Beginning Android Games. How proficient a programmer one needs to be to start?

[Igor Mechnikov]

Hello,

I am a novice Java programmer.

Does it make sense to become more proficient in Java before delving into game development?


What level of programming proficiency is required?

Regards,

Igor

[Mario Zechner]

I'd suggest getting at least a good crasp of the basics of Java. The book does not use any advanced Java concept apart from one class called Pool which uses generics. We also use the Java collections like List, Map and so on, but that should be pretty standard. I'd suggest brushing up a little on Java and give the source code a look.

[Igor Mechnikov]

Mario Zechner wrote:I'd suggest getting at least a good crasp of the basics of Java. The book does not use any advanced Java concept apart from one class called Pool which uses generics. We also use the Java collections like List, Map and so on, but that should be pretty standard. I'd suggest brushing up a little on Java and give the source code a look.

Excellent suggestion regarding reading source code.

Are there also any particular open source Android games you might recommend as good examples to review code?

[Mario Zechner]

You could have a look at the source of Replica Island, a 2D platformer a former Google engineer named Chris Pruett created. It has a pretty big following on the market and is of high quality. For someone just starting out with game development or Android in general it might be a bit of a tough nut to crack though.

[Igor Mechnikov]

Mario Zechner wrote:You could have a look at the source of Replica Island, a 2D platformer a former Google engineer named Chris Pruett created. It has a pretty big following on the market and is of high quality. For someone just starting out with game development or Android in general it might be a bit of a tough nut to crack though.

Great!
I will definitely check out the code.
Thank you again.

minor detail: does the right bugdroid on the http://code.google.com/p/replicaisland/ page have its head screwed on right?

[Mario Zechner]

To me that head looks kinda bugged

[Igor Mechnikov]

Mario Zechner wrote:To me that head looks kinda bugged

Right, his eyes are bulging a bit, like he just saw something shocking or mysterious. Perhaps the great secret of the replica island.
Thank you again for great information.