Help With Panels?

Hey guys. I'm kinda new to Java (or Panels for that matter) and I was wondering if I could get some help with a project for school. I'm making a little mock text-based videogame called Warlog Hunter (inside joke in the class).

I currently have a panel with 4 buttons on it. (New Game, Load Game, Settings, Exit). When the user clicks "New Game" they are prompted to enter a Username, Class, and Race. When the user hits 'Ok' after entering in the information, I would like for another panel to pop up with more options on it, but I'm having some trouble making it do that. And knowing me, I'm probably just making a bonehead mistake and not seeing it.

It's kind of hard to explain this so I'll just post my current code;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.text.*;
import java.util.*;

public class WarlogHunter extends JFrame 
{
    public WarlogHunter() throws NumberFormatException
    {
        player = new ArrayList();
        
        class addButtonListener implements ActionListener
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
            {
                if(player.size() > 0)
                {
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Error - Please exit your current game before starting a new one.");
                }
                else
                {
                    AddPanel ap = new AddPanel(appbook);
                    ap.setTitle("New Game");
                    ap.show();
                }
            }
        }
        
        class deleteButtonListener implements ActionListener 
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
            {
                {
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Error - No saved games found.");
                    return;
                }            
            }
        }
        
        class cancelButtonListener implements ActionListener 
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
            {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Settings unavailable.");               
            }
        }
        
        class exitButtonListener implements ActionListener 
        {
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
            {   
                System.exit(0);
            }
        }   
        
        appbook = this;
        int numPlayers = 0;
        
        newGame = new JButton("New Game");
        ActionListener addListener = new addButtonListener();
        newGame.addActionListener(addListener);
        
        load = new JButton("Load Game");
        ActionListener delListener = new deleteButtonListener();
        load.addActionListener(delListener);
        
        settings = new JButton("Settings");
        ActionListener cancelListener = new cancelButtonListener();
        settings.addActionListener(cancelListener);
        
        exit = new JButton("Exit");
        ActionListener exitListener = new exitButtonListener();
        exit.addActionListener(exitListener);
        
        appointments = new JTextArea();
        appointments.setLineWrap(true);
        appointments.setEditable(false);
        
        JPanel northPanel = new JPanel();
        northPanel.add(newGame);
        northPanel.add(load);
        northPanel.add(settings);
        northPanel.add(exit);
        
        JPanel centerPanel = new JPanel();
        centerPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1,4));
        
        northPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(575,35));
        centerPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(575,150));
        
        getContentPane().add(northPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        getContentPane().add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        pack();
        
        ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("warlog.jpg"); 
        JLabel label = new JLabel();
        label.setIcon(icon);
        centerPanel.add(label);
        northPanel.setBackground(Color.BLACK);
        
        this.getContentPane().add(centerPanel); 
        setVisible(true); 
        
    }
    
    class adventureButtonListener implements ActionListener
    {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event)
        {
            //code for adventure, dont worry about this
        }
    }
      
    public void addGame(NewGame a)
    {
        player.add(a);
             
        if(player.size() > 0)
        {
           //code for new panel..? 
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        WarlogHunter ab = new WarlogHunter();
        ab.setTitle("Warlog Hunter - ALPHA");
        ab.setSize(368,256);
        ab.setResizable(false);
        ab.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
        ab.show();
    }
    
    private JButton adventureTime;
    private Image warlog;
    private JButton newGame;
    private JButton load;
    private JButton settings;
    private JButton exit;
    private JTextArea appointments;
    private ArrayList player;
    private WarlogHunter appbook;
   
}

Specifically

public void addGame(NewGame a)
    {
        player.add(a);
             
        if(player.size() > 0)
        {
           //code for new panel..? 
        }
    }

^Would this be an acceptable way of testing to see if I should open a new panel? I've tested it with other things (System.out.println, JOptionPane.showMessageDialog) and those pop up right after I hit "Ok"... so I must be doing something wrong.

I've been trying something like this;

public void addGame(NewGame a)
    {
        player.add(a);
             
        if(player.size() > 0)
        {
            JPanel adventurePanel = new JPanel();
            
            adventureTime = new JButton("Go Adventure!");
            ActionListener adventureListener = new adventureButtonListener();
            adventureTime.addActionListener(adventureListener);
            
            adventurePanel.add(adventureTime);
            
            adventurePanel.setVisible(true);
        }
    }

That compiles but when I hit "Ok" nothing happens....

I basically just need a new panel with a "Go Adventure!" button and an "Exit" button on. (maybe a sleep button (for saving a game? idek if you can do that)).

Anyway, any help would be appreciated. I do have other classes in my program but I don't think they would help that much.

-Koola1d

public class Gui extends JFrame { private JPanel mainPanel; private String state; public Gui() { super(); setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); mainPanel = new JPanel(); Color color = new Color(0, 24, 122); mainPanel.setBackground(color); add(mainPanel); setSize(1680, 1000); createMainMenu(); setVisible(true); } public void createMainMenu() { state = "menu"; mainPanel.add(new MainMenu(), 0); mainPanel.revalidate(); } public void createGameFrame() { mainPanel.remove(0); mainPanel.add(new GamePanel(), 0); mainPanel.revalidate(); state = "game"; } .... }

public class MainMenu extends JPanel { private JPanel centerPanel, northPanel, centerCenterPanel; private Color color = new Color(0, 24, 122); private JButton startButton, quitButton; private JLabel welcomeLabel; public MainMenu() { super(new BorderLayout()); init(); createMainMenu(); } private void init() { northPanel = new JPanel(); centerPanel = new JPanel(); centerCenterPanel = new JPanel(); centerCenterPanel.setLayout(new BoxLayout(centerCenterPanel, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS)); startButton = new MenuButton("start"); quitButton = new MenuButton("quit"); welcomeLabel = new JLabel(new ImageIcon("Images\\welcome.png")); } private void createMainMenu() { northPanel.add(welcomeLabel); centerCenterPanel.add(startButton); centerCenterPanel.add(quitButton); centerPanel.add(centerCenterPanel); add(centerPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER); add(northPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH); centerPanel.setBackground(color); centerCenterPanel.setBackground(color); northPanel.setBackground(color); } }