Retro-Naut (Gravity Pulse)

A retro-style 8-bit gravity-switching endless runner game for Android, built with Kotlin.

📱 Download on Google Play

🤖 About This Project

This project serves as a demonstration of agentic AI capabilities in software development. Retro-Naut was created completely from scratch in less than 4 hours - from initial ideation to publishing on the Google Play Store.

Developed using Claude and Cursor - showcasing the power of AI-assisted development workflows.

Key Highlights:

• ⚡ Rapid Development: Complete game developed in under 4 hours
• 🤖 AI-Powered Development: Built entirely using Claude (AI assistant) and Cursor (AI-powered IDE)
• 🎨 AI-Generated Assets: All graphics, sound effects, and background music are programmatically generated (icons are the only exception)
• 📝 AI-Generated Documentation: Even this README was generated by AI
• 🔬 Experimental Project: Created to test how much can be achieved using the right AI prompting and agentic AI workflows
• 🚀 Production Ready: Despite being AI-generated, the game is fully functional and published on the Play Store

This project showcases the potential of modern AI-assisted development and demonstrates that with effective prompting and the right tools (Claude + Cursor), complex applications can be built from conception to deployment in a matter of hours.

🎮 Features

• Retro 8-bit Graphics: Pixel-perfect retro aesthetic with scanlines and retro colors
• Gravity Switching: Tap to switch between normal and reverse gravity
• Procedural Generation: Endless obstacles that adapt to screen size
• Procedural Sound: 8-bit style sound effects and background music
• High Score Tracking: Persistent high score storage
• AdMob Integration: Banner and interstitial ads (with placeholder test IDs)

📋 Prerequisites

• Android Studio Hedgehog | 2023.1.1 or later
• Android SDK API level 23 or higher
• Kotlin 1.9+
• Gradle 8.6+

🚀 Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/anugotta/GravityPulse.git
   cd GravityPulse

2. Open the project in Android Studio

3. Sync Gradle files

4. Build and run on an emulator or physical device

For detailed setup instructions, see SETUP.md.

🔧 AdMob Setup

Important: This repository uses Google's test AdMob IDs. Before publishing to the Play Store, you must replace them with your own AdMob IDs.

Steps to Configure Your AdMob IDs:

1. Create an AdMob account at Google AdMob
2. Create an Android app in AdMob dashboard
3. Get your App ID and Ad Unit IDs (Banner and Interstitial)
4. Update app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml:

   <string name="admob_app_id">YOUR_APP_ID</string>
   <string name="admob_banner_ad_unit_id">YOUR_BANNER_AD_UNIT_ID</string>
   <string name="admob_interstitial_ad_unit_id">YOUR_INTERSTITIAL_AD_UNIT_ID</string>

The current placeholder IDs are Google's test IDs and should only be used for testing.

📁 Project Structure

GravityPulse/
├── app/
│   ├── src/main/
│   │   ├── java/com/asp/gravitypulse/
│   │   │   ├── GravityPulseGameEightBit.kt  # Main game logic
│   │   │   ├── MainActivity.kt              # Activity entry point
│   │   │   └── TitleMusicGenerator.kt       # Procedural music generation
│   │   ├── res/
│   │   │   ├── values/
│   │   │   │   └── strings.xml             # String resources (including AdMob IDs)
│   │   │   └── mipmap-*/                   # App icons
│   │   └── AndroidManifest.xml
│   └── build.gradle.kts
└── README.md

🎯 How to Play

1. Start: Tap anywhere on the screen to start the game
2. Switch Gravity: Tap to toggle between normal and reverse gravity
3. Avoid Obstacles: Navigate through gaps in obstacles
4. Score Points: Survive as long as possible to increase your score
5. Beat Your High Score: Try to beat your previous best!

🛠️ Technologies Used

• Kotlin: Primary programming language
• Android View System: Custom View for game rendering
• Canvas API: 2D graphics rendering with pixel manipulation
• Coroutines: Asynchronous operations for game loop and audio
• AudioTrack: Procedural sound generation
• SharedPreferences: High score persistence
• Google AdMob SDK: Advertisement integration

📝 Code Quality

• Clean, well-commented Kotlin code
• Proper null safety with Kotlin null checks
• Efficient rendering with Canvas API
• Memory-conscious audio generation
• Screen size adaptive obstacle generation

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.

📄 License

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

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Retro game aesthetic inspiration from classic arcade games
• Procedural audio techniques adapted for Android
• Built with the assistance of agentic AI to explore the boundaries of AI-assisted development