Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games

By : John Horton
Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

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Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Learning Java by Building Android Games
Learning Java by Building Android Games
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Why Java, Android, and Games?
Why Java, Android, and Games?
Is this book for me?
Why build games to learn to program?
Why Android and Java?
Setting up our development environment
Summary
2
Getting Started with Android
Getting Started with Android
Our first game project
Exploring Android Studio
Using the Android Studio visual designer
Structuring our code for Android
Our first look at Java
Building and installing our game
Self-test questions
Summary
3
Speaking Java – Your First Game
Speaking Java – Your First Game
Java syntax
Storing data and using it with variables
Expressing yourself in Java
Math game – asking a question
Decisions in Java
Math game – getting and checking the answer
Self-test questions
Summary
4
Discovering Loops and Methods
Discovering Loops and Methods
Looping with loops
Methods
Enhancing our math game
Finishing touches
Self-test questions
Summary
5
Gaming and Java Essentials
Gaming and Java Essentials
Java arrays – an array of variables
Timing with threads
Beeps n buzzes – Android sound
Life after destruction – persistence
The memory game
Self-test questions
Summary
6
OOP – Using Other People's Hard Work
OOP – Using Other People's Hard Work
What is OOP?
Our first class and first object
Encapsulation
Inheritance
Polymorphism
More about OOP and classes
Self-test questions
Summary
7
Retro Squash Game
Retro Squash Game
Drawing with Android Canvas
Android Canvas demo app
Detecting touches on the screen
Preparing to make the retro squash game
The four implementation phases in detail
Self-test questions
Summary
8
The Snake Game
The Snake Game
Game design
The coordinate system
The code structure
Animation, sprite sheets, and the Snake home screen
Implementing the Snake game activity
Enhancing the game
Self-test questions
Summary
9
Making Your Game the Next Big Thing
Making Your Game the Next Big Thing
How to publish your app
Marketing your app
Adding leaderboards and achievements
What next?
Self-test questions
Summary
Self-test Questions and Answers
Self-test Questions and Answers
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Index
Index

The four implementation phases in detail

Let's take an even closer look at the implementation before we actually get to it. Here is how we will divide the implementation into the four phases, this time with a bit more detail as to what to expect in each:

  • Phase 1 – MainActivity and onCreate: In this phase, we will create the project itself as well as implement the following steps:

    • We will add our imports and create the body of our MainActivity class

    • Within this, we will declare the member variables that the game needs

    • We will implement our onCreate method, which does loads of setup work but nothing that is hard to understand

  • Phase 2 – SquashCourtView part 1: In this phase, we will start work on our key class, SquashCourtView. Specifically, we will:

    • Implement the declaration of the SquashCourtView class and its member variables.

    • Write a simple constructor.

    • Implement the run method to control the flow of the game.

    • Implement the lengthy but fairly easy-to-understand updateCourt method. This is the method...

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