Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The previous mock-up has been created entirely by using vector graphics. Using
vector graphics in favor of raster graphics for your sketches can be an advantage as
they are infinitely scalable to any size without losing the image quality. However,
the final graphics used in games are almost, always, rasterized graphics, simply
because vector graphics are costly to render in real time. So, the common approach is
to create vector graphics and later on export them choosing an appropriate rasterized
graphics file format, such as
Portable Network Graphics
(
PNG
) for lossless
compression with alpha channel support, or
Joint Photographic Experts Group
(
JPEG
) for lossy but high compression without alpha channel support.
For more details, check out the following Wikipedia articles:
• For information on raster graphics, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
• For information on vector graphics, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
• For information on PNG file format, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/
• For information on JPEG file format, visit
http://en.wikipedia.org/
There is a free and open source tool called Inkscape similar to Adobe Illustrator.
It allows you to easily create your own drawings as vector graphics and is available
for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Check out the project's website
http://
Summary
We learned a lot about LibGDX in this chapter and all the other bits and bobs to
prepare your system for multi-platform game development, specifically on the
following points:
• We discussed every step in great detail to successfully download, install,
and configure all the required software components: JDK, Eclipse, LibGDX,
Android SDK, and additional Eclipse plugins for Android, HTML5/GWT,
and RoboVM.
• We learned how to use the project setup tool that comes with LibGDX to
easily generate all the required Eclipse projects for a new application and
how to import them. We also learned what a game needs to come alive.
