David Ipswich - Create Your First Android Game Step By Step

Create Your First Android Game Step By Step

David Ipswich

May 2012

Published by Technology Now at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 David Ipswich

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

"Android and the Android Robot are the registered trade mark of Google Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Table of Contents

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INTRODUCTION

This book is geared towards those who are complete beginners at game creation, and will take you step-by-step through the whole illustrated process of making your first Android game without using code. Using the free MIT App Inventor the book will take you step-by-step through the process of completing a fully working space invader type game from start to finish. No previous knowledge has been assumed, and I will take you step-by-step through the whole game creation process. By the end of the book you will have a completely functioning game on your phone that you will be able to play yourself or share with your friends. Not only that, but you will have picked up enough knowledge on the way to create many more Android games of your own.

When I started using a computer everything had to be written in code. If I wanted something sent to a printer I had to write the code and tell the computer to do that. Then along came Windows (and a mouse) and everything changed. All I had to do was to click on the picture of a printer and the computer worked it out. Windows was a game changer and allowed the massed to use a graphical interface rather than having to add code all the time. MITs free App Inventor is a similar game changer. Previously, if you wanted to create a computer game you had to write it in code. It was time consuming, complicated, and you needed a science or math degree to understand everything. With App Inventor all that has changed. This free programme enables you to create a game graphically from start to finish, and you dont have to be some sort of a computer geek to understand how to do it.

We will be creating a game using the exciting new game creation tool that was first developed by Google Labs as an experimental prototype. Unfortunately Google scrapped its Google Labs programme during 2011, stopping the development of App Inventor at the same time, but their prototype was taken over by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They improved and refined it, and finally the MIT App Inventor was released for general public use in February 2012. It provides a graphical interface that enables you to create an Android game, and to download it to your Android phone or tablet, and share it with your friends, without knowing any computer code. This works on Windows, Mac and Linux but to avoid confusion the book will only providing the details of how to use it on a Windows computer, and Ill take you step-by-step through the whole set up and game creation process.
My wife describes me as a typical man. When I buy a new gadget I never read the instructions. I turn it on straight away and expect it to work as its supposed to. Generally thats fine. I store the instructions away somewhere safe just in case, but in most cases I never look at them again. Im a bit like that when it comes to learning new skills too. For example when I get a new phone, apart from putting my friends numbers in, I expect it to just work. If I put earphones in and click on my music, I expect it to play, and the only controls I need are a shuffle and volume control. I dont need to know how the sound is generated. I dont need to know how the earphones work. When I phone my friends, I dont need to know how the sound is transmitted from phone to phone; I only need to know that it does.

Ive tried to write this book in a similar vein. You dont need to know the history of Android, or for the most part how it works. You dont need to know a lot of mathematics or science, or technology. You simply need a desktop computer, internet access, and an ability to follow simple illustrated instruction. Im going to show you how to create a fully working game from start to finish, and youll just follow along. And what do you know? By the time youve finished youll have created your own game too. Not only that, but youll have learned a whole lot of stuff along the way. Stuff that will then enable you to go solo and create lots more games all on your own. In fact, my goal in life at this very moment is for this book to be the spark that inspires you to take up game creation as a career.

REQUIREMENTS

Great news. Everything you need is free!

You dont need to be a great artist or a musician , but any Android game will need some graphics and some sounds, and you may already have suitable programmes on your computer to produce them. If not, then I recommend the programmes below. Some of the programmes we are going to downloaded are compressed zip files , and before they can be used they have to be un-compressed. Again, you may already have a programme on your computer that can do this, but if not, I have made a recommendation. All of these programmes are installed just as you would any other programme but Ill explain how they are used step-by-step as we get to them.

Paint. NET for graphics (http://www.getpaint.net/)
Audacity for sounds (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
7-Zip for un-compressing files (http://www.7-zip.org/)
Java (Ill take you through the installation)
Browse r ( Recent editions of Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer)
An Android phone or tablet with a USB port and SIM card
A Google Account (Ill take you through account creation).
App Inventor : The App Inventor itself

INSTALLING SOFTWARE

The App Inventor works in Java . Java itself is a computer coding language that you wont need to understand, but you do need it installed on your computer in order for App Inventor to work. The installation is quite easy and straight forward, but Ill guide you through it.

Java

Java itself is downloaded from http://www.java.com just click on the Free Java Download button, then on the next download button (figure 001). This downloads an .exe file.

Figure 001

Once the download has been completed, find the .exe file on your computer. Double click the file to install, and accept all the default settings during the installation process.

It is important once the installation has been completed that you check to make sure everything installed correctly. There is a three stage checking process.

Step 1 : Close and re-open your browser at http://www.java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp there will probably be a slight delay, but eventually you should see confirmation that Java is working (if not, delete and re-install)

Figure 002

Step 2 : Go to http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/learn/setup/misc/JWSTest/AppInvJWSTest.html in your browser. Towards the top of the screen you should see a green tick to say that the configuration is correct.

Step 3 : Under the green tick there is a Launch button (figure 003)