Cocos2d-X is a suite of open-source, cross-platform, game-development tools used by thousands of developers all over the world. It was branched out from the Cocos2d project in November 2010.
It is a widely adopted framework among mobile developers and it is fair to say that an attempt to make a book about how to use it for Android development is a natural step.
I must admit that after a weak foreword I was a bit skeptical about the quality of its content; after going through every chapter I changed my mind. The book is a good reference resource and if you are happen to be starting out, as a game developer trying to make your way at Google’s Playstore this might be a good place to start.
The author makes an effort on breaking down the massive engine and it's most common features into digestible bits for anyone, from novice to experts. It makes a pretty good job in going from installing a development environment from scratch to a working tech demo at the end of each chapter.
Personally, I liked the way the author went into detail on describing how things work under the hood. However, I would have loved to see more depth into actual physics examples and a separated chapter that went into different collision detection strategies instead of cramping those up together.
Conclusion
Building Android Games with Cocos2d-x is a great introductory book for game developers who are looking to start on game development for Android mobile devices. It is also a great starting point for people who are looking into game development as a casual endeavor.
I encourage you to go and grab a copy right now!
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