LibGDX Game Development By Example: Learn how to create your very own game using the libGDX cross-platform framework

James Cook

€18.99 per month

4 (15 Ratings)

Paperback Aug 2015 280 pages 1st Edition

James Cook

€18.99 per month

4 (15 Ratings)

Paperback Aug 2015 280 pages 1st Edition

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Description

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.

Who is this book 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.

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Learning LibGDX Game Development- Second Edition

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R. Rose Sep 10, 2015

I have been looking for a book on Libgdx for a while and when I saw the author mention this on twitter I thought I would give it a go. Libgdx is a cross platform game engine, which is really rather good. The book starts with an example of building a simple snake game, illustrating the mechanics of the game and how to utilise Libgdx. Personally I would have preferred a more basic version of snake, however this is not to the detriment of the book.The second example game, is what make the book for me. It is another version of flappy bird (flappee bee) and again the author gets into the mechanics of the game exceedingly well. This section is a step up in challenge from the previous snake game, however it is paced at the right level. I personally prefer the incremental approach which allows you to build your skills whilst gaining valuable feedback on your code.The final game is a platformer and again building upon the information previously attained, an incremental body of knowledge is used to illuminate a fascinating process of building a working game.Finally I must commend the author on the content, the book is very easy to read (a couple of typos) and I really enjoyed the examples.

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Michelle and Tim Sep 11, 2015

LibGDX has quickly become the darling of the cross-platform game development world for those ideas that need a bit more power than HTML5 and mobile wrappers can provide. The issue with most books I have found is not actually in the books, but in LibGDX itself. It has been moving and evolving so fast that many of the books on the market today are already outdated. They either use the old project setup method, which is much more difficult and not recommended or the text is so out of date the instructions are worthless.But with word in the LibGDX community that the codebase is stabilizing, this new book fits the bill very well. Going through the initial setup, the pictures and instructions matched-up perfectly, and hopefully will for a long time now that the work flow is more mature. I had no problem setting up my environment at all following this book, and I was also happy to see the author using Jetbrains IDEs (although you can still use Eclipse, and the author describes how).One of the main things I enjoyed about this book is the multi-game style. Most game dev books are in one of two camps: build one larger game through the whole book, or several smaller games. I tend to prefer the latter, since you get to see more varied solutions to a wide variety of problems. It also allows the author to mold each game around the topic being discussed. The only downside is that you have a bit of boilerplate setup for each game before you can tackle the star topic, but the author does re-use code from earlier chapters, and the code is of course available for download if you don't want to keep going through the setup each time.An important distinction that potential readers would probably want to know up-front is that most of the book assumes deployment to desktop platforms. There is a nice treatment near the end that discusses porting to mobile devices, so you aren't left out in the cold, but it will take a bit of self-guided research to completely convert all the games in the book to mobile format (mostly centering around touch input and mobile design itself). Since most developers are likely coming to LibGDX to learn mobile development, that is kind of surprising, but I did not feel the need to remove a star since this book will still get you 95% of the way there. Learning the core of LibGDX is the largest hurdle, and this book fits that bill nicely.In conclusion, I highly recommend this book for learning the basics of LibGDX. It is a fairly short, easy read that still tackles a ton of topics. You may still need a bit of outside research if your aim is mobile game development, but you will have the foundation to do that. Plus, every other book on LibGDX is woefully outdated save for Packt's other book on the topic, "Learning LibGDX Game Development, 2nd Edition". I would still rather choose this book, though, because it is a faster, easier read that will get you at your keyboard working on your own games faster. However, the true scholars among us may want to read this book cover-to-cover first and then grab Learning LibGDX 2nd Ed and pick through some of the chapters on more advanced topics and cross-platform mobile development. You would really be prepared for anything following that path!

Dan Sep 24, 2015

This is an excellent way to learn how to build your own games. The fact that the games can be exported to most platforms is what makes LibGDX so good.The book gets straight intoteaching you how to make games through a few great examples; this make it easy for you to then move on and create your own concepts.if you're looking to learn how to build your own games, this is the book to go for. Both beginners and novice developers should find this book useful.

Raja Biswas Jan 13, 2016

Best LibGDX game development book. This is the only book that starts from beginning and show you everything that you need to do to build fully functional games. This book shows how to build Complete games like Snake, Flappy bird, Platformer, Angry Birds and more. The step by step approach of the writer is very easy to follow. Loved it. :)

iPaul Dec 14, 2015

Good intro book to LibGDX, starts with a simple game (Snake) example and expands this in the next chapters.

LibGDX Game Development By Example: Learn how to create your very own game using the libGDX cross-platform framework

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