Mastering Android Game Development with Unity

Create enthralling Android games with Unity Faster Than Ever Before

Mastering Android Game Development with Unity
About This Book

• Develop complex Android games with the help of Unity's advanced features such as artificial intelligence, high-end physics, and GUI transformations.
• Create amazing Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with Unity's new uGUI system
• Unravel and deploy exciting games across Android devices

Who This Book Is For
If you are a Unity 5 developer and want to expand your knowledge of Unity 5 to create high-end complex Android games, then this book is for you. Readers are expected to have a basic understanding of Unity 5, working with its environment, and its basic concepts.

What You Will Learn

• Develop your own Jetpack Joyride clone game
• Explore the advanced features of Unity 5 by building your own Action Fighting game
• Develop remarkable Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with Unity's new uGUI system
• Enhance your game by adding stunning particle systems and complex animations
• Build pleasing virtual worlds with special effects, lights, sky cube maps, and cameras
• Make your game more realistic by providing music and sound effects
• Debug and deploy your games on different Android devices

In Detail
Game engines such as Unity are the power-tools behind the games we know and love. Unity is one of the most widely-used and best loved packages for game development and is used by everyone, from hobbyists to large studios, to create games and interactive experiences for the Web, desktop, mobile, and console. With Unity's intuitive, easy-to-learn toolset and this book, it's never been easier to become a game developer.

You will begin with the basic concepts of Android game development, a brief history of Android games, the building blocks of Android games in Unity 5, and the basic flow of games. You will configure an empty project for the Jetpack Joyride Clone Game, add an environment and characters, and control them. Next you will walk through topics such as particle systems, camera management, prefabs, animations, triggers, colliders, and basic GUI systems. You will then cover the basic setup for 3D action fighting games, importing models, textures and controlling them with a virtual on-screen joystick. Later you will set up Scene for 3D Configuration, create basic gameplays, and manage input controls. Next you will learn to create the interface for the main menu, gameplay, game over, achievements, and high score screens. Finally you will polish your game with stats, sounds, and Social Networking, followed by testing the game on Android devices and then publishing it on Google Play, Amazon, and OUYA Stores.

Style and approach
A step-by-step and detailed guide to developing high-end complex Android games utilizing the advanced concepts of Unity.

Unity 5 for Android Essentials

Unity 5 for Android Essentials

This book is perfect for competent Unity developers who want to learn how to develop, optimize, and publish games for Android devices in a quick and easy manner. This book assumes basic knowledge of game design concepts and/or some experience with other game technologies such as Unreal Engine 4, CryEngine, or GameMaker.

Learning Unreal Engine Android Game Development

Tap into the power of Unreal Engine 4 and create exciting games for the Android platform

Learning Unreal Engine Android Game Development
About This Book

• Dive straight into making fully functional Android games with this hands-on guide
• Learn about the entire Android pipeline, from game creation to game submission
• Use Unreal Engine 4 to create a first-person puzzle game

Who This Book Is For
If you are a game developer, designer, artist, or a beginner in the gaming industry and want to make Android games with Unreal Engine 4 efficiently, this book is ideal for you.

What You Will Learn

• Install, build, and compile UE4 and prepare it for Android development
• Understand the process of creating an Android game and its requirements
• Import assets into your game and set their properties
• Familiarize yourself with classes and how to use them
• Script using Blueprint, an easy-to-use scripting tool
• Use Matinee to create cinematics, set pieces, and scripted events
• Package your game for Android devices and port it to the Google Play Store

In Detail
Have you ever wanted to create games that will get users hooked to their phones? Unreal Engine 4, with all its tools and power, will help make your dreams come true! Designed to get you working with Unreal Engine 4 from the very first page, this book will quickly guide you through the basics in the first two chapters. Once you get the hang of things, we will start developing our game―Bloques!

Bloques is a puzzle game with four rooms. Each room will be more challenging than the previous, and as you develop, you will graduate from movement and character control to AI and spawning. Once you've created the game, you will learn how to port and publish your game to the Google Play Store.

In addition to building an Android game from start to finish, you will also discover how to generate revenue, and how to optimize game performance using the tools and functionalities the engine provides. With this book, you will be inspired to come up with your own great ideas for your future game development projects.

Learning Unity Android Game Development

Learn to create stunning Android games using Unity

Learning Unity Android Game Development
About This Book

• Leverage the new features of Unity 5 for the Android mobile market with hands-on projects and real-world examples
• Create comprehensive and robust games using various customizations and additions available in Unity such as camera, lighting, and sound effects
• Precise instructions to use Unity to create an Android-based mobile game

Who This Book Is For
If you are an Android developer who wants to learn how to build games with Unity for the Android platform, then this book is ideal for you. Some prior knowledge of C# and JavaScript would be helpful.

What You Will Learn

• Set up the development environment when working with both Unity and Android
• Import and work with the basic blocks of a game such as meshes, materials, and animations
• Utilize particles and sound effects to provide feedback to the player
• Adjust camera effects and game logic to create 2D games
• Interface with touch and tilt inputs to create custom control systems
• Create custom graphical interfaces and control elements
• Leverage pathfinding to get intelligently moving characters
• Illuminate scenes dynamically using lightmaps

Unity 5 is a revolution in developing great games for Android that provides a great integration platform that works seamlessly with Unity 5, which means that games can be developed quicker and easier than ever before.

Packed with a lot of examples, this book starts by helping you to understand all the great features that Unity 5 and Android have to offer. You will then create great games like Tic-Tac-Toe and the Monkey Ball game and also learn to enhance them. You will then expand the game's environment with lights and a skybox and learn to create enemies in a tank battle game. You will then explore the touch and tilt controls with the creation of a Monkey Ball clone.

With the recreation of a game similar to Angry Birds, you will delve into configuring physics and options for a 2D game experience. Finally, you will get a complete experience by learning the optimization techniques needed to keep your games running smoothly.

Pro Android Web Game Apps: Using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript

Pro Android Web Game Apps: Using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript

Dive into game development and create great multiplayer online games with Pro Android Web Game Apps. This hands-on guide covers both the theory and practice of browser game development for the Android platform. You'll use cutting-edge technologies to make game engines in your browser, establish real-time server communication, and create amazing gaming experiences with artificial intelligence and rich media.

Bring your knowledge of HTML and JavaScript to the next level with Pro Android Web Game Apps. You are guided through exciting projects that give you firsthand experience with core game app development concepts. You'll start with a blank HTML page, and by the end of the book, have the skills needed to  create a multiplayer online game with rich graphics, sound, animation, and more—even if you have no previous games development or server-side experience.

What you’ll learn

• How to set up your development environment, run applications, and debug and profile code
• How to work with graphics and animations in a browser
• How to optimize rendering and make your games run faster
• How to handle events and user inputBuild an isometric game engineLearn the basics of 3D programming and WebGL
• How to use JavaScript to create full-blown server-side support for your games
• How to enrich your games using artificial intelligence

Who this book is for
The book is intended for developers with some generic HTML and JavaScript background who want to boost their experience to the next level and learn how to utilize browsers to build attractive multiplayer games for Android platform. No previous games development or server-side knowledge is required.

Table of Contents

• Preparing the Environment
• Graphics in the Browser: the Canvas Element
• Creating the First Game
• Animations and Sprites
• Event Handling and User Input
• Rendering Virtual Worlds
• Making an Isometric Engine
• 3D in a Browser
• Using WebGL 
• Going Serverside 
• Talking to the Server
• Making Multiplayer Games 
• AI and Physics 
• JavaScript Game Engines 
• Building Native Applications 
• Adding Sound
• App A: Debugging Web Applications

Android Game Programming by Example

Harness the power of the Android SDK by building three immersive and captivating games

Android Game Programming by Example
About This Book

• Implement the critical main game loop and structure your games to enable an array of advanced features
• Animate your characters with sprite sheets, add multiple scrolling parallax backgrounds, and implement genuinely tough, playable levels in your games
• Build super-smooth 60 frames per second with the help of this easy-to-follow, projects-based guide

Who This Book Is For
The book is best suited for existing Android or Java programmers who want to adapt their skills to make exciting Android games.

The book is also for determined readers who might have no Android, game programming or even Java experience, but a reasonable understanding of object oriented programming knowledge is assumed.

What You Will Learn

• Build simple to advanced game engines for different types of game, with cool features such as sprite sheet character animation and scrolling parallax backgrounds
• Design and implement genuinely challenging and playable levels
• Implement the critical main game loop
• Implement basic and advanced collision detection mechanics
• Bring to life a challenging enemy AI
• Make the math behind 2D rotation, velocity, and collisions simple
• Run your game designs at 60 frames per second or better
• Process multitouch screen input effectively and efficiently
• Implement a multitude of other game features such as pickups, firing weapons, HUDs, generating and playing sound FX, scenery, level transition, high scores, and more
• Implement a flexible and advanced game engine that uses OpenGL ES 2 for fast, smooth frame rates

In Detail
Android gaming is a hot topic these days, but one of the few areas of technology that does not have an abundance of clear and useful documentation online. However, there is an ever-increasing demand for Android games.

This book will help you get up to speed with the essentials of game development with Android. The book begins by teaching you the setup of a game development environment on a fundamental level. Moving on, the book deals with concepts such as building a home screen UI, implementing game objects, and painting the scene at a fixed resolution. Gradually, it builds up to the implementation of a flexible and advanced game engine that uses OpenGL ES 2 for fast, smooth frame rates. This is achieved by starting with a simple game and gradually increasing the complexity of the three complete games built step by step. By the end of the book, you will have successfully built three exciting games over the course of three engrossing and insightful projects.

Mastering Android Game Development

Mastering Android Game Development

Master game development with the Android SDK to develop highly interactive and amazing games

About This Book

• Develop complex Android games from scratch
• Learn the internals of a game engine by building one
• A succinct, hands-on guide to enhance your game development skills with Android SDK

Who This Book Is For
If you are an intermediate-level Android developer who wants to create highly interactive and amazing games with the Android SDK, then this book is for you.

In Detail
Gaming has historically been a strong driver of technology, whether we're talking about hardware or software performance, the variety of input methods, or graphics support, and the Android game platform is no different. Android is a mature, yet still growing, platform that many game developers have embraced as it provides tools, APIs, and services to help bootstrap Android projects and ensure their success, many of which are specially designed to help game developers.

This book is a progressive, hands-on guide to developing highly interactive and complex Android games from scratch. You will learn all the aspects of developing a game using a space shooter game as the example that will evolve with you through the chapters. You will learn all about frame-by-frame animations and resource animations. You will also create beautiful and responsive menus and dialogs and explore the different options for playing sound effects and music in Android.

You will then learn the basics of creating a particle system and how to use the Leonids library. Finally, we will configure and use Google Play Services on the developer console and port our game to the big screen.

The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development

The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development
Android Game Development Made Easy. If you've always wanted to make Android games but didn't know where to start, this book is for you. Whether you are an absolute beginner with no programming experience or an experienced Java developer wanting to get started with game development, this comprehensive book will help you accomplish your goals and teach you how to build your own games from scratch-no game engines needed.

In this beginner-friendly guide, you will find focused, step-by-step approaches designed to help you learn and practice one fundamental concept at a time. You will study Java and write object-oriented applications. You will experiment with the building blocks of Android and create fun, interactive 2D games with touch controls. You will even learn how to integrate social features such as a global leaderboard and publish your game to be shared with the billion Android users across the world.

This book provides access to an extensive library of sample Java and Android game projects via its companion website so that you can continue learning on your own and grow as a game programmer. With this up-to-date guide in your hand, you will be able to successfully navigate common pitfalls and get up and running with your own projects in no time. Tested on Android Lollipop. All the code in the book has been tested on the Android Lollipop SDK (5.0), and is available under the open source MIT license at the book’s companion site.

Table of Contents:

Unit 1: Java Basics
Chapter 1: The Fundamentals of Programming
Chapter 2: Beginning Java
Chapter 3: Designing Better Objects

Unit 2: Java Game Development
Chapter 4: Laying the Foundations
Chapter 5: Keeping It Simple
Chapter 6: The Next Level

Unit 3: Android Game Development
Chapter 7: Beginning Android Development
Chapter 8: The Android Game Framework
Chapter 9: Building the Game

Unit 4: Finishing Touches
Chapter 10: Releasing Your Game
Chapter 11: Continuing the Journey

Building JavaScript Games: for Phones, Tablets, and Desktop

Building JavaScript Games: for Phones, Tablets, and Desktop

Building JavaScript Games teaches game programming through a series of engaging, arcade-style games that quickly expand your JavaScript and HTML5 skills. JavaScript is in the top ten most-used programming languages world wide, and is the basis for applications that can run in any modern browser, on any device from smart phone to tablet to PC. Especial emphasis is given to touch-based interface, but all games also run using a regular mouse and keyboard setup.

The four games you’ll develop from reading this book are:

• Painter
• Jewel Jam
• Penguin Pairs
• Tick Tick

These four games are casual, arcade-style games representing the aim-and-shoot, puzzle, maze, and platform styles of game play.

The approach in Building JavaScript Games follows the basic structure of a game rather than the syntax of a language. From almost the very first chapter you are building games to run on your phone or other device and show to your friends. Successive projects teach about handling player input, manipulating game objects, designing game worlds, managing levels, and realism through physics. All told, you’ll develop four well-designed games, making Building JavaScript Games one of the most enjoyable ways there is to learn about programming browser-based games.

The final chapters in the book contain a very nice bonus of sorts. In them you will find excerpts from interviews with two prominent people from the game industry: Mark Overmars, who is CTO of Tingly Games and creator of GameMaker, and Peter Vesterbacka, the CMO of Rovio Entertainment - the creators of the Angry Birds franchise. Their insight and perspective round off what is already a fun and valuable book.

What you’ll learn

• Create games to run on phones and tablets
• Manage sprites and other game objects
• React to player input through touch and button presses
• Allow game players to progress through different levels
• Achieve realistic movement through applied physics
• Prepare your games properly for commercial deployment

Who this book is for
Building JavaScript Games is for technology enthusiasts interested in learning about programming, and especially about game programming on their mobile devices. The book is also ideal for programmers in other languages wanting to make the move to mobile development using the cross-platform environment of JavaScript and HTML5. If you’re interested in browser-based development, especially the development of mobile games, then Building JavaScript Games is the perfect choice.

Table of Contents

Part I
1 - Programming
2 - Game Programming Basics
3 - Creating a Game World
4 - Game Assets

Part II
5 - Knowing What the Player is Doing
6 - Reacting to Player Input
7 - Basic Game Objects
8 - Game Object Types
9 - Colors and Collisions
10 - Limited Lives
11 - Organizing Game Objects
12 - Finishing the Game

Part III
13 - Adapting to Different Devices
14 - Game Objects in a Structure
15 - Gameplay Programming
16 - Game States
17 - Finishing the Game

Part IV
18 - Sprite Sheets
19 - Menus and Settings
20 - Game State Management
21 - Storing and Recalling Game Data
22 - Pairing the Penguins
23 - Finishing the Game

Part V
24 - The Main Game Structure
25 - Animation
26 - Game Physics
27 - Intelligent Enemies
28 - Adding Player Interaction
29 - Finishing the Game

Part VI
30 - Efficient and Readable Code
31 - Deploying your Game

Learn C++ for Game Development

If you’re new to C++ but understand some basic programming, then Learn C++ for Game Development lays the foundation for the C++ language and API that you’ll need to build game apps and applications.

Learn C++ for Game Development will show you how to:

• Master C++ features such as variables, pointers, flow controls, functions, I/O, classes, exceptions, templates, and the Standard Template Library (STL)
• Use design patterns to simplify your coding and make more powerful games
• Manage memory efficiently to get the most out of your creativity
• Load and save games using file I/O, so that your users are never disappointed

Most of today's popular console and PC game platforms use C++ in their SDKs. Even the Android NDK and now the iOS SDK allow for C++; so C++ is growing in use for today's mobile game apps. Game apps using C++ become much more robust, better looking, more dynamic, and better performing. After reading this book, you’ll have the skills to become a successful and profitable game app or applications developer in today’s increasingly competitive indie game marketplace.

The next stage is to take the foundation from this book and explore SDKs such as Android/Ouya, PlayStation, Wii, Nintendo DS, DirectX, Unity3D, and GameMaker Studio to make your career really take off.

Developing AR Games for iOS and Android

Develop and deploy augmented reality apps using Vuforia SDK and Unity 3D

Overview

• Deploy full augmented reality experiences on iOS and Android
• Build a fully-functional augmented reality game and deploy it on iOS and Android
• Achieve better trackable performance for a robust experience
• Understand the prefabs and components that make up Vuforia SDK
• Explore the Unity environment to maximize your game development experience

In Detail

While augmented reality has been around for years, it has never reached its full potential. Now, the vast majority of people are walking around with powerful smartphones that are perfectly suited to house the AR experience. This is the reason why the technology has become as popular as it is now. Augmented reality can deliver a level of immersion that is unrivalled by any other method of development, as it blends our reality with overlaid computer generated data.

Developing AR Games for iOS and Android is a well-structured guide that introduces you to the augmented reality world using a step-by-step approach. It will help you understand how to create powerful AR apps using Unity as well as how to create immersive experiences for users.

Developing AR Games for iOS and Android examines the structures of Vuforia and Unity and how they work together to create augmented reality. The book will introduce you to the structure of the Unity environment and how Vuforia facilitates creating AR apps.You will also see how easy it is to build a whole world in Unity's Editor. You will go through the process of using Vuforia prefabs like the AR camera and Image Target in Unity, where you can build the AR experience in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get fashion.

In Developing AR Games for iOS and Android, you will learn both basic and advanced techniques that can be applied to achieve truly immersive AR apps and then how to deploy them on iOS and Android devices.

What you will learn from this book

• Import your assets and packages in a Unity environment
• Create perfect Image Targets for AR tracking
• Understand how to deploy to iOS and Android from Unity
• Add colliders to a scene and learn how to respond to events on them
• Add forces to objects in a scene in a seamless physics-based environment
• Learn about transformation and positioning in Unity
• Listen to Vuforia events and respond to them

Approach

A practical and fast-paced guide that gives you all the information you need to start developing augmented reality games for iOS and Android.

Who this book is written for

This book is great for people who are either new to Vuforia and/or new to Unity. It is a great introductory guide for anyone with a very basic knowledge of xCode and iOS as well as a very basic knowledge of deploying to Android to start developing 3D-powered augmented reality apps.