Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games - Second Edition

By : John Horton
Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games - Second Edition

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems presently. It uses the most popular programming language, Java, as the primary language for building apps of all types. However, this book is unlike other Android books in that it doesn’t assume that you already have Java proficiency. This new and expanded second edition of Learning Java by Building Android Games shows you how to start building Android games from scratch. The difficulty level will grow steadily as you explore key Java topics, such as variables, loops, methods, object oriented programming, and design patterns, including code and examples that are written for Java 9 and Android P. At each stage, you will put what you’ve learned into practice by developing a game. You will build games such as Minesweeper, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, and Classic Snake and Scrolling Shooter games. In the later chapters, you will create a time-trial, open-world platform game. By the end of the book, you will not only have grasped Java and Android but will also have developed six cool games for the Android platform.
Table of Contents (30 chapters)
Learning Java by Building Android Games Second Edition
Contributors
Preface
Index

Introducing the Scrolling Shooter project


The player's objective in this game is simply to destroy as many aliens as possible. Let's go in to some more details about the features the game will have. Look at the starting screen for the Scrolling Shooter project in the next image:

You can see there is a background of silhouetted skyscrapers. This background will smoothly and speedily scroll in the direction the player is flying. The player can fly left or right, and the background will scroll accordingly. However, the player cannot stay still horizontally. You can see that when the game is over (or just been launched by the player) you can see the message Press Play.

I have numbered some items of interest in the previous image, let's run through them:

  • There is a high score feature and for the first time, we will make the high score persistent. When the player quits the game and restarts later the high score will still be there. The player can even turn their device off and come back the next...