 | Level: Intermediate Tyler Anderson (tyleranderson5@yahoo.com), Freelance writer, Stexar Corp.
18 Apr 2006 Although most users think of Eclipse as an integrated development environment for building Java™ technology applications, it is really something much more basic. Eclipse is a framework for building plug-ins, allowing you to extend its functionality to solve nearly any problem -- just by leveraging a set of APIs and readily available libraries. In this four-part "Create an Eclipse game plug-in" tutorial series, you will solve a pressing problem most programmers encounter daily: how to break away to play a quick video game without switching applications and making it obvious. You'll develop a simple game that will read the bugs entered on the a view and blast them to bits. The game will run inside Eclipse as a plug-in, that will demonstrate how to write to the Eclipse API, while using the Standard Widget Toolkit, the Open Graphics Library, and the Lightweight Java Games Library. Part 3 games the system up with collision detection between the bugs and BBs, destroying the bugs.
In this tutorial
This tutorial continues where we left off in Part 2 by making the game come to life with the shapes and functionality we've already created. Here, we'll do the following: - Add movement for the BB gun
- Add collision detection for BBs and the bugs, causing hit bugs to blow up and disappear, displaying the text "POW"
Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have the basic knowledge of Java syntax and coding, and about Eclipse plug-in programming, as shown in Part 1 of this series. Graphics programming knowledge is a plus, but not required. Knowledge of OpenGL is not required.
System requirements
The following tools are needed to follow along:
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Eclipse
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Eclipse is the framework for creating the plug-in created in Part 1. Now we'll continue leveraging Eclipse in building the gaming plug-in. Download Eclipse SDK 3.2 M3 or later.
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Eclipse SWT
- SWT is the Eclipse widgets package for window making, donated to Eclipse by IBM. Download SWT 3.2 M3 or later.
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Eclipse OpenGL
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You need the OpenGL libraries for creating shapes and more. Download the experimental org.eclipse.opengl binding, version 0.5 for SWT 3.2 for your system.
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Eclipse example plug-in using OpenGL
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Download the Example plug-in with a view that uses OpenGL. You'll use the source code in this plug-in as a framework for building your own custom OpenGL scene.
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Java technology
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Eclipse and all its plug-ins need Java technology. Download Java from Sun or IBM.
This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of Java language syntax and coding and about Eclipse plug-in programming, as shown in Part 1. Graphics programming knowledge is a plus, but is not required. Neither is knowledge of OpenGL.
Formats html, pdf
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