Learning Libgdx Game Development

Walk through a complete game development cycle with practical examples and build cross-platform games with libGDX

Overview

• Create a libGDX multi-platform game from start to finish
• Learn about the key features of libGDX that will ease and speed up your development cycles
• Write your game code once and run it on a multitude of platforms using libGDX
• An easy-to-follow guide that will help you develop games in libGDX successfully

In Detail

Game development is a field of interdisciplinary skills, which also makes it a very complex topic in many respects. One decision that usually needs to be made at the beginning of a game development processis to define the kind of computer system or platform the game will be developed for. This does not pose any problems in general but as soon as the game should also be able to run on multiple platforms it will become a developer’s nightmare to maintain several distinct copies of the same game. This is where the libGDX multi-platform game development framework comes to the rescue!

“Learning libGDX Game Development” is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with all the information you need to know about the libGDX framework as well as game development in general so you can start developing your own games for multiple platforms. You will gradually acquire deeper knowledge of both, libGDX and game development while you work through twelve easy-to-follow chapters.

“Learning libGDX Game Development” will walk you through a complete game development cycle by creating an example game that is extended with new features over several chapters. These chapters handle specific topics such as organizing resources, managing game scenes and transitions, actors, a menu system, using an advanced physics engine and many more. The chapters are filled with screenshots and/or diagrams to facilitate comprehension.

“Learning libGDX Game Development” is the book for you if you want to learn how to write your game code once and run it on a multitude of platforms using libGDX.

What you will learn from this book

• Learn about libGDX and prepare your system for multi-platform game development
• Speed up your overall productivity with the awesome JVM Code Hot Swapping feature
• Create a project setup and test the base code required for game building
• Use Scene2D to create and organize complex menu structures
• Use the texture packer to automate the creation of texture atlases
• Replace the default launcher icon with your own app icon
• Manage and play audio files and add special effects to a game to improve its look and feel
• Create and use texture atlases for optimized sprite rendering

Approach

A clear and practical guide to building games in libGDX.

Who this book is written for

This book is great for Indie and existing game developers, as well as those who want to get started with game development using libGDX. Java game knowledge of game development basics is recommended.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Libgdx and Project Setup
Chapter 2: Cross-platform Development – Build Once, Deploy Anywhere
Chapter 3: Configuring the Game
Chapter 4: Gathering Resources
Chapter 5: Making a Scene
Chapter 6: Adding the Actors
Chapter 7: Menus and Options
Chapter 8: Special Effects
Chapter 9: Screen Transitions
Chapter 10: Managing Music and Sound Effects
Chapter 11: Advanced Programming Techniques
Chapter 12: Animations