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

Bits and bytes


Audio is inherently an analog experience. Sound is created as compressed waves travel through the air and interact with our ear drums. Until recently, the techniques used to reproduce audio were also strictly audio as well. For example, a microphone records sound similarly to how our ears do by capturing changes in air pressure and converting them to electrical impulses. Speakers do the reverse by converting the electrical signals back into waves of air pressure.

Computers, on the other hand, are digital. Computers convert audio samples into bits and bytes by taking samples of the audio. To keep it simple, let's consider a system where the current frequency of the sound wave (that is, how fast the wave is moving) is captured as a 16 bit (2 byte) number. It turns out that a 16 bit number can capture numbers in a range from 0 to 65,536. Each sample of the sound wave must be encoded as a number in this range. Also, as we actually capture two samples each time (for stereo sound...