Cocos2d-x by Example: Beginner's Guide - Second Edition

Table of Contents

Cocos2d-x by Example Beginner's Guide Second Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Sections

Time for action – heading

What just happened?

Pop quiz – heading

Have a go hero – heading

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Installing Cocos2d-x

Downloading and installing Cocos2d-x

Time for action – downloading, downloading, downloading

What just happened?

Time for action – installing Cocos2d-x

What just happened?

Hello-x World-x

Time for action – creating an application

What just happened?

Time for action – deploying to Android

What just happened?

The folder structure

The iOS linkage classes

The AppDelegate class

The HelloWorldScene class

Who begets whom?

Finding more reference material

Time for action – running the test samples

What just happened?

The other tools

Summary

2. You Plus C++ Plus Cocos2d-x

Cocos2d-x – an introduction

Containers

The Director and cache classes

The other stuff

Do you know C++?

The class interface

Time for action – creating the interface

What just happened?

The class implementation

Time for action – creating the implementation

What just happened?

Instantiating objects and managing memory

Using static methods

The C++ and Cocos2d-x style

What you get with Ref

Summary

3. Your First Game – Air Hockey

Game configurations

Time for action – creating your game project

What just happened?

Time for action – laying down the rules

What just happened?

Supporting retina displays

Time for action – adding the image files

What just happened?

Time for action – adding retina support

What just happened?

Adding sound effects

Time for action – adding the sound files

What just happened?

Extending Sprite

Time for action – adding GameSprite.cpp

What just happened?

Time for action – implementing GameSprite

What just happened?

Have a go hero

The actual game scene

Time for action – coding the GameLayer interface

What just happened?

Time for action – implementing init()

What just happened?

Time for action – handling multitouches

What just happened?

Time for action – adding our main loop

What just happened?

Time for action – updating scores

What just happened?

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Summary

4. Fun with Sprites – Sky Defense

The game – sky defense

The game settings

The start project

Adding screen support for a universal app

Adding background music

Initializing the game

Using sprite sheets in Cocos2d-x

Batch drawing sprites

Time for action – creating SpriteBatchNode

What just happened?

Bitmap fonts in Cocos2d-x

Time for action – creating bitmap font labels

What just happened?

Time for action – adding the final screen sprites

What just happened?

Time for action – creating our object pools

What just happened?

Actions in a nutshell

Time for action – creating actions with Cocos2d-x

What just happened?

Animating a sprite in Cocos2d-x

Time for action – creating animations

What just happened?

Time to make our game tick!

Time for action – handling touches

What just happened?

Time for action – starting and restarting the game

What just happened?

Time for action – updating the game

What just happened?

Time for action – retrieving objects from the pool

What just happened?

Play the game!

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Pop quiz – sprites and actions

Summary

5. On the Line – Rocket Through

The game – Rocket Through

The game settings

Play first, work later

The start project

Screen settings

So what are particles?

Time for action – creating particle systems

What just happened?

Creating the grid

Drawing primitives in Cocos2d-x

Time for action – let's do some drawing!

What just happened?

The rocket sprite

Time for action – updating our rocket sprite

What just happened?

Time for action – handling touches

What just happened?

The game loop

Time for action – adding the main loop

What just happened?

Kill and reset

Time for action – adding our resets and kills

What just happened?

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Summary

6. Quick and Easy Sprite – Victorian Rush Hour

The game – Victorian Rush Hour

The game settings

Rapid prototyping with Cocos2d-x

Time for action – creating placeholder sprites

What just happened?

The Player object

The Block object

The terrain object

Time for action – coding the player

What just happened?

Time for action – coding the Block object

What just happened?

Planning the Terrain class

Building the terrain object

Time for action – initializing our Terrain class

What just happened?

Time for action – initializing our Blocks object

What just happened?

Time for action – moving and resetting

What just happened?

Platform collision logic

Time for action – adding collision detection

What just happened?

Adding the controls

Time for action – handling touches

What just happened?

Time for action – coding the main loop

What just happened?

Summary

7. Adding the Looks – Victorian Rush Hour

Victorian Rush Hour – the game

New sprites

Animations

Texturing our buildings with sprites

Time for action – texturing the buildings

What just happened?

Containers within containers

Creating a parallax effect

Time for action – creating a parallax effect

What just happened?

Adding a menu to our game

Time for action – creating Menu and MenuItem

What just happened?

Adding a tutorial to our game

Time for action – adding a tutorial

What just happened?

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Summary

8. Getting Physical – Box2D

Building a Box2D project with Cocos2d-x

Time for action – using debug draw in your Box2D project

What just happened?

So what is a physics engine?

Meeting Box2D

Meeting the world

Running the simulation

No Ref objects in Box2D

Meeting the bodies

Our game – MiniPool

Game settings

Sprite plus b2Body equal to b2Sprite

Creating the pool table

Creating edges

Creating the ball objects

Creating collision filters

Creating the cue

Creating a contact listener

The game controls

Time for action – adding the touch events

What just happened?

The main loop

Time for action – adding the main loop

What just happened?

Adding a timer to our game

Time for action – creating a timer

What just happened?

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Pop quiz

Summary

9. On the Level – Eskimo

The game – Eskimo

The game settings

Organizing the game

Using scenes in Cocos2d-x

Time for action – creating a scene transition

What just happened?

Time for action – creating transitions with a singleton Layer class

What just happened?

Loading external data from a .plist file

Time for action – creating a .plist file

What just happened?

Loading the level data

Time for action – retrieving data from the .plist file

What just happened?

Saving game data

Time for action – storing the completed levels

What just happened?

Using events in your game

Time for action – using the event dispatcher

What just happened?

Using the accelerometer

Time for action – reading accelerometer data

What just happened?

Reusing b2Bodies

Time for action – changing a b2Body fixture

What just happened?

Time for action – running the game in Android

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Summary

10. Introducing Lua!

So what is Lua like?

Debugging in Lua – the knights who say nil

The game – Stone Age

Time for action – creating or importing a project

What just happened?

Time for action – setting up our screen resolution

What just happened?

Time for action – creating a menu scene

What just happened?

Time for action – creating our game scene

What just happened?

Time for action – building the gems

What just happened?

Time for action – changing the grid with GridController

What just happened?

Time for action – swapping the gems and looking for matches

What just happened?

Time for action – collapsing the grid and repeating

What just happened?

Time for action – animating matches and collapses

What just happened?

Time for action – publishing the game with the Cocos IDE

What just happened?

Summary

A. Vector Calculations with Cocos2d-x

What are vectors?

The vector methods

Using ccp helper methods

Rotating the rocket around a point

Using the dot product of vectors

Moving from pixel-based speed to angular-based speed

B. Pop Quiz Answers

Chapter 4, Fun with Sprites – Sky Defense

Pop quiz – sprites and actions

Chapter 8, Getting Physical – Box2D

Pop quiz

Index

Cocos2d-x by Example Beginner's Guide Second Edition

Cocos2d-x by Example Beginner's Guide Second Edition

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: April 2013

Second edition: March 2015

Production reference: 1240315

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78528-885-2

www.packtpub.com

Cover image by Roger Engelbert (<rengelbert@gmail.com>)

Credits

Author

Roger Engelbert

Reviewers

Saeed Afshari

Joni Mikkola

Michael Price

Vamsi Krishna Veligatla

Chatchai Mark Wangwiwattana

Commissioning Editor

Akram Hussain

Acquisition Editor

Sam Wood

Content Development Editor

Ritika Singh

Technical Editor

Mrunal M. Chavan

Copy Editors

Sonia Michelle Cheema

Aarti Saldanha

Adithi Shetty

Project Coordinator

Judie Jose

Proofreaders

Simran Bhogal

Maria Gould

Paul Hindle

Indexer

Priya Sane

Production Coordinator

Nitesh Thakur

Cover Work

Nitesh Thakur

About the Author

Roger Engelbert is a game developer, with over 10 years of experience developing online games. He grew up surrounded by video games and thinks of classic, 8-bit, arcade titles as a form of art. He is the author behind the blog Done With Computers, which is chock-full of tutorials on game development and design. Roger sincerely hopes to soon live in a world where people of all ages will be given the knowledge and opportunity to experience the joy of building their own games.

I would like to thank the people from Packt Publishing that helped me through the process of writing this book. And above all, my family, who—once again!—had to see a bleary eyed and slightly surly version of myself as I worked on this book long into the night.

About the Reviewers

Saeed Afshari is an independent game developer and a researcher in the area of human-computer interaction. He has published more than 20 titles on the iOS App Store and Google Play under the brand Neat Games, and is focused on developing mobile games for iOS and Android.

He is a member of the Games, Interaction and Novel Interface Technologies (IGNITE) research collective at the University of Luxembourg, working on natural and novel user interfaces, and understanding how people interact with games and how games should interact with people. His current research projects deal with interaction with mobile games, virtual-reality head-mounted displays, and behavior change through serious gaming. He is the game developer for the European Commission project, LiveCity, which deals with long distance multiplayer gaming on multitouch tables.

With over 15 years of experience in game development and interactive media, he has built skills in platforms, including OpenGL, DirectX, Unity, Cocos2d-x, and also interaction design for natural user interfaces and virtual reality. He has invented an algorithm to track permanent magnets for use in mobile games, in particular in the form of a magnetic joystick. He is willing to consult and collaborate on creating games and interactive software targeted for education, entertainment, and social networks.

For more information about Saeed and Neat Games, you can contact <pr@neat-games.com>.

Joni Mikkola is currently working on his next mobile game in northern Finland. He keeps his game developing stamina up by training regularly at the gym and eating healthy. Among developing games, he often reads books, plays piano, or bakes buns to keep ideas flowing and mind focused. He constantly keeps challenging the status quo, which in turn helps in learning new ways to create things.

He has developed games for over 4 years professionally mostly for mobile platforms. He targets casual games and focuses on creating simplistic designs. With one game released, he is currently working on his next game, which will be released in early 2015 for Android and iOS platforms. Sometimes he chills by participating in Ludum Dare game contests.

Michael Price has been working in the game industry since 2009. He studied game development at Algonquin College in Ottawa and has always had an interest in technology and programming. He's been playing video games for as long as he can remember and now uses that passion to build fun and exciting games. He has extensive knowledge of building games for the Web and mobile. He has his own website (http://www.michaelrjprice.com) that shows all his past and current projects.

I would like to thank my parents for their support, and my girlfriend for always being there for me.

Vamsi Krishna Veligatla is the Director of engineering at Tiny Mogul games, which is the gaming arm of Hike Messenger Pvt Ltd. He was the lead developer on some of the most iconic games such as Shiva: The Time Bender and Dadi vs Jellies developed at Tiny Mogul Games.

He has a master's degree in computer science from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. Previously, he worked at Nvidia Graphics Pvt Ltd, AMD (ATI), and University of Groningen, Netherlands.

I would like to thank my family for their love and support.

Chatchai Mark Wangwiwattana is a game researcher, designer, and programmer. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in game-based learning and using video games to improve health. As a freelancer in the gaming industry, Chatchai has been developing games for entertaining and education. Kraven Manor was one of the award-winning games at Intel University Showcase, 2014. More information about his works is available at www.chatchaiwang.com.

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

For support files and downloads related to your book, please visit www.PacktPub.com.

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.PacktPub.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at for more details.

At www.PacktPub.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks.

https://www2.packtpub.com/books/subscription/packtlib

Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital book library. Here, you can search, access, and read Packt's entire library of books.

Why subscribe?

Fully searchable across every book published by Packt

Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content

On demand and accessible via a web browser

Free access for Packt account holders

If you have an account with Packt at www.PacktPub.com, you can use this to access PacktLib today and view 9 entirely free books. Simply use your login credentials for immediate access.

Preface

Cocos2d-x combines the benefits of using one the most popular and test-proven 2D game frameworks out there with the power and portability of C++. So, you get the best deal possible. Not only is the framework built to be easy to use and quick to implement, it also allows your code to target more than one system.

The book will show you how to use the framework to quickly implement your ideas, and let Cocos2d-x help you with the translation of all that OpenGL gobbledygook, leaving you with the fun part: making sprites jump around and hit each other!

There are seven examples of games in this book with two of them being physics-based, using Box2D and one using the Lua bindings and the new Cocos Code IDE. With each example, you'll learn more about the framework and the magical lines that can quickly add particle effects, animations, sounds, UI elements, and all sorts of wonderful things to your games.

Not only this, but you will also learn how to target both iOS and Android devices, and multiple screen sizes.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Installing Cocos2d-x, guides you through the download and installation of the Cocos2d-x framework. It also examines the ins and outs of a basic Cocos2d-x application and deployment to both iOS and Android devices.

Chapter 2, You Plus C++ Plus Cocos2d-x, explains the main elements in the framework. It also covers the differences in syntax when developing in C++, and the differences in memory management when developing with Cocos2d-x.

Chapter 3, Your First Game – Air Hockey, kick-starts our game development tutorials by using Cocos2d-x to build an air hockey game. You will learn how to load the images for your sprites, display text, manage touches, and add sounds to your game.

Chapter 4, Fun with Sprites – Sky Defense, demonstrates the power of actions in Cocos2d-x, and shows how an entire game could be built with them. It also introduces the concept of sprite sheets and the steps to build a universal application targeting different screen resolutions.

Chapter 5, On the Line – Rocket Through, adds two new elements to our game development toolbox: how to draw primitives, such as lines, curves, and circles, and how to use particle systems to improve the look of our game with special effects.

Chapter 6, Quick and Easy Sprite – Victorian Rush Hour, shows how you can use Cocos2d-x to quickly implement game ideas for further testing and development by rapidly building game prototypes with placeholder sprites. In the game example used for this chapter, you'll also learn how to build a side-scrolling platform game.

Chapter 7, Adding the Looks – Victorian Rush Hour, continues with the project from the previous chapter adding the final touches to the game including a menu and a playable tutorial.

Chapter 8, Getting Physical – Box2D, introduces the popular Box2D