eBook - ePub

LibGDX Game Development By Example

Name: LibGDX Game Development By Example
Author: James Cook

James Cook,

280 pages
English
ePUB (mobile friendly)
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - ePub

LibGDX Game Development By Example

James Cook,

Book details

Book preview

Table of contents

Citations

About This Book

Learn how to create your very own game using the libGDX cross-platform framework

About This Book

Learn the core features of libGDX to develop your own exciting games
Explore game development concepts through example projects
Target games for major app stores quickly and easily with libGDX's cross-platform functionality

Who This Book Is For

This book is intended for those who wish to learn the concepts of game development using libGDX. An understanding of Java and other programming languages would definitely be helpful, although it is not a must.

What You Will Learn

Create and configure a libGDX project to get started with making games
Get to grips with a simple game loop that will drive your games
Manage game assets to reduce code duplication and speed up development
Pack game assets together into single assets to increase your game's performance
Display textures on the screen and manipulate them with play input
Play various types of sounds that a game can generate
Design and modify a game user interface with libGDX's built-in tools
Develop a game that will run across various platforms

In Detail

LibGDX is a cross-platform game development framework in Java that makes game programming easier and fun to do. It currently supports Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, and HTML5.

With a vast feature set on offer, there isn't a game that can't be made using libGDX. It allows you to write your code once and deploy it to multiple platforms without modification. With cross-platform delivery at its heart, a game can be made to target the major markets quickly and cost effectively.

This book starts with a simple game through which the game update cycle is explained, including loading textures onto your screen, moving them around, and responding to input. From there you'll move on to more advanced concepts such as creating a formal game structure with a menu screen, adding a game screen and loading screen, sprite sheets, and animations. You'll explore how to introduce a font to optimize text, and with the help of a game that you'll create, you'll familiarise yourself with the 2D tile map API to create worlds that scroll as the characters move.

In the final sample game of the book, you'll implement a basic version of an Angry Birds clone, which will allow you to use the physic library box2D that libGDX provides access to. An overview of exporting games to different platforms is then provided.

Finally, you will discover how to integrate third-party services into games and take a sneak peak at the Social Media API to get a basic understanding of how it fits into the libGDX ecosystem.

Style and approach

With this book you'll learn game development with libGDX through example game projects. You'll finish the book with a thorough understanding of libGDX game development, along with completed games that you'll have built yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on “Cancel Subscription” - it’s as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time you’ve paid for. Learn more here.

At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.

Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlego’s features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan you’ll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.

We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.

Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.

Yes, you can access LibGDX Game Development By Example by James Cook in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Computer Science & Programming Games. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Packt Publishing

Year

2015

ISBN

9781785281440

Edition

Topic

Computer Science

Subtopic

Programming Games

Index

Computer Science

LibGDX Game Development By Example

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting to Know LibGDX

Introducing LibGDX

Setting up LibGDX

Creating a project

What is Gradle?

Importing a project

Summary

2. Let's Get These Snakes Out of This Book!

Why Snake?

Game update cycle

Texture rendering

The batch class

The texture class

The dispose() method

Introducing Sammy the snake

Giving the snake a face

Moving Sammy the snake

Controlling Sammy with event polling

Adding the apple

Increasing the length of the snake

Summary

3. Making That Snake Slick

Introducing the ShapeRenderer class

Adding the ShapeRenderer class

Drawing with the ShapeRenderer class

Final thoughts on the ShapeRenderer class

LibGDX Game Development By Example

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: August 2015

Production reference: 1210815

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78528-144-0

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

James Cook

Reviewers

Pavel Czempin

Lévêque Michel

Sudarshan Shetty

Acquisition Editors

Subho Gupta

James Jones

Content Development Editor

Nikhil Potdukhe

Technical Editor

Abhishek R. Kotian

Copy Editor

Pranjali Chury

Project Coordinator

Mary Alex

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Graphics

Dan Smallman

Jason Monteiro

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Author

James Cook is a Java software developer from London, England. He is currently touring Australia. He has developed software ranging from banking and mobile applications to games. He has worked for large gaming companies, such as Electronic Arts, Playfish, and Plumbee.

During the day, he can be found working on rapid application prototyping for new social casino experiences. However, during the night, he collaborates with his longtime working partner, Dan Smallman, for Super Cookie Games to create games such as Super Bomb Noms, OMG Dancer!, and Betamax—Sherbet Plains.

Super Cookie Games started out as a simple endeavor for James and Dan to learn how to make games and deliver them to Android, iOS, and the Web. Choosing LibGDX as the platform was a key component for the success of this duo, with six different games across three app stores culminating in 50,000 downloads—a testament to LibGDX and its brilliant feature set and ability.

About the Reviewers

Pavel Czempin is currently completing an internship in the software field and plans to study engineering at a German university. Most of his programming experience stems from his early enrollment in a bachelor's course in computer science. In his free time, he likes to program and develop games.

You can find some of his pro...