Android game programming for dummies
Book - 2013
Get your head in the game and start developing engaging Android apps that game gurus will love! A bit of Java knowledge is helpful, but even if you lack that, this book will walk you through creating two Android games and getting them into Google Play. Once you've got the basics down, let your imagination lead the way!
Saved in:
- Subjects
- Published
-
Hoboken, NJ : Chichester :
Wiley ; John Wiley [distributor]
c2013.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Item Description
- Includes Internet access.
Includes index. - Physical Description
- xviii, 362 p. : ill. ; 26 cm
- ISBN
- 9781118027745
- Introduction
- Why You Need This Book
- Conventions Used in This Book
- Technical Considerations
- How This Book Is Organized
- Part I. Adopting the Android Gaming Mindset
- Part II. Starting to Program
- Part III. Making Your First Game: Crazy Eights
- Part IV. Moving On to Your Second Game: Whack-a-Mole
- Part V. Managing Your Game in the Market
- Part VI. The Part of Tens
- Icons Used in This Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1. Adopting the Android Gaming Mindset
- Chapter 1. Getting to Know Android Gaming
- Seeing the Potential of the Android Platform
- Where Android came from
- And where it's going
- What You Must Know about the Mobile Gaming Industry
- Handhelds and smartphones
- iOS or Android
- How Android Is Suited to Mobile Gaming
- Growth
- Freedom
- Potential
- Thinking Through Your Game Project
- Designing first
- Following a structured development process
- Deciding on distribution
- Knowing What Tools You Need
- Capitalizing on Your Game
- The tried-and-true approaches
- Chapter 2. Designing Your Game
- Deciding What Kind of Game to Make
- Genre
- Number of players
- Thinking about how and when people will play your game
- Identifying Your Target Audience
- The Android user base
- Casting a wide net or finding a niche
- Targeting Devices
- Firmware
- Hardware
- Designing the interface and controls
- Finding and/or creating resources (graphics and sound)
- Chapter 3. Setting Up Your Development Environment
- Starting at the Beginning
- Downloading and Installing Eclipse
- Installing the Software
- Installing the SDK
- Installing the ADT
- Connecting Eclipse to the SDK
- The Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager
- Creating a virtual device
- Launching a virtual device
- Creating an Android Project
- Running an Android App
- Manual launch control
- Starting apps
- Part II. Starting to Program
- Chapter 4. Dissecting an Android App
- Creating a New Project
- Taking the Bird's Eye View of a Project
- Editing the Manifest
- Naming and versioning your game
- Targeting versions
- Declaring activities
- Setting permissions
- Targeting different screen sizes
- Organizing Resources
- Drawables
- Layouts
- Strings
- Styles
- Themes
- Sounds
- Organizing the Source Directory
- Understanding Activities
- The lifecycle of an activity
- Using Views
- Differences between View and SurfaceView
- Instantiating a custom view
- Drawing in a view
- Handling input
- Part III. Making Your First Game: Crazy Eights
- Chapter 5. Creating a Simple Title Screen
- Creating a Custom View
- Loading the Title Graphic
- Drawing the Title Graphic
- Handling Screen Orientation
- Controlling Screen Timeout
- Making the Game Full-Screen
- Adding buttons
- Handling Button States
- Launching the Play Screen
- Intents
- Bundles
- Chapter 6. Creating a Basic Play Screen
- Displaying Cards
- Loading the card images
- Dealing the cards
- Displaying the game state
- Taking Your Turn
- Handling turns
- Picking up cards
- Playing cards
- Showing dialog boxes (and toasts)
- Taking cards from the draw pile
- Advancing play
- Chapter 7. Finishing Your First Game
- Ending Hands and Games
- Ending a hand
- Ending a game
- Wrapping Up the Game
- Coding the opponent AI
- Making your own launcher icon
- Part IV. Moving On to Your Second Game: Whack-a-Mole
- Chapter 8. Creating a Complex Title Screen
- Using SurfaceView
- Adding an Options Menu
- Toggling the Sound Option
- Chapter 9. Creating an Animated Play Screen
- Handling Images for the Play Screen
- Making Simple Animations
- Handling User Interaction
- Loading and Playing Sounds
- Handling End of Game
- Chapter 10. Storing and Retrieving Game Information
- Using Shared Preferences for Data Storage
- Using XML for Data Storage
- Using a SQLite Database for Data Storage
- Part V. Managing Your Game in the Market
- Chapter 11. Making Money with Your Game
- Knowing Your Competition
- Monetization Models
- Free
- Paid
- Free-to-Paid
- Ad-based
- In-app Purchases
- Alternatives to Google Play
- Chapter 12. Publishing and Updating Your Game
- Creating a developer account for Google Play
- Generating a Key with Keytool
- Exporting a Signed Application
- Uploading Your Game to Google Play
- Uploading the APK
- Adding product details
- Supporting and Updating Your Game After Publication
- Part VI. The Part of Tens
- Chapter 13. Ten Open-Source Game Projects
- Lunar Lander
- Replica Island
- Alien Blood Bath
- OpenSudoku
- Lexic
- Newton's Cradle
- Vector Pinball
- asqare
- tiltmazes
- GL ES Quake
- Chapter 14. Ten Game Engines and Tools
- libgdx
- AndEngine
- Unity
- OpenFeint
- Flurry
- Audacity
- sfxr
- GIMP
- Inkscape
- AdWhirl
- Chapter 15. Ten More Places to Distribute Your Game
- Amazon
- Handango
- Opera Mobile App Store
- GetJar
- SlideME
- Appoke
- AppBrain
- AndroLib
- Your Website
- BitTorrent Sites
- Chapter 16. Ten Websites for Android Game Developers
- Stack Overflow
- Android Developer
- anddev.org
- Android Developers Blog
- Appolicious
- Android Tapp
- Phandroid
- xda developers
- Droid Gamers
- Android and Me
- Glossary
- Index