Tales of Game Development with LibGDX - A Postmortem

Slides from SelfConf 2015!

Transcript

1. Tales of Game Development with LibGDX A Postmortem
2. Jason Petterson @chunkybrewster Founder Broken Shotgun LLC
3. Jason Petterson @chunkybrewster Android Overlord Detroit Labs
4. What is LibGDX?
5. LibGDX - The Good • Open source (https://github. com/libgdx/libgdx) • Gradle (works with Eclipse and Android Studio) • Actively maintained & well documented • Version control friendly project structure • Able to easily add in native Android code
6. LibGDX - The Good • InputListener - great at handling input from multiple sources (controller, keyboard, touch) • Asset Manager ◦ Loaders for everything (and ability to make and set custom asset loaders) ◦ Easily able to measure progress
7. LibGDX - The Good • Scene2D ◦ Stage, Groups, Actors, Actions ◦ Viewports ◦ Able to set Actor specific controls ◦ UI and skins
8. LibGDX - The Bad • Setup utility issues ◦ No update for existing projects ◦ No update for utility itself • Coordinate space confusion ◦ Stage, Camera, Screen, World, Viewport • Doesn’t generate native executable for Desktop platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux) & requires Java to be installed.
9. LibGDX - The Ugly • Doesn't have a rich toolset suite like Unity, Game Maker Studio, or Unreal Engine 4 • Existing tools (TexturePacker, Hiero, 2D Particle Editor) are disjointed and pretty janky (with exception of Spine, which is great)
10. Throw The Moon • Originally “Streets of Dev Rage” • Changed to “Throw the Moon” for Ludum Dare 32: An Unconventional Weapon • Demo!
11. Lessons Learned: Design • Pen and paper out ideas • Be careful pitching idea to friends ◦ Better to make something than to make nothing • Deconstruct “fun” elements from your favorite games ◦ What is fun? ◦ Why is it fun?
12. Lessons Learned: Design
13. Lessons Learned: Design • Play test with someone that is not you!
14. uh ok so I click ah and I can tap to punch ok
15. shit lost the chain, guess I need that, why don’t any of these guys move?
16. also pill bottles, wtf? you ok dude?
17. ooo boss, hahah beisbolcat, nice, oh shit it moves ahhh
18. AHHHH SHIT, RAGE MODE!
19. OK I did it!
20. wait what the fuck do I do now? why is the chain blinking?
21. (after intervening and having to explain the chain pull mechanic) ooooo, gotcha,that’s kind of annoying dude
22. Lessons Learned: Design • Accept feedback and use it to improve the experience. • Iterate and keep trying til it works! (Still trying…)
23. Lessons Learned: Assets • You don’t need assets to program gameplay • Don’t spend a whole day making SFX in BXFR for like 3 things
24. Lessons Learned: Controls • Mouse controls =/= Touch controls • Test on device always/often • Literally test out pen & paper design with finger to see if an idea works
25. Lessons Learned: Debugging • Don’t trust your eyes ◦ Log the important stuff ◦ Visual debug ▪ On screen debug log ▪ Bounding box ◦ Debug mode up til last possible moments before making release build ▪ Which sometimes causes release specific bugs...
26. Lessons Learned: Time Management
27. Lessons Learned: Time Management GET
28. Lessons Learned: Time Management GET SHIT
29. Lessons Learned: Time Management GET SHIT DONE
30. Lessons Learned: Time Management • Prioritize minimum viable product features ◦ Set milestones, know when you have spent too much time on something, and move on ◦ Premature optimization = poison • Timebox the entire project to about a month, don’t spend multiple years on your first game (because it will suck)
31. Download All The Things! • Download the source: ◦ http://broken-shotgun.github.io/throw-the-moon/ • Download the game: ◦ http://bit.ly/throwthemoon
32. Questions?