Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours will help you master mobile game development for Android 4. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll gain hands-on expertise with the entire process: from getting access to the hardware via the Android SDK to finishing a complete example game. You’ll learn to use the Android SDK and open source software to design and build fast, highly playable games for the newest Android smartphones and tablets. Every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!   Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Android game programming tasks. Quizzes and exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks. Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.   Jonathan Harbour is a writer and instructor whose love for computers and video games dates back to the Commodore PET and Atari 2600 era. He has a Master’s in Information Systems Management. His portfolio site at http://www.jharbour.com includes a discussion forum. He also authored Sams Teach Yourself Windows Phone 7 Game Programming in 24 Hours. His love of science fiction led to the remake of a beloved classic video game with some friends, resulting in Starflight—The Lost Colony (http://www.starflightgame.com).   Learn how to… Install and configure the free development tools, including the Android 4 SDK, Java Development Kit, and Eclipse (or NetBeans) Use the Android graphics system to bring your game characters to life Load and manage bitmaps, and use double buffering for better performance Incorporate timing and animation with threaded game loops Tap into the touch screen for user input Learn to use Android sensors such as the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, light detector, and thermometer Integrate audio into your games using the media player Build your own game engine library to simplify gameplay code in your projects Animate games with sprites using atlas images and fast matrix transforms Employ object-oriented programming techniques using inheritance and data hiding Create an advanced animation system to add interesting behaviors to game objects Detect collisions and simulate realistic movement with trigonometry Experiment with an evolving engine coding technique that more naturally reflects how games are written

Table of Contents:
Introduction      xvii Part I: Introduction HOUR 1: Introducing Android 4     3 Hello, Android 4     3 About the Android SDK     7 About the Android NDK     8 Android Dev System Requirements     8 History of the Platform     9 Android Hardware Specifications     11 Summary     13 Q&A     13 Workshop     14 HOUR 2: Installing the Development Tools     15 Installing the JDK     16 Downloading the NetBeans Package     17 Installing the Package     17 Installing the Android SDK     19 Downloading the SDK     20 Installing the SDK     20 Running the Android SDK Manager     23 Installing the ADT Plug-in for Eclipse     25 Summary     28 Q&A     29 Workshop     29 HOUR 3: Configuring NetBeans and Eclipse with the Android SDK     31 Creating an Android Emulator Device     31 Plugging Android SDK into NetBeans     35 Adding Android SDK Support to Eclipse     40 Summary     45 Q&A     46 Workshop     46 Hour 4: Creating Your First Android Program     47 Creating a New Android Project     47 Building the New Project     52 Editing the “Hello, Android!” Program     60 Comparing the Emulator to an Android Device     63 Summary     72 Q&A     72 Workshop     72 Part II: Android Hardware HOUR 5: Getting Started with Graphics     77 Understanding the Activity Class     77 Testing the Activity States     79 World’s Simplest Android Graphics Demo     86 Summary     90 Q&A     91 Workshop     91 HOUR 6: Drawing Basic Shapes and Text     93 Drawing Basic Vector Shapes     93 Drawing Text     99 Writing Code for Javadoc     103 Android Screen Densities and Resolutions     104 Summary     109 Q&A     110 Workshop     110 HOUR 7: Loading and Drawing Images     111 Double-Buffered Drawing     111 Loading a Bitmap File     115 Drawing a Bitmap     120 Summary     126 Q&A     126 Workshop     127 HOUR 8: Bringing Your Game to Life with Looping     129 Creating a Threaded Game Loop     129 Drawing Without onDraw()     132 The Runnable Animation Demo     134 Summary     140 Q&A     141 Workshop.     141 HOUR 9: Multi-Touch User Input     143 Single-Touch Input     143 Multi-Touch Input      148 Summary     155 Q&A     155 Workshop     156 HOUR 10: Using the Accelerometer     157 Android Sensors     157 Summary     168 Q&A     168 Workshop     168 HOUR 11: Using the Linear Acceleration and Proximity Sensors     169 Accessing the Linear Acceleration Sensor     169 Accessing the Proximity Sensor     177 Summary     178 Q&A     178 Workshop     178 HOUR 12: Using the Gravity and Pressure Sensors     181 Using the Gravity Sensor     181 Using the Pressure Sensor     188 Summary     189 Q&A     190 Workshop     190 HOUR 13: Creating Your Own “Tricorder”     191 Encapsulating the Android Sensors     191 Creating the Tricorder Project     195 Summary     211 Q&A     211 Workshop.     211 HOUR 14: Playing with the Audio System     213 Playing Audio Using MediaPlayer     213 Playing Audio Using SoundPool     218 Summary     221 Q&A     221 Workshop     221 Part III: Android Gameplay HOUR 15: Building an Android Game Engine     225 Designing an Android Game Engine     226 Creating an Android Library Project     229 Writing the Core Engine Classes     234 Engine Test Demo Project     247 Summary     253 Q&A     253 Workshop     254 HOUR 16: Creating a Sprite/Actor Class     255 Static Sprite as a “Prop”     255 Dynamic Sprite as an “Actor”     257 Encapsulating Basic Sprite Functionality     258 Testing the Sprite Class     261 Summary     266 Q&A     266 Workshop     267 HOUR 17: Frame Animation Using a Sprite Sheet/Atlas     269 Animating with a Single Strip     269 Animating with a Sprite Sheet (Texture Atlas)     272 The Animation Demo     273 Summary     278 Q&A     279 Workshop     279 HOUR 18: Advanced Multi-Animation Techniques     281 Creating an Animation System     281 Animation System Demo     293 Summary     297 Q&A     297 Workshop     298 HOUR 19: Manipulating Sprites with Matrix Transforms     299 Matrix Translation     299 Matrix Rotation     305 Matrix Scaling     306 Matrix Transforms Demo     307 Summary     319 Q&A     320 Workshop     320 HOUR 20: Entity Grouping     321 Entity Grouping     321 Summary     332 Q&A     332 Workshop     332 HOUR 21: Collision Detection     333 Collision Detection Techniques     333 Demonstrating Collisions     337 Summary     347 Q&A     348 Workshop     348 HOUR 22: Using Linear Velocity for Realistic Movement     349 Calculating Velocity from a Direction     349 “Pointing” a Sprite in the Direction of Movement     352 Enhancing the Engine     355 Summary     368 Q&A     369 Workshop     369 HOUR 23: Scrolling the Background     371 Background Scrolling Overview     371 The Shoot-’Em-Up Game     374 Summary     382 Q&A     382 Workshop.     382 HOUR 24: Ball and Paddle Game     385 Creating the Ball and Paddle Game     385 Summary     394 Q&A     395 Workshop     395 Index     397