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Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x

Chapter 1. Setting Up Your Development Environment

In this chapter, we will explain how to download and set up all the required tools to get you started with setting up an environment for building games for the Android platform. Although there are huge similarities between the Mac OS and the Windows development environment, we will cover all the details regarding the installation in both of these operating systems.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

Cocos2d-x overview
Setting up Java
Setting up the Android SDK
Setting up the Android Native Development Kit (NDK)
Setting up Apache Ant
Setting up Python
Setting up Cocos2d-x
Setting up the Eclipse IDE
Template code walk-through

Setting up the Android SDK

The Android SDK contains all the required command line tools for building an Android application. It has versions for Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux operating systems.

Android Studio is now the only officially supported IDE; nevertheless, Cocos2d-x 3.4 provides only out-of-the-box support for Eclipse, which was the former official IDE for Android development. It is no longer available for downloading, since it is not in active development any more, but you may download Eclipse manually and install the Android Development Tools (ADT) by following the steps below.

Downloading the Android SDK

You can download Android SDK from the link: http://developer.android.com/sdk. At the bottom of the page, under Other Download Options, you will find the option for downloading the SDK tools. Choose the version that matches your operating system.

At the time of writing this book, the latest version of SDK was 24.0.2.

Run the Android SDK Installer and install the Android SDK on your computer.

When the Android SDK finishes installing, it is not yet ready to build the Android apps. So, at the final screen of the installation wizard, mark the checkbox for Start SDK Manager so you can download the required components for building your games, as shown in the following screenshot:

Once the Android SDK Manager starts, select Android SDK Platform-tools and Android SDK Build-tools from the Tools folders. Then select SDK Platform from your desired API level, as shown in the following screenshot:

Downloading Eclipse

Download the latest version of the Eclipse IDE for Java Developers from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads. It will suggest the download versions compatible with your current operating system, select the version that better suits your operating system platform which will either be 32-bit or 64-bit.

At the time of writing this book, Eclipse Luna (4.4.1) was the latest version.

Setting up the Eclipse ADT plugin

Open Eclipse and navigate to Help | Install new Software and add the Eclipse ADT download location, which is https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/, as shown in the following screenshot:

Click on OK, then select the Developer Tools checkbox, and click on Next in order to finish the ADT installation wizard.

Setting up Cocos2d-x

Now that you have all the Cocos2d-x pre-requisites for building your first game for the Android platform, you are going to download the Cocos2d-x 3.4 framework and set it up with the help of the following steps:

You can download the source code from http://www.cocos2d-x.org/download. Be aware that this page also has the link for downloading the Cocos2d-x branch 2, which is not covered in this book, and the manufacturer has officially announced that the new features will only be available in branch 3.
After downloading the compressed Cocos2d-x source code, uncompress it to your desired location.
In order to configure Cocos2d-x, open your system terminal and point to the path where you have uncompressed it, and type setup.py. It will require you to specify ANDROID_NDK_PATH, here you will specify the root directory of the NDK that you have previously uncompressed in the previous sections. Secondly, it will require you to specify ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, here you will specify the directory path from where you have chosen to install the Android SDK during the installation process. Then, it will require you to set ANT_ROOT, where you will specify the root directory of your ant installation. Finally, close the terminal, and open a new one so that the changes can take effect.

Creating your first project

Now, Cocos2d-x is set up, and it is ready for creating your first project. You can do so by typing the following command:

 cocos new MyGame -p com.your_company.mygame -l cpp -d NEW_PROJECTS_DIR

This script has created an Android template code for your game that will run in all the Android devices containing the Android API 9 or higher, that is Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and later.

Take in to consideration that the package name should contain exactly two dots, as the example shows, if it has less or more, then the project creation script will not work. The –l cpp parameter means that the new project is going to use C++ as the programming language, which is the only one that is covered in this book.

Cocos2d-x 3.x, as opposed to branch 2.x, allows you to create your project outside of the framework directory structure. Therefore, you can create your project at any location, and not just inside the projects directory, as it was in the previous versions.

It will take a while, since it will copy all the framework files to your new project's path. After it finishes, plug your Android device to your computer, then you can easily run the template HelloWorld code by typing the following command within your new project's path:

cocos run -p android

Alternatively, you could run the following command regardless of your current path on the terminal:

cocos run -p android /path/to/project

Note

For building and running Cocos2d-x 3.4 for Windows, you will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or 2013.

Now, you should be able to see the Cocos2d-x logo and a text that says Hello World, as we can see in the following image:

Setting up the Eclipse IDE

Cocos2d-x branch 3 has improved the Android building process significantly.

Back in branch 2, it was necessary to manually configure many environment variables within IDE, import many core projects, and handle dependencies. Even after completing all the steps, the Cygwin Windows UNIX port integration with Eclipse was never polished to work flawlessly, so minor hacks were required.

Building Cocos2d-x 3.4 within Eclipse is as simple as importing the project and clicking on the Run button. In order to achieve this, within the ADT, navigate to File | Import | General | Existing Projects into Workspace, select the path, where Cocos2d-x has created the new project from the previous sections. Then click on Finish.

Tip

Cocos2d-x Android template project is created using the API Level 10 as target platform. If you don't have this version installed on your system, you should change it by right-clicking on the project from the package explorer, click on Properties, and select your preferred installed Android API version from the Project Build Target box.

Now, right-click on the project name in the package explorer, click on run as, and finally, click on Android Application. The following pop up will be displayed, and it will require you to specify the Android device on which you want to launch the Cocos2d-x game:

After picking your Android device, you will see the HelloWorld game scene as it was shown when we ran the Run command in the previous section.

Template code walk-through

In this section, we will explain the main parts of the Cocos2d-x template code generated in the previous sections by the project creation script.

Java classes

We now have one Java class in our project named AppActivity that has no members and extends the Cocos2dxActivity class from the core library. We can also see that 22 Java classes from the core library have been referenced in the project. This code is aimed to make our C++ code work, and we don't have to modify it at all.

Android application configuration

The generated AndroidManifest.xml, which is the android configuration file, requires the permission android.permission.INTERNET, which allows your Android application to use the Internet connection on your device; nevertheless, this is not needed by our simple game code since there is no Internet interaction. So, you may delete this line from the AndroidManifest.xml file if you wish. Your game will be shown in landscape by default, but if you wish to create a game that runs in portrait mode, then you should change the android:screenOrientation value from landscape to portrait.

In order to change the Android application name, you may modify the app_name value located on the strings.xml file; it will affect the launcher icon's text and the application identifier within the Android OS.

When you are creating your own games, you will have to create your own classes, and those will often be more than the two classes that were created by the script. Every time you create a new class, you need to add its name to the LOCAL_SRC_FILES property of the Android.mk make file located inside the jni folder of your new project directory structure. So, when your cpp code is built by the C++ build tools, it knows which files it should compile.

C++ classes

Two C++ classes have been created: AppDelegate and HelloWorldScene. The first one is in charge of launching the Cocos2d-x framework and passing the control to the developer. The framework loading process happens within this class. If the Cocos2d-x core framework is successfully launched on the target device, it will run the applicationDidFinishLaunching method, which is the first game-specific function to be run.

The code is very straightforward and it is documented such that you will be able to grasp its logic easily. Our first minor change to the code will be to hide the debug information that shows by default on this sample game. You could simply guess that in order to achieve this you should only send false as a parameter for the setDisplayStats method call in the director singleton instance, as we can see in the following code listing:

bool AppDelegate::applicationDidFinishLaunching() {
    // initialize director
    auto director = Director::getInstance();
    auto glview = director->getOpenGLView();
    if(!glview) {
        glview = GLViewImpl::create("My Game");
        director->setOpenGLView(glview);
    }
    // turn on display FPS
    director->setDisplayStats(false);
    // set FPS. the default value is 1.0/60 if you don't call this
    director->setAnimationInterval(1.0 / 60);
    // create a scene. it's an autorelease object
    auto scene = HelloWorld::createScene();
    // run
    director->runWithScene(scene);
    return true;
}

Tip

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for all Packt books you have purchased from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

Scenes

As we will cover in the chapters later in this book, Cocos2d-x handles the scene concept just like movies; movies are composed by scenes, so are the Cocos2d-x games. We can visualize the different screens, such as loading, main menu, world selection, gameplay levels, ending credits, and so on, as the different scenes. Each scene has a class that defines its behavior. The template code has only one scene named HelloWorld scene that is initialized and launched from within the AppDelegate class. The scene flow is managed by the game director as we have seen in the previous code. The Director class has all the basic features to drive the game, just like a director does during a movie. There is a single shared instance of the director class that is used within the whole application scope.

HelloWorldScene contains the layer that represents all the visible areas that show up when we run our HelloWorld application, that is, the hello world label, the Cocos2d-x logo, and the menu showing the exit option.

Within the init method, we do the instantiation of the visual elements, and then we add it to the scene using the addChild method inherited from the Node core class.

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Francis May 20, 2015

I found this book very helpful in getting the latest Cocos2d-x 3.x running on my Android devices. The book provides very clear instructions on setting up the Android development environment such as the Android SDK, NDK and Eclipse tools. After the first chapter you will be able use the Cocos2d-x Android build process to deploy a simple application to your Android device.The book covers all the basics of Cocos2d-x in the next few chapters, covering graphics, game physics, user input, text display, audio and particle systems. This is done by walking the reader through the development of a simple game. Additional information for the Android platform is also included such as handling the Android key press events.The last chapter is the best part for Android developers as it demonstrates how to add native java code to your project and goes over the Java NativeInterface (JNI) capabilities that allows you to interface with popular banner providers such as Google AdMob.Overall this book is best for anyone wanting to use Cocos2d-x to deploy an application to Android devices and provides a good overview of Cocos2d-x. It seems to be targeted at the beginner and will give the read a good start in getting games deployed on Android devices using Cocos2d-x.

Amazon Verified review

Jaime Sierra May 20, 2015

Few books in the world that is written in English to talk about Cocos2D-x, which is a powerful tool for writing code once and to have it on different platforms, in this book you can build an Android game, which has the difficulty of being used in multiple devices with different screen sizes, so it is especially important in the design for optimal user experience. One can also say "everything is on the Internet", but "step by step" training book "Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x" can learn "without gaps" and have a basis to create the app easier to you want to achieve.Recommended the book.

CdrJameson Oct 11, 2017

A short book, but did exactly what I wanted and got my Cocos2d-x project off the ground in no time at all.Doesn't contain a great deal of further detail but saved me a good week or so of figuring out what was going on.

Piotr Kuszyk May 22, 2015

The book is written for the Cocos2dx version 3.4. I am using 3.5 and I had no problems with the listings and the source code. The first chapter about setting up the environment is rely useful. I didn’t have problems on (Win 8.1). People with absolutely no experience might have problems with importing project into Eclipse. REMEMBER to import only project from proj.android directory. After that import cocos2d and select “libcocos2dx” only.The book guides you through creating a single simple game from scratch. Each chapter covers one issue and adds new functionality to the game. For a person with no experience in game development and Cocos2d it might be difficult to get familiar with the idea of Scenes or Layers. There is very little about it in second chapter.After understanding the idea of layers and scenes, the rest of the topics is more clear. At the beginning you learn how to move objects in the game and animate them. There is also described how to create a menu and animate between scenes.Game Physics seems to be described enough. You learn how to make things fall down. You apply force, velocity and torque to the object. You learn how to detect a collision.Events are also described quite well. You can learn how to deal with touch events and multi-touch events. You learn how to use accelerometer and how to handle the back button.The chapters about text and fonts, sound effects and particles are very entertaining. You learn how to apply plenty of effects to make the game look more professional.Last chapter about native java code shows how to add commercials to the game.Quick summarize:C++11 basics and Cocos2d basic concepts are required to fully understand the book. Good for beginners.PROS:1) Create fully functional game step by step2) Adding native Java code3) Cocos2d-x in version 3.4CONS:1) Only one physics engine described2) Macros and Director described too little3) Not explained how to remove sprites that are outside the screen (unused elements)4) Too little about particles

Raul Roa Jul 01, 2015

Cocos2d-X is a suite of open-source, cross-platform, game-development tools used by thousands of developers all over the world. It was branched out from the Cocos2d project in November 2010.It is a widely adopted framework among mobile developers and it is fair to say that an attempt to make a book about how to use it for Android development is a natural step.I must admit that after a weak foreword I was a bit skeptical about the quality of its content; after going through every chapter I changed my mind. The book is a good reference resource and if you are happen to be starting out, as a game developer trying to make your way at Google’s Playstore this might be a good place to start.The author makes an effort of breaking down the massive engine and it's most common features into digestible bits for anyone from novice to experts. It makes a pretty good job in going from installing a development environment from scratch to a working tech demo at the end of each chapter.Personally, I liked the way the author went into detail on describing how things work under the hood. However, I would have loved to see more depth into actual physics examples and a separated chapter that went into different collision detection strategies instead of cramping those up together.ConclusionBuilding Android Games with Cocos2d-x is a great introductory book for game developers who are looking to start on game development for Android mobile devices. It is also a great starting point for people who are looking into game development as a casual endeavor.I encourage you grab a copy right now!

Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x: Learn to create engaging and spectacular games for Android using Cocos2d-x

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