Need help on Breakout game collision bug

Question

This is a grade 12 OPP assignment.

Currently I have a problem that the ball occasionally would go into the blocks instead of reflecting.

Here's my code:

how the main checks if the ball is hitting a block:

public void theBall(){
    //System.out.println(blocks.size());
    if(!started){
        balls.get(0).withPaddle(paddle.returnX());
    }
    if(started){
        for(int i=0;i<balls.size();i++){
            if(balls.get(i).returnX()>=0 && balls.get(i).returnX()<=800 && balls.get(i).returnY()>=0){
                balls.get(i).move();
            }
            if(balls.get(i).returnX()+balls.get(i).returnDx()<= 0){
                balls.get(i).collide(1);//collide with left wall
            }
            if(balls.get(i).returnX()+10+balls.get(i).returnDx() >= 800){
                balls.get(i).collide(2);//collide with right wall
            }
            if(balls.get(i).returnY()-balls.get(i).returnDy() <= 0){
                balls.get(i).collide(3);//collide with up wall
            }

            if(paddle.returnX() < balls.get(i).returnX() && balls.get(i).returnX()< paddle.returnX()+paddle.returnSize() && balls.get(i).returnY()-balls.get(i).returnDy() >= 545){//fix this && balls.get(i).returnY()-balls.get(i).returnDy() <= 560
                balls.get(i).collidePaddle(balls.get(i).returnX()-paddle.returnX());//collide with paddle
                //System.out.println(ball.returnDy());
            }
            for(int j=0;j<blocks.size();j++){
                //blocks.get(j).getHit(balls.get(i));
                if(balls.get(i).returnX()+10+balls.get(i).returnDx() >= blocks.get(j).returnX() && balls.get(i).returnX()+10+balls.get(i).returnDx() <= blocks.get(j).returnX()+5 && balls.get(i).returnY() >= blocks.get(j).returnY() && balls.get(i).returnY() < blocks.get(j).returnY()+50){
                    if(!blocks.get(j).returnHit()){
                        balls.get(i).collide(2);//collide with right wall (block's left)
                        blocks.get(j).getHit(balls.get(i));
                        System.out.println("boiboiboiboibo1");
                    }
                }

                if(balls.get(i).returnX()+balls.get(i).returnDx() <= blocks.get(j).returnX()+50 && balls.get(i).returnX()+balls.get(i).returnDx() >= blocks.get(j).returnX()+45 && balls.get(i).returnY() >= blocks.get(j).returnY() && balls.get(i).returnY() < blocks.get(j).returnY()+50){
                    if(!blocks.get(j).returnHit()){
                        balls.get(i).collide(1);//collide with left wall (block's right)
                        blocks.get(j).getHit(balls.get(i));
                        System.out.println("boiboiboiboibo2");
                    }
                }

                if(balls.get(i).returnX() >= blocks.get(j).returnX() && balls.get(i).returnX() < blocks.get(j).returnX()+50 && balls.get(i).returnY()-balls.get(i).returnDy() <= blocks.get(j).returnY()+50 && balls.get(i).returnY()-balls.get(i).returnDy() >= blocks.get(j).returnY()+45){
                    if(!blocks.get(j).returnHit()){
                        balls.get(i).collide(3);//collide with up wall (block's bottom)
                        blocks.get(j).getHit(balls.get(i));
                        System.out.println("boiboiboiboibo3");
                    }
                }
                if(balls.get(i).returnX() >= blocks.get(j).returnX() && balls.get(i).returnX() < blocks.get(j).returnX()+50 && balls.get(i).returnY()+10-balls.get(i).returnDy() >= blocks.get(j).returnY() && balls.get(i).returnY()+10-balls.get(i).returnDy() <= blocks.get(j).returnY()+5){
                    if(!blocks.get(j).returnHit()){
                        balls.get(i).collide(4);//collide with down wall (block's top)
                        blocks.get(j).getHit(balls.get(i));
                        System.out.println("boiboiboiboibo4");
                    }
                }
            }
            for(int j=0;j<specialBlocks.size();j++){
                if(balls.get(i).returnX()>=specialBlocks.get(j).returnX() && balls.get(i).returnX()<=specialBlocks.get(j).returnX()+100 && balls.get(i).returnY()>=specialBlocks.get(j).returnY() && balls.get(i).returnY()<=specialBlocks.get(j).returnY()+100){
                    oneAndThreeBalls(i, j);
                    balls.get(i).changeType(j);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

How the ball reflects:

public void collide(int collideWith){
    if(collideWith==1){//collide with left wall
        if(90<direction && direction<180){
            direction = 180-direction;
        }
        if(180<direction && direction<270){
            direction = 540-direction;
        }
    }
    if(collideWith==2){//collide with right wall
        if(0<direction && direction<90){
            direction = 180-direction;
        }
        if(270<direction && direction<360){
            direction = 540-direction;
        }
    }
    if(collideWith==3){//collide with up wall
        direction = 360-direction;
    }
    if(collideWith==4){//collide with down wall
        direction = 360-direction;

    }
}

It is very clear to me that the bug is because of the double checking of the boundaries. When the ball is at the corner of a block, it happens. But that's the only way I can think of to check for the ball's position to reflect. Any ideas of how I can fix this bug? Thank you.

Answer 1

Why not make it so:

1) After doing a bounce, you stop checking collision for that ball until the next tick of the game. That way a ball can only bounce once per tick.

2) After colliding with and bouncing off of a block, you ignore collision between that specific block and the ball until such time as the ball does not overlap the block. That way a ball can't spuriously bounce off of a block twice on the same impact.

Btw, you have a lot of copied and pasted code with only slight changes in numbers and so on. If you found a way to restate it in terms of a method you keep calling with slightly different parameters, your code will become a lot neater and the underlying symmetry of the problem will also be more obvious.