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Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook

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Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook

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Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook
Oct, 2014 | 516 pages
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Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook
Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Diving into Libgdx
Diving into Libgdx
Introduction
Setting up a cross-platform development environment
Creating a cross-platform project
Understanding the project structure and application life cycle
Updating and managing project dependencies
Using source control on a Libgdx project with Git
Importing and running the Libgdx official demos
2
Working with 2D Graphics
Working with 2D Graphics
Introduction
Texture rendering with SpriteBatch
More effective rendering with regions and atlases
Taking advantage of Libgdx sprites
Rendering sprite-sheet-based animations
Understanding orthographic cameras
Using ShapeRenderer for debug graphics
Handling multiple screen sizes with viewports
3
Advanced 2D Graphics
Advanced 2D Graphics
Introduction
Achieving juicy effects with particles
Frame buffers and image composition
Welcome to the world of shaders
Passing parameters into shader programs
2D depth of field shader
Embedding a Libgdx window into a Java desktop application
4
Detecting User Input
Detecting User Input
Introduction
Detecting user input via event polling
Detecting user input via event listening
Managing multiple listeners at once
Detecting more complex gestures
Introducing the controllers API
Input mapping for cross-platform development
5
Audio and File I/O
Audio and File I/O
Introduction
Playing short sound effects
Audio streaming for background music
Optimizing audio files to reduce download sizes
Procedural audio generators
Engine sounds with dynamic audio
The 2D space sound system
The first approach to file handling in Libgdx
Using preferences to store game states and options
The XML parsing primer
JSON serialization and deserialization
6
Font Rendering
Font Rendering
Introduction
Generating and rendering bitmap fonts
Baking effects into fonts using Hiero
Scaling friendly font rendering with distance fields
Dynamic font effects using distance fields
7
Asset Management
Asset Management
Introduction
Getting to know AssetManager
Asynchronous asset loading
Creating custom asset loaders
Managing groups of assets for bigger games
8
User Interfaces with Scene2D
User Interfaces with Scene2D
Introduction
Introducing the Scene2D API
Widget collection overview
Creating a basic menu screen using tables
Skin customization
Creating new widgets
9
The 2D Maps API
The 2D Maps API
Introduction
Creating maps with Tiled and loading them into Libgdx
Adding and querying map metadata
Developing your own map loaders and renderers
10
Rigid Body Physics with Box2D
Rigid Body Physics with Box2D
Introduction
Introducing Box2D
Introducing more complex shapes
Introducing joints
Real-life joints example – bike simulator
Reacting to collisions
Sensors and collision filtering
Querying the world
Building a physics world from level data
Implementing a deferred raycaster
The fixed timestep approach
11
Third-party Libraries and Extras
Third-party Libraries and Extras
Introduction
Making libraries compatible with GWT
Managing platform-specific code
Smooth animations with Universal Tween Engine
Dynamic 2D lighting with Box2DLights
Adding support for localization
Finite state machine and messaging
Component-based entity systems with Ashley
Skeletal animations with Spine
12
Performance and Optimizations
Performance and Optimizations
Introduction
Profiling your application with VisualVM
Using Libgdx features to avoid garbage collection
Avoiding unnecessary render calls with frustum culling
13
Giving Back
Giving Back
Introduction
Releasing your Libgdx game on desktop
Releasing your Libgdx game on Android
Releasing your Libgdx game on iOS
Releasing your Libgdx game on browsers
Working from sources
Creating a new test for your fresh feature
Sending a pull request on GitHub
Index
Index

Releasing your Libgdx game on desktop

Fantastic! You have just finished your awesome Libgdx game and want to release it to Windows, GNU/Linux, and Mac users.

You could pack your project into a JAR file and distribute it, although it is far from optimal. First of all, your users will need to have a JRE; otherwise, they will not be able to run the game. Moreover, if their JRE is not compatible with the game's JAR archive, it may crash or cause all sorts of problems. Finally, you might not want your users to know that you are using Java.

The best way to go about distributing Libgdx games on desktop platforms is by packing your game with a JRE of your choice into a platform-specific binary. That way you will make sure it works without any surprises.

In this recipe, you will learn how to make a platform-specific binary of your Libgdx game.

Getting ready

We will be using Packr, an open source tool that does exactly what we need. Packr was created by Mario Zechner (author of Libgdx) and is maintained...

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