We begin by setting up our Android environment. If you wish to build only on iOS, you can skip this step. To follow this recipe, you will need some files.

The following list provides the prerequisites that need to be downloaded to set up Android:

Let's take a look at what we did throughout the recipe:

Now you've finished setting up the Android development environment. At this point, you know how to install them and their path. In the next recipe, you will use them to build and execute Android applications. This will be very useful when you want to debug Android applications.

To follow this recipe, you need to download the zip file from the official site of Cocos2d-x (http://www.cocos2d-x.org/download).

At the time of writing this book, version 3.4 was the latest stable version that was available. This version will be used throughout this book.

Let's take a look at what we did throughout the above recipe. You can install Cocos2d-x by just unzipping it. You know setup.py is only setting up the cocos command and the path for Android build in the environment. Installing Cocos2d-x is very easy and simple. If you want to install a different version of Cocos2d-x, you can do that too. To do so, you need to follow the same steps that are given in this recipe, but they will be for a different version.

Setting up the Android environment is a bit tough. If you recently started to develop Cocos2d-x, you can skip the settings part of Android. and you can do it when you run on Android. In this case, you don't have to install Android SDK, NDK, and Apache ANT. Also, when you run setup.py, you only press Enter without entering a path for each question.

The cocos command can create a new project and build it. You should use the cocos command if you want to create a new project. Of course, you can build using Xcode or Eclipse. You can easily develop and debug using these tools.

The cocos run command has other parameters. They are the following:

The cocos command also includes some other commands, which are as follows:

Before building the project using Xcode, you require Xcode with an iOS developer account to test it on a physical device. However, you can also test it on an iOS simulator. If you did not install Xcode, you can get it from the Mac App Store. Once you have installed it, get it activated.

If this is your first time building, it will take a long time but continue to build with confidence as it's the first time. You can develop your game faster if you develop and debug it using Xcode rather than Eclipse.

You must finish the first recipe before you begin this step. If you have not finished it yet, you will need to install Eclipse.

The preceding example shows an instance of when you add the TitleScene.cpp file. However, if you are also adding other files, you need to add all the added files.

You get lots of errors when importing your project into Eclipse, but don't panic. After importing the Cocos2d-x library, errors soon disappear. This allows us to set the path of the NDK, Eclipse could compile C++. After you have modified the C++ codes, run your project in Eclipse. Eclipse automatically compiles C++ codes, Java codes, and then runs.

It is a tedious task to fix Android.mk again to add the C++ files. The following code is the original Android.mk:

LOCAL_SRC_FILES := hellocpp/main.cpp \
                   ../../Classes/AppDelegate.cpp \
                   ../../Classes/HelloWorldScene.cpp

LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_PATH)/../../Classes

The following code is the customized Android.mk that adds C++ files automatically:

CPP_FILES := $(shell find $(LOCAL_PATH)/../../Classes -name *.cpp)
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := hellocpp/main.cpp
LOCAL_SRC_FILES += $(CPP_FILES:$(LOCAL_PATH)/%=%)

LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(shell find $(LOCAL_PATH)/../../Classes -type d)

The first line of the code gets C++ files to the Classes directory into the CPP_FILES variable. The second and third lines add C++ files into the LOCAL_C_INCLUDES variable. By doing so, C++ files will be automatically compiled in the NDK. If you need to compile a file other than the extension .cpp file, you will need to add it manually.

If you want to manually build C++ in NDK, you can use the following command:

$ ./build_native.py

This script is located in ~/Documents/MyGame/proj.android . It uses ANDROID_SDK_ROOT and NDK_ROOT in it. If you want to see its options, run ./build_native.py –help.

Open AppDelegate.cpp through Xcode, and modify the AppDelegate::applicationDidFinishLaunching() method by adding the code after the director->setAnimationInterval(1.0/60.0); line, as shown in the following code:

director->setAnimationInterval(1.0 / 60);
glview->setDesignResolutionSize(640, 960, ResolutionPolicy::NO_BORDER);

In this book, we design the game with a screen size of iPhone's 3.5 inch screen. So, we set this screen size to the design resolution size by using the setDesignResolutionSize method. The last parameter is resolution policy. The following screenshot is the Nexus 5's screenshot after implementing multi-resolution:

The following screenshot is the iPhone 5 simulator's screenshot. You now know that both screenshots have the same appearance:

The resolution policy has EXACT_FIT, NO_BORDER, SHOW_ALL, FIXED_HEIGHT, and FIXED_WIDTH. These are explained as follows:

By implementing multi-resolution, regardless of screen size, you will maintain the image on the screen.

With this recipe, you can get the simplest project ready before removing unnecessary comments, codes, and methods. Removing unnecessary platform codes and resources is important for reducing the size of your application. If you start building your original game from scratch, you will need to follow this recipe or chances are, you may get a black screen if you build and run this project. In the next chapter, you can start coding within this simple project.