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

Coding the UIController class


This class will have the same purpose as the class of the same name did in the previous project. It will also look very similar too.

Add a new class called UIController and add the member variables, constructor and addObserver method.

import android.graphics.Point;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.view.MotionEvent;

import java.util.ArrayList;

class UIController implements InputObserver {

    private float mThird;

    private boolean initialPress = false;

    UIController(GameEngineBroadcaster b, Point size) {
        // Add as an observer
        addObserver(b);

        mThird = size.x / 3;
    }

    
    void addObserver(GameEngineBroadcaster b) {
        b.addObserver(this);
    }
}

The float mThird variable will help us to divide the screen up vertically into thirds. The player will then be able to tap a portion of the screen to choose the level that they want to play. The initialPress Boolean is used in a workaround to avoid a bug/glitch...