The chapters are structured to move from foundational theory to publishing:
Published by Addison-Wesley, this book was a staple for developers transitioning from basic apps to the more complex world of 2D mobile gaming. Why This Book Stood Out
Some optimization advice (e.g., manually recycling bitmaps, avoiding certain draw calls) is either automatic on modern Android or irrelevant due to vastly faster hardware.
In the fast-paced world of mobile development, 2011 feels like the Paleolithic era. Samsung was still fighting the iPhone 4 with the Galaxy S II. Android’s market share was exploding past iOS, and the OpenGL ES version was 2.0. It was in this chaotic, fertile ground that published "Learning Android Game Programming: A Hands-On Guide to Building Your First Android Game." -2011- learning android game programming richard rogers
In the fast-moving world of mobile development, a decade is a lifetime. However, looking back at Richard A. Rogers’ 2011 classic,
Rogers sets the stage by explaining why Java is slow for games (a hot topic in 2011) and when to drop into C++. He walks you through setting up (Android Developer Tools). While the software is gone, the concepts of AndroidManifest.xml configuration for full-screen, no-title-bar layouts remain identical.
For those looking to purchase or find more details, you can find the book at retailers like or browse it through the O'Reilly Learning Platform using current engines like Retrogaming Historian Senior Android Developer A Hands-On Guide to Building Your First Android Game The chapters are structured to move from foundational
For many developers in 2011, this was their first introduction to the complexity of multi-threaded programming. Rogers had to explain synchronization, race conditions, and how to safely share data between the rendering thread and the logic thread—a difficult topic that he made digestible.
This article looks back at Rogers' work, analyzing why it was a critical resource for early Android developers, how it navigated the technical limitations of the time, and why it remains a fascinating case study in the evolution of mobile game architecture.
: Detailed guides on integrating touch, multitouch, accelerometers, and even early voice recognition. Advanced Features Samsung was still fighting the iPhone 4 with the Galaxy S II
A unique aspect of this guide is its use of real-world examples. Rogers utilizes sample code from his own published game, Virgins Versus Vampires (V3) , to illustrate how theoretical concepts translate into a live product. This provided readers with a "start-to-finish" look at the development lifecycle, from initial design to resource management.
The book covered the entire lifecycle of game development: