Developing Games on the Raspberry Pi : App Programming with Lua and LÖVE

Learn to set up a Pi-based game development environment, and then develop a game with Lua, a popular scripting language used in major game frameworks like Unreal Engine (BioShock Infinite), CryEngine (Far Cry series), Diesel (Payday: The Heist), Silent Storm Engine (Heroes of Might and Magic V) and many others. More importantly, learn how to dig deeper into programming languages to find and understand new functions, frameworks, and languages to utilize in your games. You’ll start by learning your way around the Raspberry Pi. Then you’ll quickly dive into learning game development with an industry-standard and scalable language. After reading this book, you'll have the ability to write your own games on a Raspberry Pi, and deliver those games to Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. And you’ll learn how to publish your games to popular marketplaces for those desktop and mobile platforms. Whether you're new to programming or whether you've already published to markets like Itch.io or Steam, this book showcases compelling reasons to use the Raspberry Pi for game development. Use __Developing Games on the Raspberry Pi__ as your guide to ensure that your game plays on computers both old and new, desktop or mobile. **What You'll Learn** * Confidently write programs in Lua and the LOVE game engine on the Raspberry Pi * Research and learn new libraries, methods, and frameworks for more advanced programming * Write, package, and sell apps for mobile platforms * Deliver your games on multiple platforms **Who This Book Is For** Software engineers, teachers, hobbyists, and development professionals looking to up-skill and develop games for mobile platforms, this book eases them into a parallel universe of lightweight, POSIX, ARM-based development. Table of Contents 5 About the Author 12 About the Technical Reviewer 13 Chapter 1: Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi 14 Preparing Your Pi 16 Installing Linux onto Your Pi with Etcher 17 Preparing Your Off-Brand SoC 19 Using This Book Without a SoC Device 20 First Boot 21 Writing Your First Lua Script 23 Rolling Virtual Dice 25 Using Variables and User Input 27 Homework 30 Chapter 2: Scripting with LÖVE 32 Establishing a Development Environment 32 Navigating the Desktop 32 Installing Development Applications 34 Exploring Your Desktop 36 Creating a Graphical Game 37 Load and Main Loop 40 Writing Lua Code with LÖVE 41 Game Code 44 Graphics 47 Fonts 48 Tables 49 Game and GUI Logic 51 Mouse Click 53 Winner and Loser 54 Packaging 57 Homework 58 Chapter 3: Modular Programming with LÖVE 59 Project Directory 60 Classes and Objects 62 Randomized Cards 65 Graphics 72 Competition 75 Winning 80 Homework 83 Chapter 4: Analog Programming 84 Game Theory 85 Experimental Design 86 Iteration One 87 Iteration Two 88 Iteration Three 91 Pseudo Code for Battlejack 92 Documentation 93 Homework 95 Chapter 5: Database and Libraries 96 Installing New Libraries 98 Configuration Files 100 Setting the Package Path 101 Deck Building 105 Homework 109 Chapter 6: Graphics 110 Design by Genre 110 Let the Fonts Do the Talking 112 Color Scheme 115 Graphics 117 Card Design with GIMP 118 Install 118 New Document 120 Color Scheme 121 Text Elements 122 Time to Save 124 Moving Layers 124 Backdrops 125 Color Code and Value 126 Background Image 127 Integration 129 Exporting from GIMP 131 Homework 131 Chapter 7: Menu Design 133 Main Framework 134 Switching Modes 136 Menu Selection 138 Git 143 Tracking 144 Adding Files 145 Restoring 148 Chapter 8: Battling It Out 150 Card Table 151 Game State 153 Deck Building 159 Playable Cards 163 Battle 166 Visual Effects 168 Resolving Conflict 171 Chapter 9: Balance of Power 175 Git Commit 179 Leveling Up 180 Powerup 183 Powerup Double Draw 191 Font and UI Consistency 192 Garbage Collection 194 Homework 195 Chapter 10: Save Files and Game States 197 Fullscreen 197 Usability 201 Scaling Adjustments 202 Save States 207 User Configuration 209 Game Data 211 Loading a Save File 213 Homework 218 Chapter 11: Sound 219 Finding Audio 219 LMMS 220 Building a Sound Effect 222 Listening to Your Effects 224 Adjusting Export Length 225 Creating Music 226 Sound Code 228 Fixing the Raspberry Pi Sound Settings 229 Homework 232 Chapter 12: Roguelike Dungeon Crawler 233 What’s Roguelike? 233 It Looks Good on Paper 235 Assets 236 Treasure 238 Traps 239 Monsters 241 Hero 243 Bolt 245 Floor Tiles 246 Room 247 Doors 250 Rogue Code 251 Draw Function 258 Keypressed 261 Monster Movement 265 Bolts and Updates 267 Homework 269 Chapter 13: Game Distribution 271 Packaging 271 Versioning 273 Help Message 275 Executable 276 Distribution 277 Online 278 Configuring SSH for Git 282 Pushing to Git 283 Itch.io 285 Lutris 285 Mobile Market 288 Installing LÖVE on Android 288 Limitations of LÖVE on Mobiles 290 Chapter 14: Next Steps 292 How to Practice 292 How to Learn 293 How to Read Technical Documentation 294 Leveraging Open Source 295 Learning Other Languages 296 Homework 297 Appendix A: Drag and Drop 299 Draggable object 300 Code 300 Appendix B: Using Git 303 git add 304 git commit 306 Reverting Changes 307 Restoring with git reset 309 Restoring with git checkout 309 git branch 312 git merge 315 git push 317 Index 318 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 1-18 Scripting with LÖVE (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 19-45 Modular Programming with LÖVE (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 47-71 Analog Programming (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 73-84 Database and Libraries (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 85-98 Graphics (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 99-121 Menu Design (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 123-139 Battling It Out (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 141-165 Balance of Power (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 167-188 Save Files and Game States (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 189-210 Sound (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 211-224 Roguelike Dungeon Crawler (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 225-262 Game Distribution (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 263-283 Next Steps (Seth Kenlon)....Pages 285-291 Back Matter ....Pages 293-319