Developing Android Games

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AN INTRODUCTION TO

DEVELOPING ANDROID

GAMES USING COCOS2DENGINE.

By Dibia Victor | Africa Android Challenge


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Presentation Outline

What are gaming engines ?

Cocos2D Origins

Cocos2D for Android

Developing Games using Cocos2D Android

Cocos2D Android Test Environment Setup (Windows)

Setting up a Sample Game (Puzzlemania)

Puzzlemania Components

Conclusion


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What are Gaming Engines ?

Gaming engines are software frameworks whichprovide/simplify repeated used features in gamessuch as transitions, animations, sound, physics, flow

control, text rendering, surface rendering etc. Whenwe set out to create games, we want to focus more onthe game logic, game experience and storyline rather than dwelling on how to animate the tile acrossthe screen.Examples of gaming engines include Adventure GameStudio (C++), Agate lib (.NET), Allegro (C), Cocos2D(Python) etc


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Cocos 2D Origins

Cocos2d is an open source framework for building 2D games,

demos, and other graphical/interactive applications.

Originally developed using python, some of its main features

include :

Flow control: Manage the flow control between different

scenes in an easy way

Sprites: Fast and easy sprites

Actions: Just tell sprites what you want them to do.

Composable actions like move, rotate, scale and much moreEffects: Effects like waves, twirl, lens and much more

Other features include Tiled Maps, Transitions, Menus ,Text

Rendering , OpenGL based and aBuilt-in Python Interpreter


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Cocos 2D Origins (Contd)

Due to its success and easy of use, several versions (ports) of

Cocos2D on different platforms have emerged over the years.

A very famous portCocos2d-iphone written in objective C

(targeting the iOS and MAC platforms) has been used in

authoring a wide range of top ranking games sold on the

Apple Appstore. Other ports include Cocos2D Android written

in Java for the Android platform , and Cocos2D Javascript that

uses the HTML5 canvas API. Each of these ports maintain the

original Cocos2D design concepts and structure.


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Cocos 2D For Android

Cocos 2D for android is a port of the Cocos2D-iphone

essentially written in Java. Cocos2D for android project is

still a budding open source community (November 2010)

and aims to port latest cocos2d-iphone code, to theandroid platform. Main features include : Flow control,

Sprites, Maps, Transitions, Menus, Text Rendering, BSD

License, OpenGL Based: Hardware Acceleration

The most current version of Cocos2D for android project ismanaged by ZhouWeikuan and found at [1]


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Developing Games using Cocos2D

Android

In order to start creating cool games using the

Cocos2D gaming engine, you need to download the

.jar library (cocos2d-android.jar) and compile your

android project using it as a referenced library. The next section provides steps on setting up a test

environment and developing a simple game.


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Cocos2D Android Test Environment

Setup (Windows)

1.) Download the cocos2d-android library.The cocos2D android project is managed here(http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/) and the sourcecode as well as cocos2d-android.jar can be downloaded at thefollowing github account (https://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2d)

via the downloads button. 2.) Download Eclipse IDE for Java Developers

(http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/)Extract the downloaded zip file and run eclipse.exe to launch theIDE. No installations required.3.)Install Android SDK for Windows.

Download and extract the android sdk here(http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk_r12-windows.zip)For easy access, the preferred extraction location is C:/android-sdk-windows.
http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/https://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2dhttp://www.eclipse.org/downloads/http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/https://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/http://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-android-1/


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Setup (Windows)

4.) Install the Android Development Tools (ADT) Pluginfor Eclipse.Android offers a custom plugin for the Eclipse IDE,called Android Development Tools (ADT), that is

designed to provide a powerful, integratedenvironment in which to build Android applications.

ADT plugin for Eclipse can be installed using the followingsteps.Start Eclipse, then select Help > Install New

Software....Click Add, in the top-right corner. In theAdd Repository dialog that appears, enter "ADT Plugin"for the Name and the following URL for the Location:

https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ClickOK and proceed to finish and restart Eclipse.


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Setup (Windows)

5.) Configure the ADT Plugin [2]The next step is to modify your ADT preferences inEclipse to point to the Android SDK directory:Select Window > Preferences... to open the Preferences

panel .Select Android from the left panel. You may seea dialog asking whether you want to send usagestatistics to Google. If so, make your choice and clickProceed.

For the SDK Location in the main panel, click Browse... and

locate your downloaded SDK directory (C:/android-sdk-windows if you used the recommended path in step 2above). Click Apply, then OK. Done!. Now, you shouldbe able to create and manage android projects in theeclipse IDE.


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Setup (Windows)

6.) Setting up an Android Virtual Device (AVD) for testing.An AVD is an emulated version of a mobile device runningthe android operating system and is used to test androidapplications.

In Eclipse, choose Window > Android SDK and AVDManager.Select Virtual Devices in the left panel.ClickNew.The Create New AVD dialog appears.Type the nameof the AVD, such as "my_avd".Choose a target. The target isthe platform (that is, the version of the Android SDK, such as

2.1) you want to run on the emulator. It is recommended touse Android 2.1 and above for cocos2d development.Detailed information on testing android applications usingan actual android device such as an android tablet pc ormobile phone can be found here [3]


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Setup (Windows)

7a.) Setting Up a Sample Cocos2D Project

From Eclipse, select File > New > Project.

If the ADT Plugin for Eclipse has been successfully

installed, the resulting dialog should have a folderlabeled "Android" which should contain "Android

Project". If you dont see the Android folder, follow

step 6 above again to install the ADT Pluging (After

you create one or more Android projects, an entryfor "Android XML File" will also be available.)


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Setup (Windows)

7b.) Select "Android Project" and click Next. Fill in the

project details and Click Finish.

The Next Steps are to add the cocos2D android

library (cocos2d-android.jar) to your project inorder to access its functionalities. The cocos2d-

android.jar file can be found in the libs folder of

the cocos2d source file downloaded in step 1

above.


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Setup (Windows)

7c.) Right Click the HelloCocos2D Project > New >

Folder

In the New Folder Dialog name the folder libs.

Copy the cocos2d-android.jar file and paste it inthe libs folder

Right Click on the HelloCocos2D Project >

Properties > Java Build PathClick Add

JARsNavigate to the HelloCocos2D project > LibsSelect cocos2d-android.jar.Complete! You can now

use cocos2D functions in your android code.


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Setup (Windows)

8.) Importing a Cocos2D Android Project in Eclipse

From the main menu bar, select File > Import....

The Import wizard opens. Select General > Existing

Project into Workspace and click Next.Choose either Select root directory or Select archive

file and click the associated Browse to locate the

directory or file containing the projects.Under Projects select the project or projects which you

would like to import.

Click Finish to start the import.


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Setup (Windows)

9.) Running a Cocos2D Android Project in Eclipse

Now that you have either set up a cocos2D project

or imported an existing project the next simple step

is to run your project.Right Click on project in package Explorer

Run As > Android Application


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Setting up a Sample Game

(Puzzlemania)

Puzzlemania is an implementation of a simple number slidingblock puzzle. A canvas of tiles labeled with numbers from 19 is presented to the user in random order. The users taskis to arrange the numbers in there ascending order from leftto right by sliding each tile. The users score is judged based

on the amount of time used to solve the puzzle and thenumber of moves used to solve the puzzle.

Project files for this sample can be downloaded from

http://www.vidicorp.org/labs/puzzle.zip and imported as an

android project using step 8 above. The project files arecommented and explanatory.
http://www.vidicorp.org/labs/puzzle.ziphttp://www.vidicorp.org/labs/puzzle.zip


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Puzzlemania Screenshot


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Puzzlemania Components

Puzzle.javaMain logic that controls game play,timing, tile animation and difficulty selection

Utility.javaGenerates puzzle number sequence suchthat the puzzle is ALWAYS solvable

CCNodeExt.javaA special node object used to modeleach tile.

A possible extension of puzzlemania would be to

develop an image slider puzzle in contrast to thecurrent number slider puzzle.


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Conclusion

Cocos2D is a powerful game engine as evidenced by

notable games on the iphone platform [4] . A great

way to proceed in getting familiarized with the

Cocos2D engine and game development is to attemptto develop mobile versions of simple games we

played as children (Ludo, snakes and ladders and

other local games).


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References

1. Cocos2d for Android Github Projecthttps://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2d RetrievedMarch 1, 2012

2. Installing the Android Developer Tools (ADT) Plugin

http://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.html#installing. Retrieved March 2, 2012

3. Using Hardware Deviceshttp://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html. Retrieved March 3, 2012

4. Games Using the Cocos2D for iPhonehttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2d . Retrieved March1, 2012
https://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2dhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.htmlhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://code.google.com/p/cocos2d-iphone/wiki/GamesUsingCocos2dhttp://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttp://developer.android.com/sdk/eclipse-adt.htmlhttps://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2dhttps://github.com/ZhouWeikuan/cocos2d

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