A two-player, networked implementation of Settlers of Catan built in Java with a JavaFX interface. Players connect over a client-server architecture, take turns building towns and roads, roll for resources, and chat in real time — with full save/load support.
This started as a way to apply advanced Java concepts in a single, non-trivial project: TCP networking, multithreading, object serialization, RMI, JNDI, and reflection.
- Two-player gameplay — blue vs. red, turn-based, with dice rolls and resource collection
- Networked multiplayer — client-server model over TCP sockets; the full game board is serialized and synced between players
- Real-time in-game chat — implemented with Java RMI
- Build mechanics — towns and roads with rule validation (road connectivity, town proximity rule)
- Resource system — wood, brick, wheat, sheep, stone, and desert tiles
- Win detection — first player to reach the target points wins
- Save / load — game state persisted via Java object serialization
- Cheat mode — toggle for testing
- Auto-generated documentation — a reflection-based utility that walks the compiled classes and outputs an HTML overview of every class, method, and field
- Language: Java
- UI: JavaFX (FXML)
- Networking: Java TCP sockets (
Socket/ServerSocket) - Concurrency: Multithreading — a dedicated background thread runs the server accept loop, with
Platform.runLatermarshalling updates back onto the JavaFX UI thread - Serialization: Java object serialization (network transfer + save/load); JavaFX nodes marked
transient - RMI: Java Remote Method Invocation for the chat service
- JNDI: Configuration values read via a JNDI file-system context
- Reflection: Custom HTML documentation generator
The app launches in one of two roles, chosen by command-line argument:
- Server — opens a
ServerSocketon a background thread and listens for an incoming game board, restoring it onto the UI when received. - Client — connects to the server and sends its serialized
GameBoardafter each relevant action.
Game state lives in a GameBoard model (players, tiles, dice, turn info). When a player acts, the updated board is serialized and pushed to the other instance, keeping both clients in sync. Chat runs independently over RMI.
