How to start with 2D - android

Ok my question is simple:
How do I start working with 2D graphics on android? Untill now,I found on the how to make almost anything on Android,however with graphics I see is harder.
On the android sdk website,I get some simple codes that don't really help me,and I also searched for a book,guess what,I didn't find one that actually shows you how to make a little game explaining me what does every line of code.
So: How do I start working with 2D graphics? I'm interested because I want to make some games.I would be very happy to find a tutorial for ex. that shows you how to make a little character that just jumps over a box.I know you need an engine and all that stuff,and I would actually want to learn how to make a little engine.

libGDX runs on Android (and a few other platforms) and provides high level 2D graphics features like sprites, fonts, tile maps, particles, etc.
Tutorials here.
A few complete demo games with source code here.

Here's a whole series that seems pretty decent, and starts from the beginning.
Also, the techniques of "generic" 2D programming apply, so general-purpose game engine information is useful as well.

If you are interested in android games(2d), I recommend this book http://www.amazon.com/dp/1430230428/

The following book is very good for learning 2d graphics in Android.
"Android 2D graphics with Canvas API".
http://www.amazon.com/Android-Graphics-Canvas-API-ebook/dp/B00DKIAVK8/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374420538&sr=1-8&keywords=android+2d
It is not for game developers though.
It teaches how to use graphics primitives and work with different coordinate systems. It also has a chapter on multithreading.
It has many simple examples good for beginners.

Related

What do I have to learn or should use in creating a 3D android game?

My thesis is to create an 3D android game. I have installed the 3D softwares like 3DS Max, ZBrush, Blender. I also downloaded Android SDK for Windows and I have Eclipse Juno. But I don't know how to start. Thank you in advance. :)
If you want to write a game, use a game engine.
I would advice against using OpenGL directly if you want to focus
on game mechanics or story. 3D game engines like
Unity or JMonkeyEngine
give you all the tools you need to turn your 3D assets into a game:
Importers for various file formats, a scene graph,
math libraries, and usually tons of example projects that get you
started quickly.
If you want to write a rendering engine, use OpenGL
With OpenGL you can build everything mentioned above yourself: Write
or find importers for your assets, figure out a lighting model, write
a scene graph. If you want to do all that, cool, use OpenGL. But
doing this technical stuff will keep you busy; you will have less time
to make a really great game.
I prefer OpenGL ES for Android. Good performance and easy enough to learn.
It's better to start from basic with opengl and then understand concept of using 3d and then prefer standard tool to use.
I have listed android game engine tool for 2d and 3d. Hope it might help u.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17163446/what-is-the-best-2d-game-engine-for-android/17166794#17166794
Start with unity3d which is a game engine, I am not sure but the names that you have posted are used for making 3d models for the game.
Your Thesis? That's pretty broad scope! :)
What I would be looking for, is something with lots of example code (since you say you don't know where to start) and good community involvement (ditto the start thing).
If you only need a single player setting, then I would suggest libGDX as a place that would be a good jumping off platform, as there are lots and lots of step thru tutorials along with lots of example code (and a very up to date wiki on the API), and a pretty good group at helping out with issues.
Since it is open source, you can dig as deep as you want into the inner workings to understand (or be mystified like me) as to how the code is accomplishing whatever task you are looking at. (which might be handy for your thesis)
While it might not be quite as polished as some other commercial 3d development kits, the BadLogic crew has made some very big progress the past few months on the 3d side of the house, along with breaking my JSON code... thanks! :) )

What advantages cocos2d-android does provide over android 2d

I have seen several posts here about cocos2d-android, so ambition to get more idea on it drag me at coco2ds-android-1 and a good example .
My analysis can not find any significant benefit of using coco2ds instead of usual 2d approach of surfaceView and SurfaceHolder.Callback .
I will be thankful if anybody have expertise over coco2ds-android will guide me about benefits to use it instead of usual gaming approach .
Just by clicking on links starting from the ones in OP, I have came across http://dan.clarke.name/2011/04/how-to-make-a-simple-android-game-with-cocos2d/ - which states the obvious answer you are looking for.
First of all, this is a 2D gaming engine. All of the physics and whatnot effects are just there for you. No need to re-implement from scratch
Secondly, this is actually a port of the iPhone gaming library with the same name - great news if you also plan on porting to iPhone. And thirdly it is open sourced, meaning you can tweak anything accordingly.
I have noticed however that this is a pure java library, so do not expect amazing performance. If performance is critical, google for something NDK based, not SDK based. I could not advise here as gaming is not my thing.

Android Development: How do graphics work in Android?

I am an android development beginner with some experience in other object oriented languages like java, python, c#. So I have created various games before in Java, using buffers and graphics to draw lines and stuff. How do I do that stuff in android? I looked at some online guides, and they all seem to create a class to extend a View object, and the class will overrule the onDraw method, where they can cause the Canvas or something to draw a line.
But what if you want to draw a line based on user input? That method wouldn't work then would it?
For example, what is the simplest code for which I could draw a circle where the user touches the screen?
Also, i was wondering what books people would reccomend for beginners, especially one that includes stuff on graphics? I user the developer site for android, but I feel a book would also help a lot to understand android? Any suggestoins?
Thank you for your time, I greatly appreciate it!
There you go, this book is definitely what you need to read: http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Android-Media-Developing-Smartphones/dp/1430232676
what is the simplest code for which I could draw a circle where the user touches the screen?
Either use SurfaceView to draw or create a custom View handling onDraw() and onTouch()
Here is a suggestion ... load the API Demos app into Eclipse and explore the Graphics demo source code. There are a large number of graphics demos.
To load the API Demos app, in Eclipse click File > New > Other > Android Sample Project.
Then select your build target such as Android 4.2.
Then from the list of sample apps select the API Demos app.
And finally click Finish.
There are over 300 demos in the app, so it can be difficult to navigate. You want to look in the Graphics section.
"Android 2D Graphics with Canvas API" by Yevgen Karpenko is pretty good for beginners.
It explains basic concepts like coordinate systems and transformations, shows how to work with text and use different graphics primitives (lines, paths, circles, etc.). It also shows how to use multiple threads in graphics apps.
Below is the link for eBook version on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Android-Graphics-Canvas-API-ebook/dp/B00DKIAVK8/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374420538&sr=1-8&keywords=android+2d

Android 2D graphics game engine?

I'm trying to find a good 2D graphics engine for a game... Something for a game like a top-down (slight angle so it looks 3D...) allowing the user to move around.. that sort of game...
Any help would be great, Thanks!
If I understand you it sounds like you want to make an "isometric" style 2D game. There's another question on stackoverflow that has a good answer as well.
As others have noted, AndEngine might be the way to go. Apparently it can load tile maps in Tiled Map Editor format (TMX), which offers support for isometric maps.
I recommend AndEngine.
They have an app demonstrating its ability on the market called AndEngineExamples.
http://www.andengine.org/
examples are available and you check out performance etc.. I know there are even some youtube videos specific to andengine
Andengine is great but it's resolutely 2D and you sound like you'd really like to do 3D.
An obvious alternative would be Unity - as it supports Android amongst it's many deployment platforms (and it's free!!)

An easy android 2D game engine with an easy learning curve

Hey all.... I am currently trying to make a game on the android platform. I want some guidelines on choosing a good android 2D game engine. I have been looking on the internet for sometime and have found these game engines to choose from the one which doesn't have a huge learning curve
AndEngine
libGdx (The one m most impressed by)
JMonkeyEngine
For anyone who wants to know more about the different game engines the following link should help you..
http://www.cuteandroid.com/ten-open-source-android-2d-or-3d-game-engine-for-android-developers
I intend to keep the interface simple yet attractive, so want to choose the correct engine, and also want to choose the correct engine using which making complex games also is easy in my future projects. If some one could tell me commercially used free (or open sourced) game engines i would be really grateful. I even wouldn't mind learning a 3D game engine if its learning curve is not that too steep and its implementation of 2D games is also pretty simple.
Andengine hides most of the complexity from you, so its super easy to get started, but because of this you do not have full control over it. The documentation or javadocs is close to zero, so dont expect anything from there.
As for libgdx, its harder to learn, but the community is bigger and more matured, and u have more control to the engine.
no idea about the monkey engine.

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