceship. The spaceship can shoot bullets which can destroy asteroids. Every asteroid you destroy adds to your score. Golden asteroids can spawn which will add a random power-up to your arsenal if destroyed. You can only use these by power-ups by speaking a voice command. The goal is to get the highest score possible.

How we built it

Our hack was developed using Java, NodeJS, and AssemblyAI API.

Challenges we ran into

We each respectively ran into our own challenges. Our group consists of three people - almost no experience, high school AP CompSci experience, and a couple years experience.

One member started the project attempting to sort out a plan on utilizing AssemblyAI API within Java. Taking a well over 17 hours they spent hours on end going from problem to problem solving each not with ease but with determination. Utilizing both Java & NodeJS to obtain and send data to the AssemblyAI API. Java alone is just too unfit to POST local files NodeJS had to be used as a last resort over hours of struggling to make Java alone do the job.

Another ran into large issues developing the physics, specifically with the asteroids. He hasn't programmed in over a year, and was relearning the language while battling the asteroids spawning and hit detection mechanics.

The third member has nearly zero experience creating any programming project. He spent tons of time researching class inheritance as well as reading tons of documentation and forum threads. His largest problem was reading key input smoothly, and sending it to other objects in different classes. There was lots of stress using new Java tools (i.e. JFrame) with a small understanding of programming itself.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As we neared the deadline, we noticed how busy we all kept. Despite having a large range of programming ability/experience, we managed to spread out the work very well. On paper, the least experienced accomplished much less than the most experienced. However, the least experienced went through the same amount of difficulties and work load of the most experienced. It's rather fascinating how well the work distribution worked itself out.

We are also extremely proud of how well the final product came out. We had no idea where to start in the beginning with a LARGE lack of confidence, but finished with lots of awe and pride in our program.

What we learned

  • POST/GET with Java
  • Utilizing online Java libraries
  • How to create game physics and mechanics
  • How to communicate with a team and distribute out tasks
  • Walking away sometimes helps you see the problem differently when you come back.

What's next for Vocal Galactic

We had many ideas that we would like to add on to. We wanted to add...

  • Storing universal high score
  • Achievements
  • Multiple Language Support
  • Increasing difficulty (after certain score thresholds)

Vocal Galactic set a foundation and reference for any future physic mechanics, API calling, or GUIs we might want to create.

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