LibGDX 1.0 released • Hacker News Board

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#21

Post by jokoon » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 1:04 PM UTC

terhechte wrote: post #15

jokoon wrote: post #12

looks like a really big effort to make developing on android a better experience, by clumping libs together, rather than just a game engine. I was not able to find out if the scene2d thing has a partitioning algorithm of some sort. Maybe It's irrelevant for an android device ? Seems like good stuff though. Sadly I don't really "like" java...

You can use any of the JVM languages with libgdx, such as Clojure, Scala, Kotlin even JRuby [1] [1] https://github.com/mickey/libgdx-jruby-exemple

I've often considered C++ as a mandatory requirement for game development. Java is fine though, but I just don't use it, and if I have to choose between java and C++, I go for C++...

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#22

Post by hedron » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 1:30 PM UTC

Rezo wrote: post #19

LibGDX is a lot of fun to work with, and a great way to target both Android and iOS with the same code base. What you might not have thought of, is that you don't have to limit yourself to games. I created a successful productivity app entirely in LibGDX (shameless plug, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.absoluteat... ). Features common in games and LibGDX, such as the very good performance and the ri…

I found the most powerful feature is that you can create an app without a need to deploy it to a real device over and over again. It saves a lot of time even creating a multi touch game like Sum and Blossom https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carrotfiel...

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#23

Post by marktangotango » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 1:30 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #21

terhechte wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use any of the JVM languages with libgdx, such as Clojure, Scala, Kotlin even JRuby [1] [1] https://github.com/mickey/libgdx-jruby-exemple

I've often considered C++ as a mandatory requirement for game development. Java is fine though, but I just don't use it, and if I have to choose between java and C++, I go for C++...

I've often considered Assembler as a mandatory requirement for game development. C++ is fine though, but I just don't use it, and if I have to choose between C++ and Assembler, I go for Assembler...

What a difference two decades makes eh?

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#24

Post by smrtinsert » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 1:55 PM UTC

hedron wrote: post #22

Rezo wrote: post #19

LibGDX is a lot of fun to work with, and a great way to target both Android and iOS with the same code base. What you might not have thought of, is that you don't have to limit yourself to games. I created a successful productivity app entirely in LibGDX (shameless plug, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.absoluteat... ). Features common in games and LibGDX, such as the very good performance and the ri…

I found the most powerful feature is that you can create an app without a need to deploy it to a real device over and over again. It saves a lot of time even creating a multi touch game like Sum and Blossom https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carrotfiel...

I'm considering using for the same thing. Especially with scene2d ui available - the temptation is large to build something that targets all desktops and ios and android easily.

It's time for cross platform uis again, native is getting old.

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#25

Post by gagege » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 2:03 PM UTC

If you're interested in an entity-component architecture for game development, here's a nice example project to get you started with learning how to do it. It uses libgdx for graphics and Artemis (http://gamadu.com/artemis/) for the entity component system:

http://code.google.com/p/spaceship-warrior/source/browse/src...

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#26

Post by gagege » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 2:05 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #21

terhechte wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use any of the JVM languages with libgdx, such as Clojure, Scala, Kotlin even JRuby [1] [1] https://github.com/mickey/libgdx-jruby-exemple

I've often considered C++ as a mandatory requirement for game development. Java is fine though, but I just don't use it, and if I have to choose between java and C++, I go for C++...

While I understand the desire for good performance, using a higher-level language can give you some huge gains in the prototyping and iteration phase of design. That's where it counts when it comes to trying out game ideas and seeing what works.

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#27

Post by Rezo » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 2:24 PM UTC

hedron wrote: post #22

Rezo wrote: post #19

LibGDX is a lot of fun to work with, and a great way to target both Android and iOS with the same code base. What you might not have thought of, is that you don't have to limit yourself to games. I created a successful productivity app entirely in LibGDX (shameless plug, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.absoluteat... ). Features common in games and LibGDX, such as the very good performance and the ri…

I found the most powerful feature is that you can create an app without a need to deploy it to a real device over and over again. It saves a lot of time even creating a multi touch game like Sum and Blossom https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carrotfiel...

I agree fully, it's a huge productivity win. I built a small layer that simulates or at least stubs out all the device-only APIs for the desktop target; switching resolutions & DPI dependent assets (works), loading translated strings from Android XML files (works), opening the marketplace (stub), setting alarms and timers, etc.

I estimate I spent 99% of the development time on the desktop target with a redeployment cycle of just a few seconds, and only test on the device occasionally.

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#28

Post by octopus » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:12 PM UTC

z3phyr wrote: post #6

I would love to use this with clojure!

You already can, just be warned that if you use something different than Java you won't be able to export to the web. From my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) LibGDX converts only Java code to JavaScript and HTML5.

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#29

Post by kodablah » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:16 PM UTC

octopus wrote: post #28

z3phyr wrote: post #6

I would love to use this with clojure!

You already can, just be warned that if you use something different than Java you won't be able to export to the web. From my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) LibGDX converts only Java code to JavaScript and HTML5.

Yes, I believe it uses GWT which doesn't use bytecode but rather Java the language.

Re: LibGDX 1.0 released

#30

Post by octopus » Mon, Apr 21, 2014, 3:20 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #21

terhechte wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use any of the JVM languages with libgdx, such as Clojure, Scala, Kotlin even JRuby [1] [1] https://github.com/mickey/libgdx-jruby-exemple

I've often considered C++ as a mandatory requirement for game development. Java is fine though, but I just don't use it, and if I have to choose between java and C++, I go for C++...

If you prefer C++, Cocos2d-X may be a good fit for you. I've tried it, but I just couldn't stand it, because of the way they've translated the Objective-C object model and bolted this on top of C++. To me it looks hardly idiomatic C++. I can understand their technical reasons though (easier to translate the original Cocos2d-iphone to C++).