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As someone new to Java/Android/IDEs, what do you recommend I do to get learning?

Guard13007Guard13007 Posts: 1Member
in General Development
I've worked with JS a bit and that's the majority of my code experience. I've set up Eclipse/the ADT and everything the way Ouya says to get set up, I'm looking at the examples to learn from them but I am completely overwhelmed by the number of files and all the stuff in them. I have no idea where to get started coding my own thing.

So as someone completely new to all of this, what/where do you recommend I go to learn? Should I go through Google's Android tutorials? Generalized Java tutorials? Something else entirely? I really just need to get to the point where I can run code on the Ouya (and render solid-color circles) and I can learn on my own as I go from there, but right now I'm just overwhelmed by it all...

Comments

  • UbergeekkingUbergeekking Posts: 1Member
    I'm in the same boat as you. I've got an idea for a fairly simple game, but I am unsure where to start the development process. I have the entire game sorted out in my head and there just isn't any hardware available to download it from there, :-P (other than my keyboard.)
    So far I've played around with Unity some, but I need to find a good modeling program to create assets for Unity. 
    You could, like me, start with the learning tutorials for which ever engine you want to dev in. I picked Unity and so far it is been... interesting.

    And I'm overwhelmed too.
  • SandMagnumSandMagnum Posts: 10Member
    If you have never used a lower-level programming language, I'd suggest starting out with something like Unity. I know it's probably not what you want to hear but going straight from JS to Java is not an easy thing. There's a lot of advanced resource-management based programming involved you wouldn't necessarily have to deal with in JS.

    If this doesn't scare you away you might also try using a premade library like LibGDX (which I'm currently using) or AndEngine (which I've never used but I've heard is also good). There's no point in rolling your own engine from scratch unless you really have to, and LibGDX is already optimized quite well, with the bonus of being able to develop on the desktop and compile to multiple platforms.
  • xMCNUGGETxxMCNUGGETx Posts: 12Member
    Are you looking at 3d or 2d?  If a 2d you can look at Haxe and OpenFL.  They have been doing some sweet work to get OUYA working.  I created an example here (at the bottom of the page) that is similar to some other Ouya examples that shows controller movements.
  • JuggleJuggle Posts: 12Member
    I'm in a somewhat similar situation, I made a few really simple Android apps a few years ago (before I even had my first android handset to test them on) but overall very little Java experience.

    This weekend I decided to try and get some code running on Ouya.  I'm semi-blogging my experience on the ouyaforums.com site here: http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?4074-Baby-steps

    Basically I decided to take the libGDX route for now.  I'm not a fan of the higher level stuff like Unity/Gamemaker/Monogame/Air/Corona....but not opposed to them either, just decided that for what I wanted to do libGDX looked like a good solution.

    I'm really happy with how far I was able to come in just a long four day weekend (despite having to watch my toddler for most of the weekend and therefore not having a whole bunch of time available.) 

    Since the Ouya is basically android there are a lot of paths you can take to get things going.  Deciding what your goals are and what path to take is probably one of the hardest parts of getting started.
  • DoubleDDoubleD Posts: 1Member
    If you want some easy to learn programming, then Gamemaker Studio is your safest bet.
    Instead of typing, you drag and drop your functions into a specific order and give them some parameters. This may seem childish, untill you see how far you can go with it.

    It may be a bit hard to set it up, but you only have to do it once. It should be possible as described on here: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=570978

    You can make big complex games with it, but they might be recource intensive. Which isn't the best for the OUYA.

    So for a beginners perspective it is great,but after a point you will have to change to other platforms.
    (this hasn't happened to me yet and I am useing it for over 5 years)
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