What do you think?
Rate this book
LibGDX Game Development by Example
Learn how to create your very own game using the libGDX cross-platform framework
About This Book
Learn the core features of libGDX to develop your own exciting games
Explore game development concepts through example projects
Target games for major app stores quickly and easily with libGDX's cross-platform functionality
Who This Book Is For
This book is intended for those who wish to learn the concepts of game development using libGDX. An understanding of Java and other programming languages would definitely be helpful, although it is not a must.
What You Will Learn
Create and configure a libGDX project to get started with making games
Get to grips with a simple game loop that will drive your games
Manage game assets to reduce code duplication and speed up development
Pack game assets together into single assets to increase your game's performance
Display textures on the screen and manipulate them with play input
Play various types of sounds that a game can generate
Design and modify a game user interface with libGDX's built-in tools
Develop a game that will run across various platforms
In Detail
LibGDX is a cross-platform game development framework in Java that makes game programming easier and fun to do. It currently supports Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, and HTML5.
With a vast feature set on offer, there isn't a game that can't be made using libGDX. It allows you to write your code once and deploy it to multiple platforms without modification. With cross-platform delivery at its heart, a game can be made to target the major markets quickly and cost effectively.
This book starts with a simple game through which the game update cycle is explained, including loading textures onto your screen, moving them around, and responding to input. From there you'll move on to more advanced concepts such as creating a formal game structure with a menu screen, adding a game screen and loading screen, sprite sheets, and animations. You'll explore how to introduce a font to optimize text, and with the help of a game that you'll create, you'll familiarise yourself with the 2D tile map API to create worlds that scroll as the characters move.
In the final sample game of the book, you'll implement a basic version of an Angry Birds clone, which will allow you to use the physic library box2D that libGDX provides access to. An overview of exporting games to different platforms is then provided.
Finally, you will discover how to integrate third-party services into games and take a sneak peak at the Social Media API to get a basic understanding of how it fits into the libGDX ecosystem.
Style and approach
With this book you'll learn game development with libGDX through example game projects. You'll finish the book with a thorough understanding of libGDX game development, along with completed games that you'll have built yourself.
About This Book
Learn the core features of libGDX to develop your own exciting games
Explore game development concepts through example projects
Target games for major app stores quickly and easily with libGDX's cross-platform functionality
Who This Book Is For
This book is intended for those who wish to learn the concepts of game development using libGDX. An understanding of Java and other programming languages would definitely be helpful, although it is not a must.
What You Will Learn
Create and configure a libGDX project to get started with making games
Get to grips with a simple game loop that will drive your games
Manage game assets to reduce code duplication and speed up development
Pack game assets together into single assets to increase your game's performance
Display textures on the screen and manipulate them with play input
Play various types of sounds that a game can generate
Design and modify a game user interface with libGDX's built-in tools
Develop a game that will run across various platforms
In Detail
LibGDX is a cross-platform game development framework in Java that makes game programming easier and fun to do. It currently supports Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, and HTML5.
With a vast feature set on offer, there isn't a game that can't be made using libGDX. It allows you to write your code once and deploy it to multiple platforms without modification. With cross-platform delivery at its heart, a game can be made to target the major markets quickly and cost effectively.
This book starts with a simple game through which the game update cycle is explained, including loading textures onto your screen, moving them around, and responding to input. From there you'll move on to more advanced concepts such as creating a formal game structure with a menu screen, adding a game screen and loading screen, sprite sheets, and animations. You'll explore how to introduce a font to optimize text, and with the help of a game that you'll create, you'll familiarise yourself with the 2D tile map API to create worlds that scroll as the characters move.
In the final sample game of the book, you'll implement a basic version of an Angry Birds clone, which will allow you to use the physic library box2D that libGDX provides access to. An overview of exporting games to different platforms is then provided.
Finally, you will discover how to integrate third-party services into games and take a sneak peak at the Social Media API to get a basic understanding of how it fits into the libGDX ecosystem.
Style and approach
With this book you'll learn game development with libGDX through example game projects. You'll finish the book with a thorough understanding of libGDX game development, along with completed games that you'll have built yourself.
314 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2015
1 person want to read
About the author
James Cook
57 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database. This profile contains books by more than one author with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
June 26, 2023LibGDX Game Development by Example is an excellent resource for aspiring game developers looking to create their own games using the libGDX cross-platform framework. The book offers a comprehensive guide to understanding the core features of libGDX and provides step-by-step instructions through example projects.
One of the standout features of this book is its emphasis on cross-platform functionality. The author demonstrates how to target major app stores quickly and easily by leveraging libGDX's capability to deploy code across multiple platforms without modification. This aspect makes LibGDX Game Development by Example an invaluable resource for developers aiming to reach a wide audience efficiently and cost-effectively.
In the world of gaming, the Cross-Platform Play Products: Andersen as One of The Top Providers article has become a highly sought-after feature, allowing gamers to connect and play with friends across different devices and platforms. Among the top providers in this space, Andersen stands out as a leading company that excels in delivering exceptional cross-platform play products.
One of the standout features of this book is its emphasis on cross-platform functionality. The author demonstrates how to target major app stores quickly and easily by leveraging libGDX's capability to deploy code across multiple platforms without modification. This aspect makes LibGDX Game Development by Example an invaluable resource for developers aiming to reach a wide audience efficiently and cost-effectively.
In the world of gaming, the Cross-Platform Play Products: Andersen as One of The Top Providers article has become a highly sought-after feature, allowing gamers to connect and play with friends across different devices and platforms. Among the top providers in this space, Andersen stands out as a leading company that excels in delivering exceptional cross-platform play products.
February 1, 2018
Good intro to game dev using LibGDX
February 1, 2018
Good intro to game dev using LibGDX
June 3, 2016
First of all.
This code there is garbage. Why you people, making books shows such bad example like full game implemented in one class? What is that!? How should anyone know how to code, when they see no examples of cleancode. Yea, I get it, this book is not about clean code, but understand that, cause I did it myself in past, I read I watch I do. So first year in my job was horrible, cause I did not understand how to properly code. That's a bad example. That's a huge minus for this book, cause I hate when author could not make it with better solution. Gratz on using Intellij, but your code James is terrible. And I believe, in work you work better, so show other people how to do it. I code in Java for almost 4 years, not so much, but still know some things. In Unity I'm making game in home for a little more than a year. I believe this book is for people even with less experience. And I was lost sometimes between lines of code in book, cause Snake game class has almost 400 lines. Shame shame shame. It's published bad example :( I will recommend that book to no one, me myself wanted to check for some patterns in Libgdx, cause wanted to check it out after Unity, but I believe that was not a good book to picked up to learn so.
This code there is garbage. Why you people, making books shows such bad example like full game implemented in one class? What is that!? How should anyone know how to code, when they see no examples of cleancode. Yea, I get it, this book is not about clean code, but understand that, cause I did it myself in past, I read I watch I do. So first year in my job was horrible, cause I did not understand how to properly code. That's a bad example. That's a huge minus for this book, cause I hate when author could not make it with better solution. Gratz on using Intellij, but your code James is terrible. And I believe, in work you work better, so show other people how to do it. I code in Java for almost 4 years, not so much, but still know some things. In Unity I'm making game in home for a little more than a year. I believe this book is for people even with less experience. And I was lost sometimes between lines of code in book, cause Snake game class has almost 400 lines. Shame shame shame. It's published bad example :( I will recommend that book to no one, me myself wanted to check for some patterns in Libgdx, cause wanted to check it out after Unity, but I believe that was not a good book to picked up to learn so.
January 19, 2017
I have worked through several libgdx development handbooks and I'd say this is one of the best. True it doesnt always bog you down with best practice and implementing mulitple classes but it does show you the basics very well.
Also the author has written it in excellent English which I could understand very well and much of the time whilst reading it , I almost felt like someone was in the room talking to me about it. He never just puts code on the page without explaining every line and somehow without being boring too.
I tried many other books as Ive said, many with better 'end-product' games and also with better game design in terms of encapsulation and more advanced ways to include asset management and a class for every different mechanism inside the game, but most of these I could tell were written by people who's first language isn't English (not that they were badly written , it just wasnt as English sounding in the explanations as this book).
I give this book 5 Stars. I've been coding in Java from home learning by myself for about 2 years now and this book still taught me loads of new things.
Also the author has written it in excellent English which I could understand very well and much of the time whilst reading it , I almost felt like someone was in the room talking to me about it. He never just puts code on the page without explaining every line and somehow without being boring too.
I tried many other books as Ive said, many with better 'end-product' games and also with better game design in terms of encapsulation and more advanced ways to include asset management and a class for every different mechanism inside the game, but most of these I could tell were written by people who's first language isn't English (not that they were badly written , it just wasnt as English sounding in the explanations as this book).
I give this book 5 Stars. I've been coding in Java from home learning by myself for about 2 years now and this book still taught me loads of new things.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews