Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games - Third Edition

By : John Horton
5 (1)
Book Image

Learning Java by Building Android Games - Third Edition

5 (1)
By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems today. It uses the most popular programming language, Java, as one of the primary languages for building apps of all types. Unlike most other Android books, this book doesn’t assume that you have any prior knowledge of Java programming, instead helps you get started with building Android games as a beginner. This new, improved, and updated third edition of Learning Java by Building Android Games helps you to build Android games from scratch. Once you've got to grips with the fundamentals, the difficulty level increases steadily as you explore key Java topics, such as variables, loops, methods, object-oriented programming (OOP), and design patterns while working with up-to-date code and supporting examples. At each stage, you'll be able to test your understanding by implementing the concepts that you’ve learned to develop a game. Toward the end, you’ll build games such as Sub Hunter, Retro Pong, Bullet Hell, Classic Snake, and Scrolling Shooter. By the end of this Java book, you'll not only have a solid understanding of Java and Android basics but will also have developed five cool games for the Android platform.
Table of Contents (24 chapters)

Future learning

If you feel like you have come a long way, you are right. There is always more to learn, however. While there are many other ways to make games, a discussion of game engines and libraries for different platforms is beyond the scope of this already rather heavy volume. You can, however, get started on diversifying by reading this article: http://gamecodeschool.com/blog/making-games-where-do-i-start/.

If you are hooked on Android Studio and Java, then there are two steps I recommend:

  1. Plan and make a game of your own.
  2. Keep learning.

When you plan your own game, be sure to do so in detail. Make sketches and think about how you will create each game object and how they will behave, what game states need to be monitored, and how the code will be structured.

With the "keep learning" step, you will find that when you are making a game, you will suddenly realize that there is a gap in your knowledge that needs to be filled to make some feature...