Book Image

OpenGL Game Development By Example

By : Stephen Madsen, Robert Madsen
Book Image

OpenGL Game Development By Example

By: Stephen Madsen, Robert Madsen

Overview of this book

OpenGL is one of the most popular rendering SDKs used to develop games. OpenGL has been used to create everything from 3D masterpieces running on desktop computers to 2D puzzles running on mobile devices. You will learn to apply both 2D and 3D technologies to bring your game idea to life. There is a lot more to making a game than just drawing pictures and that is where this book is unique! It provides a complete tutorial on designing and coding games from the setup of the development environment to final credits screen, through the creation of a 2D and 3D game. The book starts off by showing you how to set up a development environment using Visual Studio, and create a code framework for your game. It then walks you through creation of two games–a 2D platform game called Roboracer 2D and a 3D first-person space shooter game–using OpenGL to render both 2D and 3D graphics using a 2D coordinate system. You'll create sprite classes, render sprites and animation, and navigate and control the characters. You will also learn how to implement input, use audio, and code basic collision and physics systems. From setting up the development environment to creating the final credits screen, the book will take you through the complete journey of creating a game engine that you can extend to create your own games.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
OpenGL Game Development By Example
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introducing textures


Images in games are called textures. Textures allow us to use real world images to paint our world. Think about what it would take to create a dirt road. You could either color the triangles in exactly the right way to make the overall scene look like dirt, or you could apply an actual image (that is, a texture) of dirt to the triangles. Which of these do you think would look more realistic?

Using textures to fill the triangles

Let's say that you are going to paint your bedroom. You can either use paint to color the walls, or you could buy some wallpaper and put that on your walls. Using images to add color to our triangles is pretty much like using wallpaper to color our bedroom walls. The image is applied to the triangle, giving it a more complex appearance than what could be created by color alone:

When we want to get really tricky, we use textures to fill the inside of our triangles instead of colors. A marble texture has been applied to the triangle in the preceding...