More advances with Java and BIP

>> Tuesday, January 12, 2010

So right now i'm working on the Sprite class, which will handle basic sprites and spritesheets.
To use it basically you will have to make a new class and extend the Sprite class, and just define the update method. Later on the main loop just do mySprite.update(); and mySprite.draw(); and it will do :)
You will be able to add animations if it's a spritesheet, just like by doing something like addAnimation("walking", arrayOfIntsRepresentingFramesSecuence); so later you will be able to just switch animations. Also there will be an option to set a default animation, which could be the character just standing there, which will be set each time the user input is null.
Another thing the class will have is collision detection, rectangle and pixel-perfect.
The input class is pretty simple but I really like how i turned out, it's very easy to use.
Once i finish the Sprite class i think i will continue with sound, and then with tiled maps.
As i don't have much experience with network programming i dont think i add this feature for a while, at least untill i tried some games and play with networking for a while.
Also it's possible but i dont think i do, it's add 3D support, i dont have much experience in this issue and i'm not sure of Java capabilities with this, if i have to add OpenGL for this to work good i dont think i add it, mostly because i dont know much OpenGL, and also i want this to be pure java for certain reasons, so, maybe just for fun i could add it with normal Java but, we'll see, i dont really think so, plus the priority is 2D, BIP will be a 2D library so probably 3D wont be there.

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Advances with Java and BIP

My little BIP library seems to become reality in a not very distant future, of course it still needs a lot of work but as i read my books, i add and develop that part of the framework, for example i finished graphics and input chapters and i implemented them on my framework, while testing a little game :)
The final touches will be useful functions, such as a nice Sprite class, Mappy loader, etc.
Right now, i made it possible to make windowed and fullscreen games, and if windowed, the window size fixes itself so the drawing area is actually what you request.
The architecture so far is simple and similar to all libraries out there, extend the Game class, implement the abstact methods and just start making your game without worrying about low level stuff and using what you know of Java Graphics2D object.
It uses Page Flipping / Double Buffering automatically depending on the situation (Fullscreen capabilities, windowed mode, etc) and it uses "the delta method" of managing updates, this means it doesnt try to keep always the same rate of UPS' but instead it gives you the time it has passed since the last frame update so you can calculate how much to move stuff, this is also known as a way to set speed to "pixels per millisecond" which is my favourite way because its simpler.
The method i use to check for input is similar to Flixel's i think, just a static Input class with a lot of nice methods to check for keyboard and mouse events (KeyDown, KeyHit, MouseX, etc).
I will post here the progresses of my little library and i hope i can finish it and it gets to be a nice and simple library, mostly for me, and my university projects which doesn't allow me to use third party libs, but also to share with the programmers community which has helped me so much during the few years i have been around.

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New Riders Publishing - Developing Games in Java Review

>> Sunday, January 10, 2010


This book is one of the best i ever saw / read, about Java Game Programming.
It assumes you already know Java and start from Chapter 2 with game programming! (Chapter 1 is about Threads!)
It explains everything really nice, and step by step.
I just read it to Chapter 3 so far, but i felt like making a review now because i have to admit that is one of the bests i saw (I skipped some chapters to see how it is though, hehe).
If you are serious about Java game programming this is a must. I like it much more than "Killer Java Game Programming", although that is also a very good book which is reccommended to read after / before this one if you are serious on Java game programming, so i probably will finish reading that one later ;)
For now, i will keep with this one untill i finish it, im pretty excited! As i'm not a beginner game developer (not a pro also) i like to go straight to the point, and not have to eat those long Java explanations you already know! :)
This book is definitely recommended! 5/5.

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Java Game Programming

Right now, im playing with Java game programming. Plain Java, with FSEM, Swing and AWT.
I wont use OpenGL libraries like Slick for personal reasons :)
I like using plain java though, after i write some games i might try making a simple library to help me setup games faster, and will make it public, probably under BSD licence.
The project i want to make is a simple Fighting Game, so i will need to implement very good collision detection, and i wont need tiles for this game :)
It will be oriented to multiplayer games, not networking though, assuming both are on the same PC.
I will later implement the AI to play against the "machine". There is a long way to go, and i will post here my advances.

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