AndEngine for Android Game Development Cookbook

380 Pages·2013·4.03 MB·English

AndEngine for Android
Game Development
Cookbook
Over 70 highly effective recipes with real-world examples
to get to grips with the powerful capabilities of AndEngine
and GLES 2
Jayme Schroeder
Brian Broyles
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
AndEngine for Android Game Development
Cookbook
Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing
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First published: January 2013
Production Reference: 1070113
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84951-898-7
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Jayme Schroeder ([email protected])
Credits
Authors Project Coordinator
Jayme Schroeder Priya Sharma
Brian Broyles
Proofreader
Reviewers Kevin McGowan
Mateusz Mysliwiec
Indexer
Sergio Viudes Carbonell
Rekha Nair
Jafar Abdulrasoul [Jimmar]
Graphics
Acquisition Editor
Aditi Gajjar
Kartikey Pandey
Production Coordinator
Lead Technical Editor
Shantanu Zagade
Sweny M. Sukumaran
Cover Work
Technical Editors Shantanu Zagade
Sharvari Baet
Dominic Pereira
About the Authors
Jayme Schroeder was introduced to computers at a very young age. By 11, he had started
creating modifications and level packs for his favorite game. By age 16, he had found his true
passion in game development and network programming in C++ and OpenGL. In early 2011,
Jayme had received an Android smartphone and immediately fell in love with the development
experience. Since then, he has been researching and developing for the Android platform on a
daily basis.
There are many people I would like to thank for the opportunity to write this
book and also thank those who helped me out every step of the way.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Packt Publishing for the acceptance
of AndEngine for Android Game Development Cookbook and Amber D'souza
for first approaching me with the opportunity to write this book. I would also
like to thank Kartikey Pandey, Michelle Quadros, Sweny Sukumaran, Priya
Sharma from Packt Publishing who all played a large part in making the
writing process much easier than anticipated and comfortable for me. I would
also like to thank Dominic Pereira and Sharvari Baet for the effort they've put
in throughout the production stage and the suggestions they've made.
I would like to thank Nicolas Gramlich for creating AndEngine. Not only has
he created an amazing engine for novice and advanced developers alike,
but he's created a great community for Android developers to both learn
and strengthen their development skills relating to game development.
I would like to also thank my co-author, Brian Broyles, for his contributions
and commitment
to the book. It's been an honor to share the experience with him.
Finally, I would like to thank all of my family and friends who showed their
support and provided feedback during this experience. More specifically, I
would like to thank Kent and Judy Schroeder; my parents, Shannon, Hollie,
Taylor, and Brittanie; my brothers and sisters and my girlfriend, Krystal
Guevremont. Of my friends, I would like to specifically thank Leo Wandersleb
and Jordi Puigdellívol, with whom I've spent many days discussing the finer
details of AndEngine which greatly helped to improve my knowledge.
Brian Broyles is a freelance programmer and 2D/3D graphic designer with over
12 years of experience. Before entering the mobile development industry in 2010 as the
lead programmer of IFL Game Studio, he designed advanced artificial intelligence systems
and graphical effects for interactive PC applications. In addition to his vast programming and
design experience, he is also a commercial pilot, instrument flight instructor, and advanced
instrument ground instructor.
I'd like to thank my amazing, beautiful wife, Bethany, for her support and
enthusiasm as well as my family for encouraging me in all of my endeavors.
About the Reviewers
Mateusz Mysliwiec was born 1993 in Tarnow, Poland, graduating from high school
in 2012. He currently lives in England. During his last year of high school, he decided that
he would like to study Software Engineering or a different subject connected with math,
programming, and engineering. He is also an independent game developer. In his free time,
he develops professional mobile games focusing especially on the Android platform. His goal
is to permanently impact the global mobile gaming industry in the near future. He is active in
a variety of projects, including open source. His passions away from game development are
sports and recreation such as football, skydiving, and jogging. His family and friends are the
important aspects of his life.

Sergio Viudes is a 30 years old software developer from Elche (Spain). He works
developing commercial web apps, and develops video games for Android in his free time.
He likes to play video games since childhood. He started playing with his brother's Spectrum
when he was 5 years old. When he bought his first PC (well, his parents did), he was 14 years
old, and started learning computer programming, computer drawing, and music composing
(using the famous "FastTracker 2"). When he finished high school, he studied Computer
Science at the University of Alicante.
His interest in mobile devices started with his first smart phone, ten years ago (2002), when
he bought the first Symbian device from Nokia, the Nokia 7650. He really liked the idea that
he could develop software that could run everywhere. So, along with his studies and his job,
Sergio started creating simple mobile apps for his phone. About two years ago he decided to
create his first video game for mobile devices. He really enjoys developing for mobile devices,
he likes to compose music, he likes to draw, and, of course, he likes to play video games.
So he decided to put all his hobbies together and develop his first video game for his favorite
mobile platform—Android.
So far Sergio has released 3 games and he continues developing apps and games for Android
as a hobby. He wishes that someday it will be his job, not just a hobby.
Jafar Abdulrasoul—a graduate from the Kuwait University—is a Computer Engineer and an
Android game enthusiast who wrote a couple of excellent tutorials on his blog about creating
games using AndEngine. He is known online by the name Jimmar.
My gratitude goes to my mother who tries to support me in everything I do,
so thank you mama!
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: AndEngine Game Structure 7
Introduction 7
Know the life cycle 8
Choosing our engine type 14
Selecting a resolution policy 17
Creating object factories 18
Creating the game manager 20
Introducing sounds and music 23
Working with different types of textures 27
Applying texture options 34
Using AndEngine font resources 39
Creating the resource manager 42
Saving and loading game data 45
Chapter 2: Working with Entities 51
Introduction 51
Understanding AndEngine entities 52
Applying primitives to a layer 58
Bringing a scene to life with sprites 62
Applying text to a layer 69
Using relative rotation 74
Overriding the onManagedUpdate method 77
Using modifiers and entity modifiers 81
Working with particle systems 93