Learning Java by Building Android Games

Table of Contents

Learning Java by Building Android Games

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Why Java, Android, and Games?

Is this book for me?

If you just want to learn pure Java

If Android is your focus

Where this book will take you

Why build games to learn to program?

Why Android and Java?

Android is the fastest evolving and growing OS ever

Android developers have great prospects

Android is open source

Java is here to stay

Java is not just for Android

Java is fast and easy to use

A summary of Java and Android

Setting up our development environment

Installing the JDK

Android Studio

Installing Android Studio

Summary

2. Getting Started with Android

Our first game project

Preparing Android Studio

Building the project

Exploring Android Studio

Using the Android Studio visual designer

Android UI types

TextView

Layout elements

ImageView widgets

ButtonView

Using the sample code

Making our game menu

Structuring our code for Android

Life cycle phases – what we need to know

Life cycle phases – what we need to do

Dividing our game into activities

Our first look at Java

Cleaning up our code

Building and installing our game

Emulators and devices

Creating an emulator

Running the emulator

Running our game on the emulator

Building our game

Installing the setup to a device

Future projects

Self-test questions

Summary

3. Speaking Java – Your First Game

Java syntax

The compiler

Making code clear with comments

Storing data and using it with variables

Types of variables

Reference types

Declaration

Initialization

Changing variables with operators

Expressing yourself in Java

Math game – asking a question

Creating the new game activity

Laying out the game screen UI

Coding a question in Java

Linking our game from the main menu

Decisions in Java

More operators

Decision 1 – If they come over the bridge, shoot them

Decision 2 – Else, do this

Switching to make decisions

Math game – getting and checking the answer

Self-test questions

Summary

4. Discovering Loops and Methods

Looping with loops

While loops

Breaking out of a loop

The continue keyword

Do-while loops

For loops

Random numbers in Java

Methods

The structure of a method

Modifier

Return type

Name of a method

Parameters

Getting things done in the method body

Using methods

A working method

Exploring method overloading

Enhancing our math game

Enhancing the UI

The new Java code

Amending GameActivity

The methods

The setQuestion method

The updateScoreAndLevel method

The isCorrect method

Calling our new methods

Finishing touches

Going full screen and locking orientation

Adding a custom image (instead of the Android icon)

Self-test questions

Summary

5. Gaming and Java Essentials

Java arrays – an array of variables

Arrays are objects

A simple example of an array

Getting dynamic with arrays

Dynamic array example

Entering the nth dimension with arrays

An example of a multidimensional array

Array-out-of-bounds exceptions

Timing with threads

A simple thread timer example with the Handler class

Beeps n buzzes – Android sound

Creating sound FX

Playing sounds in Android

Life after destruction – persistence

An example of persistence

The memory game

Phase 1 – the UI and the basics

Phase 2 – preparing our variables and presenting the pattern

Phase 3 – the player's response

Phase 4 – preserving the high score

Animating our game

UI animation in Android

Phase 5 – animating the UI

Self-test questions

Summary

6. OOP – Using Other People's Hard Work

What is OOP?

Why do it like this?

Our first class and first object

Basic classes

More things we can do with our first class

Encapsulation

Controlling the use of classes with access modifiers

Class access in a nutshell

Controlling the use of variables with access modifiers

Variable access in a nutshell

Methods have access modifiers too

Method access in a nutshell

Accessing private variables with the getter and setter methods

Setting up our objects with constructors

Variables revisited

The stack and the heap

A quick break to throw out the trash

Access, scope, this, static, and constructors demo

A quick summary on stack and heap

Inheritance

An example of inheritance

Polymorphism

Abstract classes

Interfaces

More about OOP and classes

Inner classes

Self-test questions

Summary

7. Retro Squash Game

Drawing with Android Canvas

The Android coordinate system

Animating our pixels

Getting started with Canvas and Paint

Android Canvas demo app

Detecting touches on the screen

Preparing to make the retro squash game

The design of the game

The UI

Physics

The structure of the code

The four implementation phases in detail

Phase 1 – MainActivity and onCreate

Phase 1 code explained

Phase 2 – SquashCourtView part 1

Phase 2 code explained

Phase 3 – SquashCourtView part 2

Phase 3 code explained

Phase 4 – Remaining lifecycle methods

Good object-oriented design

Self-test questions

Summary

8. The Snake Game

Game design

The coordinate system

Keeping track of the snake segments

Detecting collisions

Drawing the snake

The code structure

MainActivity

GameActivity

Tidying up onCreate

Animation, sprite sheets, and the Snake home screen

Animating with sprite sheets

Implementing the Snake home screen

Implementing the Snake game activity

Enhancing the game

Self-test questions

Summary

9. Making Your Game the Next Big Thing

How to publish your app

Marketing your app

Adding leaderboards and achievements

Planning the Snake achievements

Step-by-step leaderboards and achievements

Installing the Google Play Services API on your PC

Configuring the Google Play developer console

Implementing the leaderboard in the Google Play developer console

Implementing the achievements in the Google Play developer console

Setting up the Snake project ready for implementation

Implementing the player's sign-in, achievements, and leaderboard buttons

Implementing the leaderboards in code

Implementing the achievements in code

Uploading the updated Snake game to Google Play

What next?

Getting a programmer's job

Building bigger and better games

Self-test questions

Summary

A. Self-test Questions and Answers

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Index

Learning Java by Building Android Games

Learning Java by Building Android Games

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: January 2015

Production reference: 1230115

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78439-885-9

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

John Horton

Reviewers

Tony Atkins

Thorsten Harbig

Boon Hian Tek

Commissioning Editor

Pramila Balan

Acquisition Editor

Harsha Bharwani

Content Development Editor

Pooja Nair

Technical Editor

Shruti Rawool

Copy Editor

Vikrant Phadke

Project Coordinator

Leena Purkait

Proofreaders

Ting Baker

Simran Bhogal

Maria Gould

Ameesha Green

Paul Hindle

Indexer

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Production Coordinator

Arvindkumar Gupta

Cover Work

Arvindkumar Gupta

About the Author

John Horton is a technology enthusiast based in UK. When he is not writing apps, books, or blog articles for www.gamecodeschool.com, he can usually be found playing computer games or indulging in a Nerf war.

A very big thanks to all the reviewers. I would also like to express my gratitude to the people at Packt Publishing who made this book possible, including Priyanka Budkuley for getting the project started, Pooja, Harsha, Shruti, Vikrant, Leena, Ting, Simran, Maria, Ameesha, Paul, Monica, and Arvindkumar.

To Jo, Jack, James, Ray, Rita, and Skipper, I dedicate this book to you.

About the Reviewers

Tony Atkins is a developer and entrepreneur focused on building assistive apps with Android. He lives and works in Amsterdam.

He has reviewed the book, Sakai CLE Courseware Management: The Official Guide, Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank my wife, Elaine, and son, Phillip, for bringing joy to my life each day.

Thorsten Harbig was born on August 30, 1977. He grew up at Lake Constance in southern Germany. He studied computer science, spent 7 months in Belgium working on his diploma thesis, and finished his master's degree in energy savings on mobile phones from Aalborg University in Denmark. Since then, he has worked as a software consultant for companies in the finance and automotive sectors and as a trainer for Java EE courses.

Since the last 3 years, Thorsten has shifted his focus to project management, beginning with small software projects using agile methods, and lately working on software and hardware projects, covering the entire process as follows: starting with an idea, working on requirements, performing the design and realization, and planning the manufacturing and packaging at the end.

Thorsten always looks for new, interesting topics to work on, and wants to share new achievements with colleagues and others who are interested.

Boon Hian Tek is a Java developer who follows the learn two languages a year advice. He is a polyglot of both spoken languages and programming languages. He works with a group of talented (but demented) developers who together produce and maintain some highly transactional web systems.

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

For support files and downloads related to your book, please visit www.PacktPub.com.

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.PacktPub.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at for more details.

At www.PacktPub.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks.

https://www2.packtpub.com/books/subscription/packtlib

Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital book library. Here, you can search, access, and read Packt's entire library of books.

Why subscribe?

Fully searchable across every book published by Packt

Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content

On demand and accessible via a web browser

Free access for Packt account holders

If you have an account with Packt at www.PacktPub.com, you can use this to access PacktLib today and view 9 entirely free books. Simply use your login credentials for immediate access.

Preface

If you are completely new to any one of Java, Android, or game programming, and are aiming at publishing Android games for fun or for a business purpose, but you have no clue as to where to start, then this book is for you. This book also acts as a refresher for those who already have experience in Java on other platforms.

Android is the fastest growing operating system, and Android devices can empower, entertain, and educate the planet. Android uses one of the most popular programming languages—Java, which is a high-performance, secure, and object-oriented language.

In each chapter, we will build on what you learned from the previous chapter, steadily gaining an understanding of more advanced Java concepts and putting them to work by building Android games.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Why Java, Android, and Games?, tells us why we might choose Java, Android, and games over other languages, platforms, and types of apps. Then we quickly prepare our Android and Java development environment by installing the Java Development Kit and Android Studio.

Chapter 2, Getting Started with Android, shows us how to design, build, and run a game menu UI on a real Android device. This is the first part of our math game project.

Chapter 3, Speaking Java – Your First Game, covers the Java fundamentals and their use in an Android environment to make a simple math quiz game.

Chapter 4, Discovering Loops and Methods, contains more Java fundamentals such as decision-making and looping. Then we use them to add features to our math game. This chapter also covers some basic Android game essentials such as locking and handling screen rotation, and introduces the device sensors.

Chapter 5, Gaming and Java Essentials, takes us on a quick ride through some vital essentials for any game. We also make the UI more exciting with animation and by storing player scores. Demonstrated with a Simon-style memory game, storing the sequence with Java arrays and a for loop.

Chapter 6, OOP – Using Other People's Hard Work, is the chapter where everything you have learned so far is tied up with a pretty ribbon. You should find yourself muttering phrases like, Oh, I see and So that's how it works. We explore object-oriented programming (OOP) in this chapter.

Chapter 7, Retro Squash Game, teaches us how to draw graphics pixel by pixel with the Android Canvas class. We can then combine these new skills with what we already know and make a retro, pong-style squash game.

Chapter 8, The Snake Game, covers the beginning of our most advanced game project—an animated Snake-style arcade game. We will also be able to practice more of the important Java fundamentals that you learned in the previous chapters.

Chapter 9, Making Your Game the Next Big Thing, puts the icing on the cake by teaching you how to publish your game and add online leaderboards and achievements. This will also let you examine the concept of Java libraries.

Appendix, Self-test Questions and Answers, contains all the answers to the questions to test your understanding of the topic.

What you need for this book

You will need a modest version of Windows (XP, Vista, 7, or 8), and a Mac, Linux PC, or laptop. Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are compatible. All of the software needed in excess of this is free and acquiring it is fully explained in the book.

Who this book is for

This book is for you if you are completely new to any one of Java, Android, or game programming. As the book assumes no previous knowledge, it is also for you if you are new to all three (Java, Android, and game programming).

If you want to publish Android games for fun or for business and are not sure where to start, then this book will show you what to do, step by step from the start.

If you have experience in Java on another platform (perhaps PC or Mac), then this book will be a good Java refresher, and will also show you how to apply your existing skills in an Android context.

If you have previously programmed in another language but want to learn Java for any platform from the start, then you will be able to learn from this book and move through the practical examples more quickly.

The book does assume that you are fairly confident in using your operating system of choice. The step-by-step tutorials are in Windows, but if you have a decent understanding of Mac or Linux, you can probably follow along quite easily with them too.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and explanations of their meanings.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: In the Android Studio Project Explorer, double-click on the layout folder to reveal the activity_main.xml file within it.

A block of code is set as follows:

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.view.MenuItem;

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

int partA = 9;

int partB = 9;

correctAnswer = partA * partB;

int wrongAnswer1 = correctAnswer - 1;

int wrongAnswer2 = correctAnswer + 1;

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

info﹕ a = 10 info﹕ b = Alan Turing info﹕ c = true

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: When prompted to import another class, click on OK.

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail <feedback@packtpub.com>, and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide at www.packtpub.com/authors.

Customer support

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files from your account at http://www.packtpub.com for all the Packt Publishing books you have purchased. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

Downloading the color images of this book

We also provide you with a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. The color images will help you better understand the changes in the output. You can download this file from: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/8859OS_ColoredImages.pdf.

Errata

Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you could report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the Errata Submission Form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded to our website or added to any list of existing errata under the Errata section of that title.

To view the previously submitted errata, go to https://www.packtpub.com/books/content/support and enter the name of the book in the search field. The required information will appear under the Errata section.

Piracy

Piracy of copyrighted material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can pursue a remedy.

Please contact us at <copyright@packtpub.com> with a link to the suspected pirated material.

We appreciate your help in protecting our authors and our ability to bring you valuable content.

Questions

If you have a problem with any aspect of this book, you can contact us at <questions@packtpub.com>, and we will do our best to address the problem.

Chapter 1. Why Java, Android, and Games?

Welcome to Learning Java by Building Android Games, which I hope is just the beginning of your exciting journey into designing and writing games. By the end of this book, we will have made four complete games: a math quiz with dynamically increasing difficulty, a memory game in the style of the classic Simon toy, a pong-style squash game, and a clone of the classic Snake game.

Besides these games, we will build more than a dozen working apps to practice and demonstrate individual concepts to aid our learning of Java, Android, and games. Our games and apps will feature sound FX, graphics, and animations. We will learn everything from using the standard Android User Interface (UI) designer to creating smooth animations by plotting individual pixels.

Although I will encourage you to work with me and implement the specific projects that are detailed step by step throughout the book, I fully expect that once you grasp the different concepts, you will want to use them in your own unique creations without delay. This is exactly what I hope you will be inspired to do.

The game projects themselves are not the objective of the book but the means to a much loftier goal. By the end of the book, you will be able to design and implement your own 2D Android games, to sell or just to give away, on Google Play.

Tip

There is a bit of ground work to cover first, but I promise it won't take long and it won't be complicated either. Anyone can learn to program.

However, there are so many differing opinions among experts, which breeds confusion among beginners concerning the best ways of learning to program. So it is a good idea to look at why learning Java, Android, and games is an ideal pathway for beginners. This will be the first thing we will discuss in this book.

Here is what we will learn in this chapter:

Is this book for me?

Why should I use games to learn to program?

Why should I learn Java and Android?

Setting up our development environment

Is this book for me?

If you have already decided that Java, Android, or games are what you want to learn, then the next question might be, Is this specific book for me?.

There are plenty of Java books for beginners and books by much more accomplished authors and programmers than myself. I have read many of them and admire the authors. However, when these books drift away—which they all do—to topics such as Java-native interfaces, web browser applets, or server-side remote communication, I sometimes find myself questioning their immediate relevance to me.

At this point, at least subconsciously, my commitment would wane and the learning process would slow or stop.

If you just want to learn pure Java