Beginning Android 4 Games Development [electronic resource] /
Zechner, Mario.author.
Green, Robert.author.
Beginning Android 4 Games Development offers everything you need to join the ranks of successful Android game developers. You'll start with game design fundamentals and programming basics, and then progress toward creating your own basic game engine and playable game that works on Android 4.0 and earlier devices. This will give you everything you need to branch out and write your own Android games. The potential user base and the wide array of available high-performance devices makes Android an attractive target for aspiring game developers. Do you have an awesome idea for the next break-through mobile gaming title? Beginning Android 4 Games Development will help you kick-start your project. The book will guide you through the process of making several example games for the Android platform, and involves a wide range of topics: The fundamentals of Android game development targeting Android 1.5-4.0+ devices The Android platform basics to apply those fundamentals in the context of making a game The design of 2D and 3D games and their successful implementation on the Android platform.
Description based upon print version of record.
Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents at a Glance; Table of Contents; About the Authors; Acknowledgments; Introduction; A Word About the Target Audience; How This Book Is Organized; Getting the Source Code; Chapter 1: Android, the New Kid onthe Block; A Brief History of Android; Fragmentation; The Role of Google; The Android Open Source Project; The Android Market; Challenges, Device Seeding, and Google I/O; Android's Features and Architecture; The Kernel; The Runtime and Dalvik; System Libraries; The Application Framework; The Software Development Kit; The Developer Community
Devices, Devices, Devices!Hardware; The Range of Devices; The Minimum Practical Target; Cutting-Edge Devices; The Future: Next Generation; Game Controllers; Compatibility Across All Devices; Mobile Gaming Is Different; A Gaming Machine in Every Pocket; Always Connected; Casual and Hardcore; Big Market, Small Developers; Summary; Chapter 2: First Steps with the Android SDK; Setting Up the Development Environment; Setting Up the JDK; Setting Up the Android SDK; Installing Eclipse; Installing the ADT Eclipse Plug-In; A Quick Tour of Eclipse; Helpful Eclipse Shortcuts; Hello World, Android Style
Creating the ProjectExploring the Project; Writing the Application Code; Running and Debugging Android Applications; Connecting a Device; Creating an Android Virtual Device; Running an Application; Debugging an Application; LogCat and DDMS; Using ADB; Summary; Chapter 3: Game Development 101; Genres: To Each One's Taste; Casual Games; Puzzle Games; Action and Arcade Games; Tower-Defense Games; Innovation; Game Design: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Code; Core Game Mechanics; A Story and an Art Style; Screens and Transitions; Code: The Nitty-Gritty Details; Application and Window Management
InputFile I/O; Audio; The Physics of Sound; Recording and Playback; Audio Quality and Compression; In Practice; Graphics; Of Rasters, Pixels, and Framebuffers; Vsync and Double-Buffering; What Is Color?; Color Models; Encoding Colors Digitally; Image Formats and Compression; Alpha Compositing and Blending; In Practice; The Game Framework; The Game and Screen Interfaces; A Simple Example; Frame Rate-Independent Movement; Summary; Chapter 4: Android for Game Developers; Defining an Android Application: The Manifest File; The  Element; The  Element; The  Element
The  ElementThe  Element; The  Element; Android Game Project Setup in Ten Easy Steps; Market Filters; Defining the Icon of Your Game; Android API Basics; Creating aTest Project; The AndroidBasicsStarter Activity; Starting Activities Programmatically; Creating the Test Activities; The Activity Life Cycle; In Theory; In Practice; Input Device Handling; Getting (Multi-)Touch Events; Processing Single-Touch Events; Processing Multitouch Events; Pointer IDs and Indices; The Action Mask and More Event Types; In Practice; Processing Key Events
Reading the Accelerometer State
Includes index.
Beginning Android 4 Games Development offers everything you need to join the ranks of successful Android game developers. You'll start with game design fundamentals and programming basics, and then progress toward creating your own basic game engine and playable game that works on Android 4.0 and earlier devices. This will give you everything you need to branch out and write your own Android games. The potential user base and the wide array of available high-performance devices makes Android an attractive target for aspiring game developers. Do you have an awesome idea for the next break-through mobile gaming title? Beginning Android 4 Games Development will help you kick-start your project. The book will guide you through the process of making several example games for the Android platform, and involves a wide range of topics: The fundamentals of Android game development targeting Android 1.5-4.0+ devices The Android platform basics to apply those fundamentals in the context of making a game The design of 2D and 3D games and their successful implementation on the Android platform.
Android (Electronic resource)
Computer games—Programming.
Application software.
Game Development.
Computer Applications.