Android Game Development

Started by RobFarley, September 16, 2017, 20:37:40

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RobFarley

So I downloaded the android SDK and realised quite quickly that wasn't what I wanted for game or graphic based stuff...

So a further Google reveals a pretty wide range of options from unity to havok and so on...

My question is who's played with this sort of thing, any pros or cons of each of these, personal experiences with particular engines and so on.

I feel it would be good to start from a recommendation rather that go through the pain of trying each one!

Cheers, Rob

Cheers, Rob

RobFarley

Especially interested in anyone who's played with jmonkeyengine as that looks pretty sweet
Cheers, Rob

TomToad

Take a look at Basic4Android.  The language is similar to Visual Basic, has a form editor making UI easy to create, can be extended through additional libraries, and can integrate with java.
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Matty

Android SDK has everything you need for 2d game development. You can do 3d with android sdk as well but it is easier to use a 3rd party library or engine for this.

Straight java is nice and easy to use for Android.  No need to go through other layers like basic4android or monkey or anything...java is pretty simple too once you get used to the syntax. You have to not mind using curly braces and semi colons.

I used jpct-ae for 3d development in  Android. I'd recommend it for some games, but anything that is fairly complex you're probably better using a different engine. jpct-ae is similar to blitz3d without some of the things like terrains and a range of 3d formats to use.

You'll find the main problem with Android development - especially 3d - is the garbage collector, you can't switch it off and it will cause your game to pause and stutter at regular points in time unless you code it a certain way to reuse and pool resources including even basic fundamental variables. That's what i found anyway.