🧟 JZBlock 🔫

A personal zombie survival game composed of blocks

🎮 Overview

JZBlock is a top-down zombie survival game where players fight off waves of zombies using laser weapons. Version 0.5 represents a complete architectural rewrite, now featuring dual language implementations in both Java and Zig, giving developers the choice between JVM portability and native performance.

✨ Features

Gameplay (Zig Version - Fully Playable)

• 🔫 Laser Combat System - Neon projectiles with glow effects and fire rate upgrades
• 🧟 Wave-Based Survival - Increasingly difficult zombie hordes (health scales per wave)
• 💀 Boss Tier System - Three boss tiers with unique pixel-art faces, HP bars, and scaling rewards
  • 🟢 Basic Boss (wave 8+) — green, angular eyes, jagged grin
  • 🟣 Medium Boss (wave 15+) — purple, diamond eyes, fanged mouth
  • 🔴 Hard Boss (wave 20+) — near-black skull with red X-eyes and glow border
• 🎰 Rando Racing - Gambling minigame accessible from the pause screen; bet currency on 8-lane rainbow races for multiplied payouts
• 🩸 Blood Effects - Splatter particles on hit, persistent fading blood pools on death
• 🎯 Top-Down Tactical Gameplay - Strategic positioning matters
• 💊 Health & Ammo Management - Magazine reloading, periodic healing
• 🎮 Game States - Main menu, settings, in-game, paused, and game over
• 💰 Economy & Upgrades - Earn currency from kills, upgrade fire rate and damage
• ⚡ Speed Boost - Rechargeable speed boost system
• 🖥️ Full Resolution Scaling - All entities, UI, and effects scale to any monitor at runtime; launches fullscreen
• 🎨 Visual Effects - Entity shadows, ambient lighting, grid backgrounds, neon glow effects

Technical Architecture

• ⚡ Dual Language Support - Choose between Zig (performance) or Java (portability)
• 🎨 Raylib Graphics (Zig) - Modern, lightweight graphics framework
• 🖼️ Swing/AWT (Java) - Classic cross-platform windowing
• 🧩 Modular Design - Clean separation of concerns
• 🔄 Cross-Platform - Windows, Linux, and more

🏗️ Architecture

Version 0.5

The v0.5 release is a complete rewrite with:

• Zig + Raylib as the primary, fully playable implementation
• Java + Swing as a secondary implementation (currently a stub, in development)
• Clean, modular architecture with centralized configuration
• Archived original Java implementation preserved at src/main/archived/

Implementation Comparison

Feature	Zig Implementation	Java Implementation
Status	Fully playable	Stub (in development)
Graphics	Raylib	Swing/AWT (planned)
Performance	Native, zero-cost abstractions	JVM runtime
Memory	Manual management	Automatic GC
Platform	Compiled binaries	Cross-platform JVM
Build	build.zig	Standard javac

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

For Java Build:

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 or later
• Any Java-compatible platform (Windows, Linux, macOS)

For Zig Build:

• Zig Compiler (latest version)
• Raylib (automatically managed by build.zig)

Building the Project

Windows

# Navigate to scripts directory
cd scripts

# Run the Windows build script (interactive menu)
winbuild.bat

The script will prompt you to choose:

1. Java - Build using Java/Swing
2. Zig - Build using Zig/Raylib

Linux

# Navigate to scripts directory
cd scripts

# Make script executable (first time only)
chmod +x lxbuild.sh

# Run the Linux build script (interactive menu)
./lxbuild.sh

The script will prompt you to choose:

1. Java - Build using Java/Swing
2. Zig - Build using Zig/Raylib

Running the Archived Version

To run the original complete game (from archived source):

cd scripts/archived

# Windows
winbuild.bat

# Linux
chmod +x lxbuild.sh
./lxbuild.sh

🎯 Development Roadmap

Version 0.5 (Current)

Zig Implementation (Fully Playable):

• Set up dual-language architecture
• Implement Zig build system with Raylib
• Establish build scripts for both implementations
• Core game loop with state management
• Entity system (Player, Zombie, Lazar)
• Raylib rendering pipeline with visual effects
• Input handling (WASD movement, arrow key shooting)
• Player mechanics with speed boost system
• Zombie AI with chase behavior and separation
• Laser weapon system with ammo and reloading
• Wave management with scaling difficulty
• UI and HUD (health, ammo, kills, wave, currency, upgrades)
• Menu system (main menu, settings, pause)
• Economy system (kill rewards, weapon upgrades)
• Countdown system between waves
• Three-tier boss system with unique faces, HP bars, and scaled rewards
• Blood particle and pool effects
• Rando Racing gambling minigame (pause screen)
• Full resolution scaling — all entities, UI, and effects adapt to monitor size
• Fullscreen launch with --log CLI debug flag

Java Implementation (Stub):

• Create modular Java foundation
• OS detection utilities
• Logging utility
• Port game loop from Zig
• Implement entity system
• Add Swing/AWT rendering pipeline

Version 0.6 (Planned)

• Sound effects and music
• Settings screen implementation (currently placeholder)
• Java implementation feature parity with Zig

Version 1.0 (Future)

• Additional weapons and enemies
• Level system
• Save/load functionality
• Performance optimizations

🛠️ Technology Stack

Zig Implementation

• Language: Zig
• Graphics: Raylib
• Build System: Zig build system
• Focus: Performance, native execution

Java Implementation

• Language: Java 8+
• Graphics: Swing/AWT
• Build System: Standard Java compilation
• Focus: Cross-platform compatibility, ease of development

Archived Version (Original)

• Language: Pure Java
• Graphics: Custom Swing/AWT rendering
• Features: Complete game with all mechanics

📚 Code Examples

Running the Java Version

// Main entry point - src/main/java/Main.java
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //...
    }
}

Running the Zig Version

// Main entry point - src/main/zig/src/main.zig
pub fn main() !void {
    //...
}

🤝 Contributing

This is a personal project, but feedback and suggestions are welcome! If you'd like to contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📜 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

🎮 Game Controls (Zig Version)

Action	Key
Move Up	W
Move Down	S
Move Left	A
Move Right	D
Shoot Up	Up Arrow
Shoot Down	Down Arrow
Shoot Left	Left Arrow
Shoot Right	Right Arrow
Reload	CTRL
Upgrade Weapon	U
Speed Boost	SPACE
Pause / Resume	ESC
Restart (Game Over)	R
Open Rando Racing (Paused)	B

🐛 Known Issues

• Java v0.5 implementation is a stub — run the Zig version for the full game experience
• Settings screen is a placeholder (controls display only)
• Archived version may have platform-specific rendering quirks
• --log flag must be passed at launch; there is no in-game toggle yet

📧 Contact

Developer: cjRem44x Repository: github.com/cjRem44x/JZBlock

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Raylib - Amazing graphics library for Zig
• Zig Programming Language - Modern systems programming
• Java Community - For the robust JVM ecosystem

---

Status: 🎮 Zig version playable | Java version in development (v0.5) | Bosses, blood, and gambling added Language: Zig (primary) & Java (in progress) Platform: Cross-platform (Windows, Linux) Graphics: Raylib (Zig) | Swing/AWT (Java — planned)

Enjoy playing JZBlock! 🎮🧟‍♂️⚡