Yipee! Towers

A modern, from-scratch recreation of Yahoo! Towers — multiplayer puzzle action, rebuilt for today’s platforms.

Welcome

Yahoo! Towers was an online multiplayer puzzle game hosted on Yahoo! Games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Players competed in real-time by clearing falling blocks, sending attacks to opponents, and coordinating with a partner to outlast the opposing team. Known for its fast-paced gameplay and cooperative twist, it built a devoted competitive community before Yahoo! Games shut down in 2016.

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About this Project

Yipee! Towers is a modern recreation of the classic Yahoo! Towers multiplayer puzzle game.

Yipee is a labor of love — built from scratch without access to the original code. This project has navigated the many pitfalls of multiplayer game design, from the quirks of real-time netcode to the challenges of re-creating gameplay purely from observation and memory.

The result is both a tribute to the original and a modern engineering exercise in cross-platform multiplayer systems.

This repository (yipee-parent) is the Maven parent project that organizes and builds all Yipee modules, including shared logic, core game mechanics, networking code, and platform-specific clients.

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Purpose of the Project

The goal of Yipee is to faithfully recreate Yahoo! Towers while modernizing it for today’s platforms.

The recreation focuses on:

• Preserving the original gameplay feel and mechanics.
• Supporting multiplayer matches with synchronized states between all players.
• Designing a modular architecture to allow clients on multiple platforms.
• Enabling cross-platform play via consistent core logic and networking protocols.

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Project Structure

Module Overview

graph TD
    P[yipee-parent] --> C[yipee-common]
    P --> CORE[yipee-core]
    P --> NET[yipee-net]
    P --> L[yipee-libgdx]

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yipee-common

Contains all shared definitions used by any platform or server.
Ensures data models, enums, and serialization logic are consistent across implementations.

Contents:

• Data models shared across server and client.
• Enums, constants, and utility classes.
• Interfaces for game state, actions, and serialization.

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yipee-core

The platform-agnostic core game logic.
Holds all rules, mechanics, and authoritative state updates.

Contents:

• Game loop & mechanics — piece movement, attacks, scoring.
• Game objects — boards, tables, players.
• Persistence API — database interfaces for saving/loading.

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yipee-net

Handles all network transport and communication logic.

Contents:

• Transport utilities (KryoNet, etc.).
• Client-server communication handling.
• Protocol definitions.
• Net registrar — network packet registration.
• Net package — packet definitions for server-client sync.

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yipee-libgdx

The Java/LibGDX platform-specific representation of yipee-core.
This adapts core logic into LibGDX-compatible types (e.g., YipeeGameBoard → YipeeGameBoardGDX) so the client can render the game and handle input while maintaining full compatibility with the server. The idea is since Webservices will be used to transport packets, a native package based off of core can be used to translate JSON to the native objects

Contents:

• Rendering & UI (LibGDX Scene2D, textures, animations).
• Platform-native input handling.
• Asset management (sprites, sounds, effects).
• Client-side prediction & rollback for smooth gameplay.
• Bridges to core logic for state updates and networking.

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Future Considerations

Yipee’s architecture is designed for easy expansion.
Any future platform-specific layer (e.g., Python, .NET, web) can complement yipee-libgdx, utilizing:

• yipee-common (shared models)
• yipee-core (game rules)
• yipee-net (protocols & transport)

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Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/yipee-parent.git

2. Build with Maven

   mvn clean install

3. Run the core game (YipeeTestDriver is a CLI version of running the minimal game). It is incomplete at the moment

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Contributing

We welcome contributions!

Ways you can help:

• Code: Bug fixes, new features, or optimizations.
• Testing: Playtest builds and report bugs.
• Assets: Sprites, sounds, and UI elements matching the game’s style.
• Documentation: Improve tutorials and developer guides.

How to contribute:

1. Fork the repo.
2. Create a new branch:

   git checkout -b feature/my-feature

3. Commit your changes and push.
4. Submit a Pull Request describing your changes and their purpose.

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License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
See the LICENSE file for details.