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Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours
- By Jonathan S. Harbour
- Published Nov 15, 2012 by Sams. Part of the Sams Teach Yourself series.
- Copyright 2013
- Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/8"
- Pages: 432
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-672-33604-9
- ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33604-1
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Product Author Bios
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 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 (www.starflightgame.com).
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
Downloads
Download free code files from Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours here
Author's Site
Please visit the URL associated with Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours: http://jharbour.com/
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A fantastic guide to both Android and general game engine development, By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours (Kindle Edition)
I am a fan of Harbour's books. He is a great developer, and has done it again with this guide to Android game development. He steps you through, bit by bit each facet of game engines like drawing graphics, playing sounds, tapping into control mechanisms, then puts it altogether in sample projects. A great format.Be warned - if you're a beginning developer, this book is probably a little tough to understand in the code samples. The basics of Java or a similar language would be of great help, as would a general beginners guide to Android development itself so you can understand the program structure and how to use Eclipse (the compiler) with confidence. Highly recommended. 
Possibly good for Java veterans, but poor choice for beginners,
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours (Paperback)
I'm not sure how to rate this book, honestly. On one hand I find the author's writing style to be easy to read, and definitely appreciate the copious screenshots. Code is provided both in text and via screenshot, and the latter is much easier for me to read. A lot of time is spent going over setup of the environment which I liked. And with enough effort I imagine I could have muddled my way through.However, I found a number of issues along the way that several times, from chapter 2 on, almost had me dropping it and ordering in a new book, and in the end my interest just petered out and I gave up entirely. Ten years ago I got started in development with a book called "Learn ColdFusion in 21 days", from which I taught myself the basics of coding in a week. This book took me 3 weeks to trudge through eight chapters, and left me still uncomfortable with Android development. My first complaint is the inclusion of Netbeans. From the start the author points out... Read more 
Good Book, Needs supplement,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours (Paperback)
This book is great and straightforward in programming in Android. It does not go into the confusing aspects, and explains what code it uses in an easy to understand manner. However, with that being said, this book shows you how to do certain things while creating a game in Java for Android. On the other hand, another Android book would be helpful to make the Android OS make more sense.Some aspects of how the Android System functions are still confusing to me, but the book covers all you need to know, specifically for making the games in the back of the book. I feel as if, in order to really understand game programming, you need to purchase another book on the Android OS or programming in Android from another view point. |
Online Sample Chapter
Configuring NetBeans and Eclipse with the Android SDK
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
Sample Pages
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 3 and Index)
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