Slick2D Game Development

Develop simple, yet engaging games with the Slick2D game engine

Overview

• Work with Slick2D game workflow
• Learn how to develop game components with hands-on examples
• Get to grips with game analysis and enhancement

In Detail

Most of the game development enthusiasts are ‘tinkerers’-people who are good at programming and know a lot about programming methods; however, they may have never written a complete game program, but would like to know how to create a program. Transitioning from programming to game development can often be difficult, however, Slick2D helps developers to create amazing games without having to deal with low level programming, and it simplifies many of the daunting tasks, such as rendering and window creation.

This practical guide will help you to understand the different components of Slick2D. Throughout the course of this book, you will develop different components, and by the end of the book you will combine all of these components to assemble a complete game.

Enabling you to add life to your games, this book will focus on the Slick2D game library. Starting with the installation and configuration of a game library, you will then move onto understanding the structure of a game. Throughout the book, you will be involved in developing different sections of a single game, which will help you to gain hands- on experience in understanding the Slick Workflow. Following on from this, you will be shown how to add additional features to your game such as adding input and music, while taking a detailed look at the render method.

What you will learn from this book

• Set up the Slick2D workflow
• Render images, primitive shapes, strings, and more, to the screen
• Update the screen and utilize delta time
• Utilize user input to manipulate the game state
• Implement music and sound effects
• Export and distribute your final game

Approach

A simple guide, packed with tutorials that ease you into learning about the Slick game workflow and Slick game library.

Who this book is written for

If you are a game programmer who would like to expand on your skills and become a game developer, this book is ideal for you. No previous knowledge of Slick 2D or any other Java game library is required. This book assumes that you have basic Java syntax and object oriented programming knowledge.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Setting Up Slick2D
Chapter 2: Game Structure
Chapter 3: The Slick2D Workflow
Chapter 4: A Deeper Look at Rendering
Chapter 5: A Look at Input
Chapter 6: Sound and Music
Chapter 7: From Example to Game
Appendix A: Full Source Code
Appendix B: Packaging Our Game