Android Game Programming By Example: Harness the power of the Android SDK by building three immersive and captivating games

John Horton

$48.99

4.4 (9 Ratings)

Paperback Jun 2015 388 pages 1st Edition

John Horton

$48.99

4.4 (9 Ratings)

Paperback Jun 2015 388 pages 1st Edition

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Description

The book is best suited for existing Android or Java programmers who want to adapt their skills to make exciting Android games. The book is also for determined readers who might have no Android, game programming or even Java experience, but a reasonable understanding of object oriented programming knowledge is assumed.

What you will learn

Build simple to advanced game engines for different types of game, with cool features such as sprite sheet character animation and scrolling parallax backgrounds
Design and implement genuinely challenging and playable levels
Implement the critical main game loop
Implement basic and advanced collision detection mechanics
Bring to life a challenging enemy AI
Make the math behind 2D rotation, velocity, and collisions simple
Run your game designs at 60 frames per second or better
Process multitouch screen input effectively and efficiently
Implement a multitude of other game features such as pickups, firing weapons, HUDs, generating and playing sound FX, scenery, level transition, high scores, and more
Implement a flexible and advanced game engine that uses OpenGL ES 2 for fast, smooth frame rates

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Frequently bought together

Android NDK Beginner`s Guide - Second Edition

$54.99

$48.99

Total $ 152.97

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Amazon verified reviews

Rodger Jan 06, 2017

John Horton describes exactly how to write for Android and Java without throwing masses of unintelligible buzzwords at you. Each stage is carefully and easily explained and each new concept and word is explained in plain english. This does not mean that he doesn't teach in depth but only that he introduces the ideas as you need them to understand what you are doing. I have read and tried to follow many books and videos on android and John Hortons books have taught me more than any of the others.

Amazon Verified review

Guillermo Rodriguez Jul 17, 2015

This book is excellent! It has a fresh, fun style, but at the same time it covers the topics of Android Game Development with technical depth and correctness It is a wonderful tool for every Android programmer.

Hugo Oct 14, 2015

I think the title is wrong, this isn't just a programming book, this is a complete game development course, the author starts by talking about what you will have at the end, them he introduces every game talking about the foundations not just code and result, you are introduced to good practices to achieve your game complete, it is fundamental in my opinion to have a project complete, the programming part is really good as he is presenting the critical points of the game structure in natural basis, you understand what he does because you understand the need of that code part. I think that the difficult of this book is between intermediate to advanced, but he made a book that everyone who wants to make a mobile game can start with solid basis. All the projects has its own focus and difficult level, I think they shown almost every feature you need to make a good 2d mobile game.

jamie Jul 30, 2015

Fantastic book and i would give 10 stars if possible! i have to disagree with another review i have seen about the book not being useful to developers at beginner level, although the book intro does assume you have some development knowledge it all depends on what you are looking to take from this book! i am practically new to android game development and needed to know more on game loops and sprites and i got this know how by reading this book and putting it to practice with the games made in this book so even from a beginners point of view i have to say that what i have took from this book has been a massive help towards my understanding of what it takes to get games built and running! java code in any book anywhere can seem daunting to all of us but by using examples i find it is the best method and by example is exactly what this book shows, if you still do not get whats happening in code then simply go over it again as with everything in life, things become clearer the more you practice.Before i read and used the examples in this book i was at a stand still with my games development and was annoyed with my self as was trying to take so much information in from a number of different sources it was really taking a toll on me but when i came accross this book it ticked all the right boxes and i am glad i gave my time to read this as all this time it was one source i really needed to focus on with the right information and it happend to be the best choice i made investing my time into this because it gave me everything i needed to know and more! i am now confident with my own looping and sprites, and much better ways of the headach i was having with fps, this book is not just good to give a once over! for me it is also an ideal reference book.The way the book has been written is very straight forward and informative this makes it easy to follow, you can copy and paste the code or download the code if you have a paperback copy however if your new to development and really keen to learn i find that by writing the code myself gives me that bit extra of my learning progress and comes across clearer then copy and pasting chunks of code.I hope this book helps you all as much as it has helped me, if your really serious about android games development then you can never have enough learning books, i do highly recommend to add this to your front collection.thank you to John Horton and also to Packt for this book being here today! i had almost given up so for this i am truly thankful and will look out for more books from you in the future should there be any.Jamie LoweGames Developer in the making.

Thomas Möller Aug 15, 2019

Der Autor erläutert die Spieleprogrammierung auf Android-Geräten anhand von drei 2D-Spielen. Diese Rezension bezieht sich nur auf die ersten beiden Spiele. Das dritte Spiel (Asteroids mit Nutzung von OpenGL ES 2) habe ich bisher noch nicht durchgearbeitet.John Horton nutzt für die Spieleprogrammierung keine UI-Elemente des Android Betriebssystem (wie z.B. Button, Layout, Textfields usw.) und benötigt daher keinen Rückgriff auf die mit den Activities assozierten XML-Dateien. Daher braucht man keine weiteren Kenntnisse über die Android-UI-Bibliotheken, was recht entspannend ist.Alles wird im Android-Canvas (eine Art Leinwand, die später im Spiel die Displayanzeige darstellt) direkt in Java programmiert.Der Autor entwickelt im ersten Spiel eine Game-Engine, die gut funktioniert und sich auch leicht auf eigene Spielideen übertragen lässt.Im zweiten Spiel (Run & Jump) wird die Game-Engine dann erweitert und verwaltet zahlreiche Grafikobjekte, mit denen der Spieler auf verschiedene Weise interagiert. Dazu kommt noch ein mehrstufig scollender Hintergrund, der dadurch sogar eine räumliche Tiefe des Hintergrunds erzielt. Das Spiel wird von Anfang an so programmiert, dass es einen Level-Editor enthält, mit dem ohne größere Eingriffe in das Javaprogramm eigene Levels erstellt und beliebig geändert werden können. Dazu reicht ein einfacher Texteditor aus. Die neuen oder geänderten Level müssen lediglich in das Programm eingebunden werden, was aber mit wenigen Programmzeilen möglich ist.John Horton erklärt recht kleinschrittig die einzelnen Programmschritte. Ich fand sie dadurch gut nachvollziehbar. Ein Spiel erstreckt sich über mehrere Buchkapitel. Mindestens am Ende jedes Kapitels, häufig aber auch zwischendurch, werden Teilabschnitte der Programmierung fertiggestellt, die ein Testen des Spiels zulassen. So bleibt die Motivation hoch und man kann schnell die Wirkung der Programmteile erkunden.Pro: - Gut verständlich, sofern man Javakenntnisse besitzt. - Motivierende und grafisch schon recht anspruchsvolle Spiele (zumindest das 2. Spiel). - Gut strukturierte Programmierung durch Nutzung von Vererbung, MVC-Architektur (zumindest soweit sinnvoll) und Datenkapselung. - Der Autor erläutert meistens recht genau, wo jeweils die neuen Codezeilen in den Klassen programmiert werden müssen, so dass man auch ohne Downloads der Source-Dateien das Programm nach und nach selbst eintippen kann. - Am Ende jedes Spiels zeigt der Autor noch einige Ideen auf, wie das Spiel ohne großen Programmieraufwand erweitert und verbessert werden kann. Dazu können in der Regel die bisher geschaffenen Programmelemente genutzt werden oder müssen nur geringfügig erweitert werden.Contra: - Das Layout der Codezeilen ist teilweise schlecht formatiert. Es sind z.T. Einrückungen vorhanden, wo keine hingehören und umgekehrt. Das erschwert das Lesen und Verstehen des Codes etwas. - Im zweiten (und schon recht komplexen Spiel) wollte der Autor wohl mit den letzten Programmteilen schnell (oder endlich) fertig werden. Leider enthalten dort zwei Klassen bzw. umfangreichere Methoden Fehler (keine bloßen Flüchtigkeitsfehler). Sie fallen bei einem Kurztest möglicherweise nicht aber bei etwas längeren Tests oder geändertem Level schon. Sofern man aber bis dahin den Erklärungen folgen konnte, ist man auch in der Lage, die Programme entsprechend zu ändern, obwohl die notwendigen Änderungen jeweils recht umfangreich waren.Trotz dieser eher kleinen Abstriche steckt das Buch aber so voller Ideen und hilfreicher Konzepte, dass es für mich sehr wertvoll ist und 5 Sterne verdient. Ich freue mich schon auf die Erläuterungen für das dritte und letzte Spiel (welches w.o. erwähnt sogar OpenGL ES 2 nutzt).Für den Leser sind moderate Java-Kenntnisse erforderlich, Android-Kenntnisse dagegen kaum.

Android Game Programming By Example: Harness the power of the Android SDK by building three immersive and captivating games

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