libGDX Walk Through

Welcome in this libGDX tutorial, covering a lot of stuff, from basic to a bit less basic 😃

Requirements

In order to follow this course, you will need to know some basic programming stuff, especially object-oriented knowledge. As libGDX is a Java-based framework, it is better if you know the Java programming language. If you don't, take a look at what philosophy it adopts, and try to learn some Java specific code before diving in the tutorial.

If you never tried the Java language but you have strong knowledge in C, C#, C++, Python, etc... the tutorial should be easy to follow.

libGDX

What is libGDX ❔

libGDX is a Java-based cross-platform framework used to facilitate game development. libGDX is based on the OpenGL third-party library, used to deal with the 2D and 3D rendering.

libGDX: Between Pros and... Pros####

Some advantages of using libGDX:

• Easy to deploy on every supported platforms (Desktop, Android, iOS, HTML)
• Efficient framework.
• Easy and quick to write games, as the framework is Java-based. The development will be much simpler than using C++ (some will be happy to use Java, others will cry, the goal here is not to argue whether Java is good or not)

Some drawbacks of using libGDX:

• Unfortunately, at this time, libGDX does not support Windows Phone 8. With some patience, it may come one day.
• Generating HTML project is quite painful (I found it to).
• As usual, but this is not related to libGDX itself, you will need a computer under MacOS to deploy on iPhone/iPad.

You now understand the section title, libGDX has only few cons, and (for me, but maybe not for you) the drawbacks I found do not really bother me.

Installation

Here is a list of the necessary tools you need:

• Any Java IDE you want (actually, an IDE is not really needed, but is recommenced). I would recommend Intellij IDEA or Android Studio, but it is simply because I used them a lot. The choice of the IDE is subjective, take whatever you are used to use 😃
• The Java JDK.
• The Android SDK if you want your game to run on Android.
• The Latest GWT version, if you want your game to run in browsers.

The whole installation process (including the download of the above tools) is well describe on the libGDX page.

Let's Go!

If you are ready to begin the adventure, you can access the summary or begin with the first chapter