Book Image

Learning AndEngine

By : Martin Varga
Book Image

Learning AndEngine

By: Martin Varga

Overview of this book

AndEngine is a very popular open source OpenGL (open graphics library) Android game engine, used to create mobile games quickly while maintaining the ability to fully customize them. This book will guide you through the whole development process of creating a mobile game for the Android platform using one of the most popular and easy-to-use game engines available today. Beginning with the very basics, you will learn how to install AndEngine, gather graphics, add sound and music assets, and design game rules. You will first design an example game and enhance it by adding various features over the course of the book. Each chapter adds more colors, enhances the game, and takes it to the next level. You will also learn how to work with Box2D, a popular 2D physics engine that forms an integral part of some of the most successful mobile games. By the end of the book, you will be able to create a complete, interactive, and fully featured mobile game for Android and publish it to Google Play.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Learning AndEngine
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

User input


AndEngine uses a simple abstraction layer above the Android user input handlers. We are going to use the touchscreen and the accelerometer, but it is of course possible to use any other sensors that are not implemented in AndEngine by directly calling the Android SDK methods.

Touchscreen

Let's start with the touchscreen, because it's the most common way of getting user input in smartphones and tablets. The Android system is handling the touchscreen itself and it is firing touch events. These touch events are caught and processed by AndEngine. We are going to handle them using event listeners.

Touch events

Touch events in AndEngine handle five basic motion events from the Android SDK. In this case, the terms motion and touch event can be used interchangeably. These five events are as follows:

  • ACTION_DOWN: This is the most basic event; it happens at the beginning of a touch.

  • ACTION_MOVE: When the touch starts and the user drags their finger or pen on the screen, move events are triggered...