The Android Game Developer’s Handbook

Description

Gaming in android is an already established market and growing each day. Previously games were made for specific platforms, but this is the time of cross platform gaming with social connectivity. It requires vision of polishing, design and must follow user behavior. This book would help developers to predict and create scopes of improvement according to user behavior. You will begin with the guidelines and rules of game development on the Android platform followed by a brief description about the current variants of Android devices available. Next you will walk through the various tools available to develop any Android games and learn how to choose the most appropriate tools for a specific purpose. You will then learn JAVA game coding standard and style upon the Android SDK. Later, you would focus on creation, maintenance of Game Loop using Android SDK, common mistakes in game development and the solutions to avoid them to improve performance. We will deep dive into Shaders and learn how to optimize memory and performance for an Android Game before moving on to another important topic, testing and debugging Android Games followed by an overview about Virtual Reality and how to integrate them into Android games. Want to program a different way? Inside you’ll also learn Android game Development using C++ and OpenGL. Finally you would walk through the required tools to polish and finalize the game and possible integration of any third party tools or SDKs in order to monetize your game when it’s one the market! 1: Android Game Development Android game development A game is not just an application Choosing the target device configuration Best practices for making an Android game Summary 2: Introduction to Different Android Platforms Exploring Android mobiles Exploring Android tablets Exploring Android televisions and STBs Exploring Android consoles Exploring Android watches Development insights on Android mobiles Development insights on Android tablets Development insights on Android TV and STBs Development insights on Android consoles Development insights on Android watches Platform-specific specialties Summary 3: Different Android Development Tools Android SDK Android Development Tool Android Virtual Device Android Debug Bridge Dalvik Debug Monitor Server Other tools Tools for testing Performance profiling tools Android Studio Cross-platform tools Summary 4: Android Development Style and Standards in the Industry The Android programming structure Game programming specifications Technical design standards Game design standards Other styles and standards Different styles for different development engines Industry best practices Summary 5: Understanding the Game Loop and Frame Rate Introduction to the game loop Creating a sample game loop using the Android SDK Game life cycle Game update and user interface Interrupt handling General idea of a game state machine The FPS system Hardware dependency Balance between performance and memory Controlling FPS Summary 6: Improving Performance of 2D/3D Games 2D game development constraints 3D game development constraints The rendering pipeline in Android Optimizing 2D assets Optimizing 3D assets Common game development mistakes 2D/3D performance comparison Summary 7: Working with Shaders Introduction to shaders How shaders work Types of shaders Android library shaders Writing custom shaders Shaders through OpenGL Use of shaders in games Summary 8: Performance and Memory Optimization Fields of optimization in Android games Relationship between performance and memory management Memory management in Android Processing segments in Android Different memory segments Importance of memory optimization Optimizing overall performance Increasing the frame rate Importance of performance optimization Common optimization mistakes Best optimization practices Summary 9: Testing Code and Debugging Android AVDs Android DDMS Android device testing and debugging Monitoring the memory footprint Strategic placement of different debug statements Exception handling in Android games Debugging for Android while working with cross-platform engines Best testing practices Summary 10: Scope for Android in VR Games Understanding VR VR in Android games Future of Android in VR Game development for VR devices Introduction to the Cardboard SDK Basic guide to develop games with the Cardboard SDK VR game development through Google VR Android VR development best practices Challenges with the Android VR game market Expanded VR gaming concepts and development Summary 11: Android Game Development Using C++ and OpenGL Introduction to the Android NDK C++ for games – pros and cons Native code performance Rendering using OpenGL Different CPU architecture support Summary 12: Polishing Android Games Requirements for polishing Play testing Taking care of the UX Android-specific polishing Game portability Summary 13: Third-Party Integration, Monetization, and Services Google Play Services Multiplayer implementation Analytic tools Android in-app purchase integration Android in-game advertisements Monetization techniques Planning game revenue User acquisition techniques User retention techniques Featuring Android games Publishing Android games Summary