I am trying to make a simple pong game using opengl-es. I have checked out some of the tutorials/samples, but most of them are pre-dated to 2009.
I am familiar with game programming, and consider pong to be the hello-world!
Right now, I intend to make it using their supplied SDK (2.3), but eventually I want to make it in NDK, so I can port my other work to android.
Would anyone have a good reference for a starting point ?
Thanks
The Android dev guide. There are a few samples included in the documentation that cover the basics. Probably enough for pong.
https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/ might be a better site for game specific questions.
Related
Are there any new options for converting a spritekit game to android? It seems the only options are to recode everything in Java or to use Cocos2D, LibGDX, etc.
Unfortunately ... no :{
And the cross-platform SpriteBuilder with the Apportable service that let you convert a Swift Cocos project to Android is no longer available (they got bought out by Google I believe).
SpriteBuilder is still available on GitHub but it's not active afaik and is abandoned.
So... what to do?
I would focus on iOS... you can make your game "cross platform" by converting to macOS and tvOS... This is where all of the money is in the market... Apple products...
If your goal however is cross platform, then you can look at Xamarin.forms alongside CocosSharp which will give you write once run everywhere games in C#
You also have regular Xamarin available to write gameplay code in C#, and share it across Android and SpriteKit wrappers written in C# as well.
Another thing to look at is Silver which has Swift wrappers for Android.. thus letting you port Gameplay code almost directly...
In all scenarios you will have to find another game engine for whatever Android solution you use..
IMO, developing with Swift for Apple is much easier and more fun than anything I've ever done with Android dev, even though I prefer Android devices (go figure), and since the revenue is higher it is sort of a no-brainer for starting up.
There are no easy options for supporting Android with a SpriteKit game, but with a little bit of work and not too much difficulty you can recode your game to use Cocos2d-x. I just completed such a project for my game. It took me about four months working half time. I've posted some tips here: http://doffen.org/porting-spritekit-to-cocos2d-x.
I would suggest to have a look here: http://processing.org/
and here : http://www.ricardmarxer.com/fisica/
Fisica is a wrapper of jBox2D for Processing and is quite easy to use. There are a few tweaks for android but nothing too hard.
I did it in the opposite direction (converting my fisica-based game to SpriteKit) and it was quite easy to create regex replacement to easily migrate to swift syntax.
I am just beginning to understand programming and over the past few days I have been trying to properly set-up my Android Eclipse to start programming. I also tried to install cocos2dx but still with no success. My question is - How do I properly set Eclipse for android and any additional things like cocos2dx to start making a game for example like Flappy bird or something like that? Do I need anything special for it?
Libgdx, in my opinion, is the way to go. Even Cornell University use it for their game programming courses. See here for their advice on the matter
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs4152/2014sp/materials/android.php
And, here is a link to get you going
http://www.kilobolt.com/zombie-bird-tutorial-flappy-bird-remake.html
It uses libgdx extensively.
For game development you can consider something like Corona SDK. You can create a cross platform game which would run on iOS, Android and even Windows Phone.
More information here: http://coronalabs.com/products/corona-sdk/
If you would like to stick with Android, then I recommend to use Android Studio rather than Eclipse. Google gave up on Eclipse and actively moving towards the Android Studio:
https://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html
Games development is not straight forward. Maybe you should consider to learn application development first? Udacity has put a course together with Google, which can help you to understand how Android development works:
https://www.udacity.com/course/ud853
You also mentioned that you are new to programming. You should probably start with a lower level then Android development. Maybe start from learning Java?
https://www.udacity.com/course/cs046
I want to learn AndEngine.
How should I start? I don't see any good examples. I even tried finding the downloadable source code for AndEngine and MagneTank but no luck.
I suggest http://www.matim-dev.com/tutorials.html which includes many tutorials. These are often supported by code examples. I especially suggest the "Full game tutorial articles series". With this you will develop a game from scratch and learn very much about the AndEngine.
Try to checkout their project from here and download some sample source from internet e.g. here and run the examples keeping both source in a common project.
If you are looking for learning basic AndEngine game programming, I suggest looking at this book: AndEngine for Android Game Development Cookbook.
This is a very good way to start. I have learned it in just 1 week, and am now creating my own game.
Drop Block is an exampmle from google play store.
http://jimmaru.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/andengine-simple-android-game-tutorial/
and the famous example towers......> http://www.raywenderlich.com/12065/how-to-create-a-simple-android-game
Since AndEngine is composed of several sublibraries I created a repo manifest to use in order to have all the needed to try the examples.
You can find it here: https://github.com/gipi/AndEngine-repo
Many People have already answered here and I think they all are right:
But I want to include my answer as well , because I started as a rookie in AndEngine and now I am still a rookie but with a little more knowledge than earlier.
1) Install the AndEngine APK from Google Play, test all the functionality this engine shows in that, see if the game you are thinking to make is possible with all those tools in the APK.
2) As soon as you are ready go to github page of AndEngine and install it.
3) Tweak the Example (MOST IMPORTANT), you will not learn what AndEngine is and what it can or cant do unless you tweak the examples in the AndEngine library.
4) Now you have a basic understanding, so its time to start a game.
5) Go to matim-dev blog on how to make a complete game tutorial , it is the best tutorial on andengine so far in Internet.
6) If any problem ask your question in the andengine forum , well they never answer quickly but all the problems you will face are already discussed there so no problem just go for it and start AndEngine.
Pros and cons of AndEngine so far for me :
Pros :
i) not well documented, but still you can tweak the code easily and understand very fast.
ii) Use of Box2D is great with this, Animation Sprite everything works fine.
cons
i) Very slow compared to other frameworks, deleting and detaching bodies and sprites is very clumsy, after 3 months of development of AndEngine today also I am facing problems with deleting sprites and detaching bodies in AndEngine.
ii) Attaching google ads is a nightmare in AndEngine.
Try some basic app development on Android to get Fimilar with environemt.
But to get basic concepts you should read first chapter of
AndEngine for Android Game Development Cookbook by Jayme Schroeder
and Brian Broyles
from here
Create a account on Github(and fetch the code)/or download the AndEngine(Zip) locally. and experiment with examples.
further more, Download andEngine Android app to see examples in Motion!!
This is also useful link: Java Code Geeks
I am trying to learn to create 2D games on android, and I have heard that andengine is one of the best tools for that. I tried using it, but unfortunately there I have encountered numerous issues with andengine having little documentation, and no stable place where I can learn things. So my question is that what would you recommend to a completely newbie developer? Should I try learning andengine, or learn things the hard way? And can you please provide some good links to learn? So far a lot of links I found were quite old and would not work properly all the time.
Thanks to anyone for their help.
Also just to clarify, I am middle skilled in 2D game development (especially in java and C++), so I know the basic structure, my main issue is making things run on an android since I am completely new to android itself.
With andengine, your best bet is to download, compile and run the sample games and examples. From reading through and understanding the source code for those, you'll learn how to use it. The examples in particular are effectively documentation, they're very good!
Among the following framework which one is best one for developing game application in android?
1)Libgdx
2)andengine
3) rokon
4) catcake
5)loon-simple
6) jmonkeyengine
or else native development is better without using any frameworks.
I am new to game development. My requirement to to create a building blocks game. I don`t know where to start. If any one knows means help me out
Personally I would hand tailor everything (immensely satisfying and likely to perform better). By using these frameworks you become dependant on them so if you do go down that route I suggest choosing one that is frequently updated (as Android is) and likely to stick around.
If you want to be cool you could build the game in RenderScript.
Did this in a hackathon: https://github.com/cjami/Bubble-Pops/
Good luck!