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

Entities


Everything you can display in AndEngine is an entity. The Entity class is a basic class that stands on top of the hierarchy. The Entity class has all the parameters the displayable objects need, such as position, scale factor, color, and so on. But on its own, it doesn't display anything.

The Entity class can also have children, both in Java class hierarchy and in the hierarchy of AndEngine objects.

For the former case, let's take the Sprite class as an example. A sprite in AndEngine is a simple image rendered on a quad (a square made of two triangles). The Sprite class extends the Shape class, which already knows what to do when the programmer sets its height and width; therefore, the Sprite class doesn't need to implement it. Also, the Shape class extends the Entity class. See the following diagram for another example:

The latter case means that you can attach one entity to another. It doesn't matter what type it is, whether it's a sprite, shape, or anything else, as long as it is...