So, I am using a Java Swing Timer because putting the animation code in a run() method of a Thread subclass caused an insane amount of flickering that is really a terrible experience for any video game player.

Can anyone give me any tips on:

• Why there is no animation...
• Why the JFrame will not close when it is coded to Exit_On_Close 2 times

My code is here:

import java.awt.;
import java.awt.event.;

import javax.swing.*;

import java.net.URL;

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TFQ


public class TFQ extends JFrame {

DrawingsInSpace dis;

    //========================================================== constructor
    public TFQ() {

        dis = new DrawingsInSpace();

        JPanel content = new JPanel();
        content.setLayout(new FlowLayout());







       this.setContentPane(dis);

       this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        this.setTitle("Plasma_Orbs_Off_Orion");
        this.setSize(500,500);
        this.pack();



        //... Create timer which calls action listener every second..
        //    Use full package qualification for javax.swing.Timer
        //    to avoid potential conflicts with java.util.Timer.
        javax.swing.Timer t = new javax.swing.Timer(500, new TimePhaseListener());
        t.start();
    }



    /////////////////////////////////////////////// inner class Listener thing
    class TimePhaseListener implements ActionListener, KeyListener {

        //  counter
        int total;

        // loop control
        boolean Its_a_go = true;


        //position of our  matrix
        int tf = -400;

        //sprite directions
        int Sprite_Direction;
        final int RIGHT = 1;
        final int LEFT = 2;

        //for obstacle
        Rectangle mega_obstacle = new Rectangle(200, 0, 20, HEIGHT);

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            //... Whenever this is called, repaint the screen 
         dis.repaint();

        addKeyListener(this);
        while (Its_a_go) { 
            try { 
            dis.repaint();

            if(Sprite_Direction == RIGHT) { 


            dis.matrix.x += 2;


            } // end if i think
            if(Sprite_Direction == LEFT) { 

            dis.matrix.x -= 2;

            }

            } catch(Exception ex) { 
                System.out.println(ex);
            }
        } // end while i think
        } // end actionPerformed

        @Override
        public void keyPressed(KeyEvent arg0) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }

        @Override
        public void keyReleased(KeyEvent arg0) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub

        }

        @Override
        public void keyTyped(KeyEvent event) {
            // TODO Auto-generated method stub
            if (event.getKeyChar()=='f'){
                Sprite_Direction = RIGHT;
                System.out.println("matrix should be animating now ");
                System.out.println("current matrix position = " + dis.matrix.x);
            }
            if (event.getKeyChar()=='d') { 
                Sprite_Direction = LEFT;
                System.out.println("matrix should be going in reverse");
                System.out.println("current matrix position = " + dis.matrix.x);
            }

        }


    }



    //================================================================= main
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        JFrame SafetyPins = new TFQ();

        SafetyPins.setVisible(true);
        SafetyPins.setSize(500,500);
        SafetyPins.setResizable(true);
        SafetyPins.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
    SafetyPins.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);


    }
}


class DrawingsInSpace extends JPanel { 

 URL url1_plasma_orbs;
 URL url2_matrix;
 Image img1_plasma_orbs;
 Image img2_matrix;

// for the plasma_orbs
Rectangle bbb = new Rectangle(0,0, 0, 0);
// for the matrix
Rectangle matrix = new Rectangle(-400, 60, 430, 200);

public DrawingsInSpace() {
    //load URLs
    try { 
        url1_plasma_orbs = this.getClass().getResource("plasma_orbs.png");
        url2_matrix = this.getClass().getResource("matrix.png");
    } catch(Exception e) { 
        System.out.println(e);
    }
    // attach the URLs to the images
    img1_plasma_orbs = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(url1_plasma_orbs);
    img2_matrix = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(url2_matrix);
}

public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { 
    super.paintComponent(g);

    // draw the plasma_orbs
    g.drawImage(img1_plasma_orbs, bbb.x, bbb.y,this);


    //draw the matrix

    g.drawImage(img2_matrix, matrix.x, matrix.y, this);

}


} // end class

enter code here