Book Image

Learning Libgdx Game Development

Book Image

Learning Libgdx Game Development

Overview of this book

Game development is a field of interdisciplinary skills, which also makes it a very complex topic in many respects. One decision that usually needs to be made at the beginning of a game development processis to define the kind of computer system or platform the game will be developed for. This does not pose any problems in general but as soon as the game should also be able to run on multiple platforms it will become a developer's nightmare to maintain several distinct copies of the same game. This is where the libGDX multi-platform game development framework comes to the rescue! "Learning Libgdx Game Development" is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with all the information you need to know about the libGDX framework as well as game development in general so you can start developing your own games for multiple platforms. You will gradually acquire deeper knowledge of both, libGDX and game development while you work through twelve easy-to-follow chapters. "Learning Libgdx Game Development" will walk you through a complete game development cycle by creating an example game that is extended with new features over several chapters. These chapters handle specific topics such as organizing resources, managing game scenes and transitions, actors, a menu system, using an advanced physics engine and many more. The chapters are filled with screenshots and/or diagrams to facilitate comprehension. "Learning Libgdx Game Development" is the book for you if you want to learn how to write your game code once and run it on a multitude of platforms using libGDX.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Learning Libgdx Game Development
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Chapter 6. Adding the Actors

In this chapter we will implement the remaining game objects which represent our actors in the game world. These are the player character bunny head and both the collectible items; the gold coin and the feather power-up. We will complete the level loader by adding support for the actor game objects so that they are handled properly when a level is loaded.

The game will be extended to feature a simple physics simulation that allows any game object to be moved using physical properties, such as velocity, acceleration, and friction. In addition, the game logic will also need to be able to detect collisions of the game objects to trigger certain events. For example, we want the player character to be able to jump, stand, and walk on a rock (platform), collect items by walking over them, and lose a life when it falls into the water. The game logic will also include a check to find out if the game over condition is met so that the game immediately ends and a Game Over...