Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 3: Android SDK Tools

Now you have to download the Android SDK Tools:

1) Super fast shortcut
If you want to download directly what you need go here:
https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#Other

2) Shortcut

There is a shorter path if you click on Other Download Options so you get directly to the download you need:

3) The (too) long way

- Go to the link below if you want to spend time by clicking useless links:
https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

- Click on Installing the SDK, as we didn't need Android Studio (>1Go download... -_-') we will just download the stand alone SDK (136Mo download  yeah! \o/)

- So click on Stand alone SDK Tools:


Go to Part 4: Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 4: Android SDK Tools

Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 4: Android SDK Tools

- You'll get a new page of blahblahblah stand alone sdk tools only includes the sdk tools (thanks captain obvious...), click on download the SDK now ("and stop bother me with your 1Go download :D")

- Once you click on this link you'll go to a new page already focused on the bloody android studio bundle package...

 

Ah bastard...

 Scroll up and you'll find what you need:

- So now download the one you need and install it (again with default option it works perfectly) it will normally open the SDK Manager if not you can find it on your computer at: C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk, assuming you install the SDK Tools with default options and YourUser is your user name in Windows

Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 1: introduction & my hardware/software configuration

Hello world,

[LAST UPDATE 19/10/2016]

Today I'll give you my configuration setup for Libgdx with Eclipse, this will update some stuff visible on the book Learning Libgdx Game Development (first edition) from PacktPub. As Libgdx and software updates regularly I'll provide you my hardware and software from the time I setup my Libgdx development environment on Eclipse. Everything here maybe not usefull, some things probably have to be modified and/or optimized...

My hardware and software configuration is:

    - Surface Pro 2 (i5-4300U CPU, 4 Go ram)
    - Windows 10
    - Mozilla Firefox v49.0.1
    - Eclipse version: Neon.1 Release (4.6.1)
      Build id: 20160913-0900
  
    - Java version returned from command line:
    java -version
    java version "1.8.0_92"
    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_92-b14)
    Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.92-b14, mixed mode)
  
    - Android SDK Tools v1.16 with following API installed:
    Android 6.0 (API 23)
      Android M (API 22, MNC preview)
      Android 5.1.1 (API 22)
      Android 5.0.1 (API 21)
      Android 4.4W.2 (API 20)
      Android 4.4.2 (API 19)
      Android 2.2 (API 8)

      Android SDK Tools Rev. 24.3.4
    
      Android SDK Platform-tools Rev. 23.0.1
    
      Android SDK Build-tools Rev. 20

That's all for the hardware/software part.

Before anything it is recommended to create a folder on your computer where you'll put everything you need so that you have everything at you fingertips.

What you need:
- Eclipse (Part 2)
- JRE & JDK (Part 2)
- Configure variables (Part 2)
- Android SDK Tools (Part 3 & Part 4)
- Eventually a GitHub account if you want to share your code.

Go to Part 2: Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 2: Eclipse, JRE, JDK and variables

Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 2: Eclipse, JRE, JDK and variables

[LAST UPDATE 19/10/2016]

First you have to download Eclipse here, I use the Luna version as some plugins are not implemented for Eclipse Mars yet, no installation is required for Eclipse just put it where you want:
https://eclipse.org/downloads/eclipse-packages/

Get JRE and JDK here from the time I'm writing (19/10/2016) JRE and JDK version 8u112:

JRE: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html

JDK: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html
Once you get both JRE and JDK install them with default parameters.

Now you have to configure you variables, on windows:

- Right click on "This Computer" on the Windows explorer then go to properties:

- Then click on Advanced System Parameters as visible in the screenshot below:

- Then click on Environment variables as visible in the screenshot below:

- Now you have to configure two variables JAVA_HOME and PATH, click on new button on the User Variables part:

- Then fill up the form as below assuming your JDK is installed on C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_60

Go to part 3: Libgdx setup configuration with Eclipse - Part 3: Android SDK Tools

Some usefull (free to use) tools and websites

Hello world,

Today I'll share some usefull tools I use, they are free to use:

- Shotcut a powerfull video editor, thanks Korben for sharing

- ShareX a powerfull screenshot, thanks Korben for sharing

Helpful Pdf tools I just listed some uses allowed by these software:

- Foxit Reader a free to use Pdf reader (more light than Adobe Acrobat Reader)

- CutePDF Writer allow you to delete a Pdf protection by printing a new pdf

- Nitro Reader allow you to extract images,text... from a Pdf file

Libgdx issue with RGB color not appearing correctly (glClearColor)

Hello world,

Today i'll give you a tip I found while I searching on the internet about an issue related to RGB color not displayed correctly in Libdgx.

I was searching for a nice blue background for sky in Piou with GraphicsGale and get the RGB code for it:

 So in my Java code I wrote:

Gdx.gl.glClearColor(0, 187, 249, 0);

but when I launched the game the color appears as an eye bleeding cyan:

 

Aaaaargh Y_Y it burns my eyes !!!!

So I searched why the blue didn't appears as it must be and I've found an answer on Stackoverflow so I modified my code with:

Gdx.gl.glClearColor(0/255f, 187/255f, 249/255f, 0);

And finally get the blue sky correctly displayed:

Fiuuuu, it's faaaaaar better :)

Hope this will help some people arround here.

How to connect Eclipse with GitHub

Hello world,

I tried to learn how to connect Eclipse with GitHub and i found some usefull ressources:

Pro Git book by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub available for free.

Tutorial explaining how to configure Eclipse and Egit (in french) by Larent Guérin.

Another tutorial explaining how to connect Eclipse with GitHub (in french) by Benjamin Besse.

And it works now \o/ !!!
 

[UPDATE FROM 20/10/2016]  

I encountered some issues when trying to make Eclipse Neon and GitHub working together. After getting multiple error messages I found the solution:

Install EGit and Mylyn plugins

Go to Help -> Install New Software

With your internet browser, you have to go to the link provided here :

http://www.eclipse.org/egit/download/

You have to install EGit plugin :

http://download.eclipse.org/egit/updates

and then Mylyn connector plugin :

http://download.eclipse.org/egit/github/updates

You can encounter errors while trying to push your code, connection errors and so on like this one:

if it happen go to Help -> Install New Software again and use the following link as indicated in the message:

http://download.eclipse.org/mcp/neon

Select all the updates.

Once they are installed Eclipse will work correctly with GitHub now

Indie game development

Hello world,

Today i'll write about indie game development, in the past game development was the apanage of very clever people (called geeks and sadly underestimated...) which had to work with very limited ressource due to hardware specifications (Comodore, Atari...). This equipment was expensive and difficult to operate as IT was in its infancy.

Blablabla... i'll not provide you a course about IT history uh...

Nowadays IT has been democratized (at least in Industiralized countries) and with IT, internet. Sharing knowledge never been so easy and fast, communities grow up, new languages appear...

Languages evolve with the community and some projects were created, frameworks were born, created from developers for developers. Now non IT people can make games, tutorials are shared all accross the internet... But making a game still needs mathematics (argh!) and physics (re-argh!) knowledge.

Do you remember the days you were at school in mathematics course "Hell! i didn't understand a bunch of these things >< ! and what is it used for ?! We will never use it in our profesionnal career!"

Unfortunately for you (me of course as i'm really bad in mathematics -_-') all (or at least most of) the universe works with mathematics (NOOOOOOOO!!! °o°).

As i didn't get much far in my studies (bac +2 in Fance: technical degree in application development) i didn't have any notion in physics and my knowledge in mathematics is weak. It's particularly a handicap in game development, and development in general, as it is supposed to require analytic and logical brain.

But, even you don't like mathematics and you're not good at it, you can make games, because your strenght are elsewhere. You can have good imagination, you can be good in graphics, you can see things with a new look...

Of course mathematics are important for development and most of all in game development, but it does not have to be a drag in you project.

There are many good tutorials on the internet, with patience, work and will you can do what you want.

So, if you feel you'll not make it, don't give up, let your big project rest for a while and keep working on a smaller and easier one, you'll get more confidence with it.

If i found easy way to explain mathematics or physics rules i'll use in my games i'll post it as i think knowledge must be shared to make things better.

Procrastination is your worst enemy

Hello world,

Today i'll talk about one of the worst enemy you will fight in your life: procrastination.

In french we have a quote for this: "Ne remets pas au lendemain ce que tu peux faire le jour même."

which means: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

I used to joke with friends: "Ne remet pas a demain ce que tu pourrais bien ne jamais faire" which means: Never put off until tomorrow something you can never do... Ahah...

First, i used to read Gaston Lagaffe during my childhood, Gaston Lagaffe is a popular lazy but clever character in french/belgium comics (called BD). I really like this comic as even the character was an antihero he was sympathetic.

Personally i'm very lazy, but when it's needed i can be a hard worker, but sadly when i'm at home it's really difficult to get the motivation to develop instead of playing games on Steam... -_-'

Making a game is very exciting to me but i'm too impatient to watch the results that i can demotivate quickly when i see my progression is slooooooooow...

Of course the fact i make 4h a day of transportation for an uninteresting, time-consuming, demotivating, alimentary but correctly paid job can explain my procrastination too.

I can only develop during week ends.

Oh well! yeah! maybe i can code late at night during week, but i woke up early and get back home late so... NO LIFE. The joy of working in Paris, the center of the world...

But I keep hope and motivate myself to learn and develop the (too many) games I want to make. That's the objective of this blog, motivate me to carry on.

I believe I'm not the one to be a professional procrastinator (I used to say "porteur de la flemme olympique" unfortunately the joke is better in french than in english...) so, if whenever one of you have some tips or advice please tell me :D

I promise i will share mine once I found some ;-)

Books i'm reading about Libgdx

Hello world,

Today i'll show you some books i read to learn Libgdx game development

Learning Libgdx Game Development by Andreas Oehlke is the first book i bought about Libgdx. the book is really clear to understand and allow us create a platform game step by step. The code is correctly explained and accompanied by illustrations. There is a second edition of this book i didn't read yet. The publisher Packt Publishing allow us to get the physical or digital version of the book or both, which is really nice as we sometimes cannot carry physical books for practical reason.

LibGDX Game Development Essentials by Juwal Bose is a step by step book to make a flappy bird clone game with additionnal stuff. I didn't fully read it yet but from what i saw the book explain many way how to create a Libgdx project. The quality is same to Learning Libgdx Game Development book.

Libgdx Cross-platform Game Development Cookbook by David Saltares Márquez and Alberto Cejas Sánchez contains code recipes with illustrated examples. I didn't read it yet but it looks very interesting as it covers many aspect of Libgdx and game development (2D sound system, Box2D...).

Also you can find many ressources online about Libgdx here is some usefull links:

https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki the official Libgdx wiki

http://steigert.blogspot.fr/ (in english) a blog with Libgdx tutorials
http://tutoriel-libgdx-android.blogspot.fr/ (in french) a blog with Libgdx tutorials
http://obviam.net/ (in english) a blog with Libgdx tutorial
http://www.creationjeuxjava.fr/home (in french) Libgdx video tutorials
https://anthdeldeveloper.wordpress.com (in english) a game developper blog with an asteroid game tutorial
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/702957/Create-your-first-Android-Game-with-libgdx complete example of simple game made with Libgdx
http://www.java-gaming.org/ (in english) a great community of Java game developpers
http://www.b4x.com/ (in english) forum post introducing to Libgdx
http://stackoverflow.com/ usefull website based on question/answer system
http://dmentrard.free.fr/ mathematics and physics notion explained with animations
http://opengameart.org/ free graphics to use with your game

Free to play games

Hello world,

As a gamer myself i used to play lots of games, now i used to play free games or free to play games as i don't have unlimited money ^^ and nowadays AAA games are not so good (Call of Duty and Battlefield episodes are always the same and it's boring to death...).

Warthunder: a free to play air combat simulator, the graphics are good and the game can be played in three game modes, i used to play in arcade mode which is the more accessible mode when you didn't want spend time to learn simulator commands. 

This mode allow you to control your plane with keyboard + mouse, the first time i play this game i use a joystick in arcade battle and i get shot really easily by keyboard + mouse players, so that's what i use now. I tried some historical battles and it can be played with keyboard + mouse too but you only have one plane available for all the game if you loose it it's over for you. In arcade mode you can use lots of planes (actually i can use six planes for a single battle).

Pros:
+ Japanese planes are really fun to fly due to their agility you can turn better and get the hunter the hunted
+ Playing with friends can be really nice once you know some air combat tactics
+ It's always nice to get a kill on a russian plane
+ A bunch of planes to unlock
+ Many different playing styles
+ Free to play

Cons:
- Only five nation playable for now (Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, USA)
- Russian planes in arcade battle shred you as paper (most of their planes have cannons even the first planes)
- Most arcade players didn't play correctly (searching for "frags" instead playing the objectives, high altitude fighters not providing cover to bombers, heavy fighters hunting for japanese paper planes...)
- Japanese planes are really fragile
- Need to spend some time to unlock better planes.
- GUI not really clear (crew training, how to spend golden eagle (don't spend on backup plane as it's useless)
- Battle rating and matchmaking really sucks

Little fighters 2: a free to play beat'em up game playable in multiplayer, each character have is own special habilities (some can throw fireballs, some can fusion like Trunk and Sangoten ^^), you can also throw decoration elements and use weapons.You can even create your own character. Many game modes are available (coop, battle, tournament...). You can make a donation to support the developpers.

Pros:
+ Fun
+ Free
+ Indie game
+ Pixel art graphics
+ Many special habilities

Cons:
- None

Soldat: a free 2d action shooting game it can be played in multiplayer, you can pay for optional stuff like character customisation... or simply support the developper. The game is really fun and you can make your own maps, there are bots to play with, lots of weapons... There are many game modes available (Rambo mode is really nice ^^).

Pros:
+ Fun
+ Free
+ Boggie man with his chainsaw is hilarious ^^
+ Map editor

Cons:
- None

Blacklight: Retribution: a free to play Call of Duty like game mixed with manga elements like Ghost in the shell (tachikomas ^^). A nice feature of this game is the HRV (Hyper Reality Vision) which allows you to see through walls for a short time, you can't fire when using this mode, but i believe this allow the game to be fast and without much campers (as they can be quickly spoted and netralised). Another nice feature is the exo armor you can use in the game you unlock it after few frags it's like a two legged tank with high fire power and armor but slow speed what make it fun is that you can get killed easily with it if you don't have a good squad to cover you. The exo armor well used can change the battle but it have random weak spot (you can find using HRV) you can hit to destroy it, or you can use flame thrower to burn the pilot and use the armor later. All this makes the gameplay more fun than any Call of Duty or Battlefield game. Your character can be personalized with armor, helmet, weapon options... you can get by spending some ingame money (or real life of course...) but every object can be unlocked by playing. Also the game is beautifull even the maps are not really original and some gameplay concepts not really used (doors piracy...).

Pros:
+ Fun
+ Free
+ Fast 

Cons:
- Some people spend money to get more powerfull weapons (even it's not necessary as i play myself with standard stuff and reach to get good scores)
- Matchmaking needs to be equilibrated

Teeworld: a free 2D multiplayer shooter game with mutliple game type (CTF, Deathmatch...). Your character can use a hook to move which is a really nice gameplay idea (ninja style ^^). The game is like Quake Arena like in 2D with grenade launcher, rockets...

Pros:
+ Free
+ Fun
+ Big community + Map editor 

Cons:
- None

How i export my sprites with GraphicsGale

Hello world,

Today i'll show you how i export my graphics on GraphicsGale

As my sprites are quite small for Brainman and Piou (16x16 pixels) i have to set the zoom at least at 1000% to get something i can draw on, the zoom level is visible on the following screenshots in yellow. You can also use Ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom in or out:

 

Once i have finished my modification i click on the [...] button visible in the below screenshot.

A pop up window will open where you can set a transparent color for your sprite, you have to check the Transparent Color option then click the color picker tool to select wich color you want transparent:

Once it's done you click on File -> Save As...

Then check With Alpha Channel option and select PNG as file type. Your file will register with the transparent color you selected.