Cocos2d-x Cookbook

Book excerpt: Over 50 hands-on recipes to help you efficiently administer and maintain your games with Cocos2d-x About This Book Build exciting games, apps, and other cross-platform GUI based interactive programs with Cocos2d-x Explore the nitty-gritty of the latest Cocos2d-x on the block, version 3.6 A step-by-step guide that shows you the functionalities of Cocos2d-x followed by an explanation of how they work Who This Book Is For If you are a game developer and want to learn more about cross-platform game development in Cocos2d-x, then this book is for you. Knowledge of C++, Xcode, Eclipse, and how to use commands in the terminal are prerequisites for this book. What You Will Learn Install and set up Cocos2d-x for your development environment Build, test, and release game applications for iOS and Android Develop your games for multiple platforms Customize Cocos2d-x for your games Use a physical engine in your games Save and load text, JSON, XML, or other formats Explore the brand new features of Cocos2d-x In Detail Cocos2d-x is a suite of open source, cross-platform game-development tools used by thousands of developers all over the world. Cocos2d-x is a game framework written in C++, with a thin platform-dependent layer. Completely written in C++, the core engine has the smallest footprint and the fastest speed of any other game engine, and is optimized to be run on all kinds of devices. You will begin with the initial setup and installation of Cocos2d before moving on to the fundamentals needed to create a new project. You will then explore and create the sprites, animations, and actions that you will include in the game. Next you will look at strings and create labels, including a label with True Type Font (TTF) font support. Later, you will learn about layer and scene creation and transition. Then you will create the GUI parts essential for a game, such as buttons and switches. After that, you will breathe life into the game with background music and sound effects using the all new Cocos2d-x audio engine. You will then discover how to manage resource files and implement processes that depend on the operating system. Finally, you will polish your game with physics such as gravity and elevation, learn about tools that will help you make games more robust and stable, and get to know best practices to improve the game you have developed. Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow guide with ample recipes to help you better understand Cocos2d-x.