Android video game tutorial

Table of contents

• Outline
• Android Development Environment
• The Android SDK starter package
• The ADT plugin
• Configuring the ADT plugin
• Android SDK and AVD manager
• Pointers
• Starters: "Hello World"
• Android Project Components
• A Tabbed application
• Android Manifest.xml
• Accessing Sensors
• GPS Sensor Access
• Accelerometer and Access to other Sensors
• Android and Databases

Principle of a 2D / 3D game

This is a "graphic" game, that is a "video" game in the true sense of the word. This means that images follow each other to create a cinematic effect. We must therefore define the frame rate per second (or FPS in English for Frames Per Second). The code that manages the display is a permanent loop, in which we go each time:

• manage the actions of the user (keyboard, mouse, tap on mobile screen ...);
• move objects, manage collisions;
• display the complete image of the game on the screen;
• we start again.

Development environment

I suggest Android Studio which is free. It contains all the necessary tools to develop an Android application: SDK, emulators ... If you have not already done so, create an emulator by going to the TOOLS - ANDROID - AVD MANAGER menu.

Creating a game

For the example, I propose you to:

• place a moving ball on the screen;
• bounce off the edges (collision detection);
• and that we can reposition with the finger (management of the actions of the user).