Cloning Pong Part 1

This will be a two part write up, part one will cover building a simple pong game in Clojure, part two will cover, interfacing it with Arduino, so that we can control the game using knobs like the original.

I wanted to keep the code simple so it has some flaws such as the ball only goes in 45 degree angles and you can only hit the ball with the front of the pad. If you want a perfect clone, flaws can be fixed at the expense of making the code a little bit more complex.

Two references are used in the game, one for the ball and one for the players,

{:x 400, :y 200, :size 8, :dir {:x -1, :y 1}}

Reference for the ball contains it's x and y coordinates on the game board and the direction it is travelling.

{:1 {:x 10 :y 200 :src 0} :2 {:x 400 :y 300 :src 0}}

Reference for the players contains positions of the pads and keeps track of the scores. Thats all the mutable state the game has.

( ns pong ( :import (javax.swing JFrame JPanel Timer) (java.awt Color BasicStroke Font Toolkit) (java.awt.event KeyListener KeyEvent ActionListener))) ( def board-size { :w 800 :h 400}) ( def pad-size { :w 5 :h 25}) ( def step { :right 5 :left -5 :up 5 :down -5}) ( defn beep [] (.beep ( . Toolkit getDefaultToolkit))) ( defn move-player [p dir player] ( let [x ( if (= p :1) ( :x (:1 @player)) ( :x (:2 @player))) y ( if (= p :1) ( :y (:1 @player)) ( :y (:2 @player))) delta (* 3 ( if (= dir :up ) ( :up step) ( :down step)))] ( dosync (alter player merge {p { :x x :y (- y delta) :src ( :src (p @player))}}))))

(move-player :1 :up (ref {:1 {:x 10 :y 200 :src 0} :2 {:x 400 :y 300 :src 0}})) pong=> {:1 {:x 10, :y 185, :src 0}, :2 {:x 400, :y 300, :src 0}}

When move-player is called, depending on the player and direction value passed, it will calculate the new x and y coordinates and update the player reference.

( defn place-ball [] ( let [x ( if (= (rand-int 2) 0) -1 1) y ( if (= (rand-int 2) 0) -1 1)] { :x (int (/ ( :w board-size) 2)) :y (int (/ ( :h board-size) 2)) :size 8 :dir { :x x :y y}}))

Every time a player scores, position of the ball is reset, it will be placed in the middle of the board with a random direction.

( defn move-ball [ball] ( let [x ( cond (= 1 ( :x ( :dir @ball))) (+ ( :x @ball) ( :right step)) (= -1 ( :x ( :dir @ball))) (+ ( :x @ball) ( :left step)) :else ( :x @ball)) y ( cond (= 1 ( :y ( :dir @ball))) (+ ( :y @ball) ( :up step)) (= -1 ( :y ( :dir @ball))) (+ ( :y @ball) ( :down step)) :else ( :y @ball))] ( dosync (alter ball merge { :x x :y y}))))

Before every repaint of the game board, we move the ball in the direction it is going and update its reference.

( defn inc-score [p player] (beep) ( dosync (alter player merge {p { :x ( :x (p @player)) :y ( :y (p @player)) :src (inc ( :src (p @player)))}}))) ( defn wall-collision [ball player] ( cond (<= ( :x @ball) 0) ( do (inc-score :1 player) ( dosync (ref-set ball (place-ball)))) (>= ( :x @ball) ( :w board-size)) ( do (inc-score :2 player) ( dosync (ref-set ball (place-ball)))) :else ( let [dir-x ( :x ( :dir @ball)) dir-y ( cond (<= ( :y @ball) 0) 1 (>= ( :y @ball) ( :h board-size)) -1 :else ( :y ( :dir @ball)))] ( dosync (alter ball merge { :dir { :x dir-x :y dir-y}})))))

Here we check for collisions, if the ball hits the right wall, we increment player one's score and reset the ball, if the ball hits the left wall we increment player two's score and reset the ball, if the ball hits the upper or the lower wall, we change it's y direction which will cause it to bounce from the wall.

( defn player-collision [ball player] ;; p1 collision ( if ( and (= ( :x @ball) (+ ( :x (:1 @player)) ( :w pad-size))) (>= ( :y @ball) ( :y (:1 @player))) (<= ( :y @ball) (+ ( :y (:1 @player)) ( :h pad-size)))) ( do ( dosync (alter ball merge { :dir { :x 1 :y ( :y ( :dir @ball))}})) (beep))) ;; p2 collision ( if ( and (= ( :x @ball) ( :x (:2 @player))) (>= ( :y @ball) ( :y (:2 @player))) (<= ( :y @ball) (+ ( :y (:2 @player)) ( :h pad-size)))) ( do ( dosync (alter ball merge { :dir { :x -1 :y ( :y ( :dir @ball))}})) (beep))))

Besides walls, ball collides with the player pads, when the ball collides, with a player we keep it's y direction but change it's x direction to send it in the opposite direction.

( defn key-listener [board player] ( let [move ( fn [k] ( let [key (.getKeyCode k)] ( cond (= key KeyEvent /VK_W) (move-player :1 :up player) (= key KeyEvent /VK_S) (move-player :1 :down player) (= key KeyEvent /VK_UP) (move-player :2 :up player) (= key KeyEvent /VK_DOWN) (move-player :2 :down player))))] (proxy [java.awt.event.KeyListener] [] (keyPressed [e] (move e)) (keyReleased [e] (move e)) (keyTyped [e] (move e))))) ( defn board [player ball] (proxy [JPanel ActionListener KeyListener] [] (paintComponent [g] (proxy-super setOpaque false ) (proxy-super paintComponent g) ( let [quarter (int (/ ( :w board-size) 4))] ( doto g (.setColor Color /black) (.fillRect 0 0 ( :w board-size) ( :h board-size)) ;; ball (.setColor Color /white) (.fillOval ( :x @ball) ( :y @ball) ( :size @ball) ( :size @ball)) ;; pads (.fillRect ( :x (:1 @player)) ( :y (:1 @player)) ( :w pad-size) ( :h pad-size)) (.fillRect ( :x (:2 @player)) ( :y (:2 @player)) ( :w pad-size) ( :h pad-size)) ;; scores (.setFont (Font. "arial" Font /PLAIN 40)) (.drawString (str ( :src (:1 @player))) quarter 50) (.drawString (str ( :src (:2 @player))) (* quarter 3) 50) ;; dashed line (.setStroke (BasicStroke. 3 BasicStroke /CAP_BUTT BasicStroke /JOIN_BEVEL 0 (float-array [12 12]) 0)) (.drawLine (int (/ ( :w board-size) 2)) 0 (int (/ ( :w board-size) 2)) ( :h board-size))))) (actionPerformed [e] (move-ball ball) (wall-collision ball player) (player-collision ball player) (.repaint this))))

paintComponent just draws the board nothing too fancy, actionPerformed however contains the game logic, every 50 millisecond we move the ball, check for a wall collision, check for a player collision then repaint the game board. All that's needed now, is to put the game board in a frame and start it's timer.