Slant community chat on Discourse| 8 Recommended Products | Recommendations | Price | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development· · · | 7 | 1 | – | Nov 19, 2015 |
| #2 KiloBolt· · · | 3 | 0 | – | Oct 28, 2014 |
| #3 7 Key Ingredients For Designing Addictive Games· · · | 2 | 0 | – | Oct 28, 2014 |
| #4 Android Game Tutorials (Java Code Geeks)· · · | 2 | 0 | – | Aug 18, 2014 |
| #5 Android Developer Training· · · | 2 | 0 | – | Aug 18, 2014 |
| #6 freesound.org· · · | 1 | 0 | – | Aug 18, 2014 |
Pro Continuation of KiloBolt's game development tutorials
"The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development" was written by the author of KiloBolt's game development tutorials: James S Cho. The book is simply a more comprehensive and up-to-date version of the online tutorials.
Pro In depth and effective explanations
The author of "The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development" has experience in the world of tutorials and his explanations in his book really prove that. Cho's tutorials are clear and up to date with the book's recent release date.
Pro Recently released
Cho's book was recently released on July 28, 2014. As a result his explanations and tutorials are some of the most up to date and reliable.
Con Price
"The Beginner's Guide to Android Game Development" is around $32 on Amazon.
Pro Starts from the basics
The KiloBolt Android game development course starts from the very beginning; explaining what Java is and how to set up your own "development machine.". This makes KiloBolt perfect for any beginner. If you aren't a beginner then you can easily skip ahead with the table of contents.
Pro Free
All tutorials from KiloBolt are free. KiloBolt supports the site with advertisements and donations from users.
Con No longer supported
The KiloBolt game development tutorial is over two years old and as a result is no longer supported or updated by KiloBolt. If you run into some issues with the tutorials, KiloBolt forum members may help you but only on their own.
Pro Useful tips for successful game development
This article from Infrared5's blog provides well thought out insight on how to design an addicting and successful Android game.
Pro Links to articles providing further explanation
The article never states any tips without backing it up with examples and links to other articles. For example the last essential ingredient "The Near Miss" is supported with an article from ScienceNOW on the human brain’s reaction to near misses.
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Pro Plenty of visuals
The Tutorials from Java Code Geeks include plenty of pictures and diagrams to further explain the concepts.
Pro Comments from other readers
The format of the tutorials on Java Code Geeks' website allows for comments from other readers. This is a substantial advantage compared to books or other websites because users can respond with issues, better solutions, and improved explanations to make a better overall tutorial.
Con Skips the basics
The tutorials from Java Code Geeks skip the basics and heads straight to the details. If you are a true beginner then this may not be the best place to start but for some this may not be a problem at all.
Pro Up-to-date and official information
The information on Google's Android Developer Training is always up-to-date and reliable.
Pro Lessons for specific parts of Android
Google offers lessons for Android developers such as supporting different devices with different screen sizes, languages, or different platform versions.
Con Limited game specific help
The Android Developer Training is more focused on providing help and information to Android application developers than Android game developers. Of course there are still some shared issues between applications and games such as device support that are discussed on Google's Android Developer...
Pro Vast range of Creative Commons Licensed sounds
Freesound.org offers a massive range of all types of sounds. Freesound explains the legalities of using sounds from freesound.org here.
Pro Forum to request sounds
There is a freesound.org forum where not only can you talk about freesound.org but you can make sound requests of any type.
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Pro Variety of tools to help create Android applications and games
The Android Asset Studio can help you create: -launcher icons -action bar and tab icons -notification icons -navigation drawer indicator -generic icons -device-framed screenshots -simple nine-patches
Pro Free with no advertisements
All art generated with the Android Asset Studio tools is created under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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Pro Plenty of game specific information
"Beginning Android Games" by Mario Zechner is not perfect for developers more interested in Android applications but for developers interested in Android game development it is perfect. The information is specific and detailed.
Con Starts off readers learning Android 1.5
One of the problems with this book is that not only is it two years old but it teaches its readers to code for the oldest and rarest versions of Android first when it may be simpler to learn the updated and improved more recent versions of Android.
Con Some programming knowledge needed before reading
"Beginning Android Games" skips the basics of programming that some may want if they have limited programming experience.
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