(Excuse my C++ background, I'm sure Java calls these things by different names...  but anyway...)

With the latest release, Java now supports a concept similar to C++ templates.   One big win with this is the ability to avoid creating classes that have no type safety, like generic collection classes.    The warning you are getting is telling you that you are using one of these generic collection classes, when you should be creating a collection to hold the exact type of thing you want in the collection.

So:

ArrayList<CFish> fishList = new ArrayList<CFish>;

fishList.add(new CFish("Salmon"));   //  is good.
fishList.add(new CBird("Hawk"));  // won't compile

Making a commercially viable game takes a lot more than just having a talented developer.   We've produced a few games in the space recently, and the art budget always been as large, if not larger than the development cost.    As far as coding goes, we have found the last 5% takes as much time as the first 95%.   Working out the quirky issues one beta tester is seeing that no one else does can put a lot of stress on these small teams.   Which leads to the biggest problem, and that's after the sale support.  And don't even make the mistake we made by dabbling in physical product, my garage begs you..

I'm currently exploring Java for mutliplayer RTS space trader design we have.   After producing a handful of titles in Windows/DirectX/C++, I'm hopefully that Java won't only expand our target market, but provide a base reliability that you don't get with C++. 

Sure.   I've spent way too much time coding tile based engines.  Figure I'm going to be here picking peoples brains about some of the stuff I'm playing with (SGS based Space Trader RTS), that I'd give back on things I could.   Good Luck!

There's a big difference between an isometric tile based map, and 1st perspective.   If you went to some of the earlier Wizardy's you could get away with a simple tile definition of you maps, but I am pretty sure by Wiz8, they had gone beyond this.    The first thing I would do is decide what you really want.  I have always found projects go smoother if you can focus instead of chasing several approaches..

For a starter project, i'd go with a simple tile based map, and then build upon your engine.  Something like:

Phase 1: Draw a map based on a 100x100 tile grid.   Represent each tile as an index into your tile info collection.  Just focus on getting tiles to draw, and the map scrolling around.   Ideally, load the data from a file.
Phase 2: Fix you rendering routine so the map wraps left to right, top to bottom.  You now have a globe (actually a donut, but we're used to donut worlds).
Phase 3: Create a structure to hold 9 of these 100x100 grids, arranged in a 3x3 fashion.   You render from the middle 100x100 grid.  Update your rendering routine to pull tile index from these other structures when you are on one of the edges of your grid.
Phase 4: Update your movement so when you leave the center grid, the 9x9 structures are updated so the new grid is now the center grid.  Load new grids as needed.

You now have the ability to render an infinite size tile map.

Smells like someone's homework to me...