So… what
exctly do you need for making a game? No hammer and nails, that’s for sure. I guess many
roads lead to Rome, but in my case I bought a gun and panties, and asked a
friend if he could drive me to the computer store. Asked him to keep waiting
there, WITH A RUNNING ENGINE. When he asked "why?", I just said
"you'll see", while grabbing the panties.
So,
after almost kicking in the door (it automatically opened), I yelled:
"Hand it all over scumbag! I know you have some VERY, expensive, Visual
Studio under that D#mn counter!". "Wha-wha-what? Why?", the dude
said, and for some reason he had that nervous grin on his face. "I SAID!
give-me-all-your-Visual Studio, or Delphi, or whatever pricey programming stuff
you got there! I need to make a game.". Dude started nervously stuttering
again "W-wha-what?!". "Say "what" one more time! A
GAME! For the PHONE!". "Bu-But sir", he began, "You don't
need expensive Visual Studio or Delphi for that! I always make my games with
Android Studio & LibGDX - and, why are you wearing panties sir?".
Did I
know that panties were meant for covering your face, I'm not a damn bank
robber! And how should I know about "LibGDX, or whatever it was called? Oh,
and how the hell was I supposed to know you're not allowed to park a car in
front of that shop. Friend got a fine, was pissed off, drove off, and I had to
walk all the way home. In panties.
I should
have googled first, because after 3 seconds I found out that, indeed, there is
a free (open source) library called LibGX. Written for the Java platform, and
focussing mainly on 2D/sprite games on mobile platforms like Android and iOS.
Well, ok then. Instead of guns and panties, your groceries list should look
like this:
·
Download
“Android Studio”. Or Eclipse, if you prefer (or if you have an iPhone)
o
Already
had Android Studio here, but had to update a dozen modules.
o
Which
took a long time, so that’s why I wrote this bullshit story
o
You
may need to download / update Java SDK as well
·
Go
to the LibGDX website. It has a handy “Download Setup App” feature
o
This
makes a project (folders & files) for you, and downloads the required
LibGDX parts
·
Get
a nice painting program.
o
I
use an ancient (free) version of Paint Shop Pro. Still does a good job
·
Find
yourself a phone (using Android here)
o
Note
Android Studio has a proper Emulator as well, but at some point you want to see
“the real thing”
o
Make
sure your phone has “Developer mode” enabled, and USB debugging unlocked
o
Plenty
of Youtube clips explaining how to
·
Later
on, you probably need a microphone and some sound editor as well
o
Audacity
is pretty simply and free
The
setup phase is always a hassle. Android SDK and tools like Eclipse come in 100
different flavours and options. So expect wasting some time there. My beef was
that LibGDX would keep saying "Build tools: 29.0.2" not found. And I
could only see a (newer?) version 30 in Android Studio. Probably I missed
something, but I had to download that specific version manually, rename the
folder, put it in the right sub-folder, and so on. From my past experiences
with Android and Eclipse, there was always something stinky with the paths.
But,
please hammer through it, it will be worth it. Because once you're at that next
step, you'll quickly get some satisfying results.
The LibGDX
setup app generated a whole project / folder setup - including targets for iOS,
Desktop and Android. Final step was the programming tool. What I didn't knew,
is that Android Studio is actually a programming IDE as well, so you don't need
Eclipse or Netbeans for programming.
Though...
it will probably not help you very much building the code for iOS. Well, that's
a concern for later, don't have Apples here anyway.
So you
can import the code/project that the LibGDX setup tool just created, and then
start programming (Java) within Android Studio. Neat.
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