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Game Development

Welcome To Game Dev

All Android Libgdx Game Dev Tutorials Are Posted On Our Blog

added October, 2023~latest March 2026

Game Dev For Smartphones

Mobile game development(gamedev) is undoubtebly the most popular segment of Android app programming, and if you browse any of the app stores, you will find that game apps take top ranking at most. People love gaming, either on their smartphones and tablets, or the decades old games built for desktop computers. According to Statista.com, mobile gamers are expected to surpass 2.2 billion users within the next 4 years. Online game users and downloaded game users are expected to reach 1.2 billion within the same timeframe.

According to Straits Research website, the mobile gaming market is expected to top $330 billion(usd) in revenue, with a CAGR of 12.3%, by the year 2030. Eighty billion of that is projected market share for North America.

The Success of Mobile Gaming

The popularity of the mobile gaming market is attributed to increasing access to broadband connections, moreso in the developing countries, and smartphone ownership; 2+ billion people now own cell phones worldwide. Additionally, mobile games are being made better, resulting in quality graphics with game features and levels that entice and engage repeat players.
In fact, mobile gaming is so popular, it has surpassed the computer and console gaming market as the most used form of gaming worldwide. With a smartphone, mobile gaming can be accessed during leisure time and downtime, so consequently, more time is being spent playing mobile app games on the go.

GameDev Platform: Game Engine, Framework, GUI Toolkit

To begin your Game App development, you must first decide on the platform you want to build it for - Android or iOS. Keep in mind that although you choose, for example: a mobile platform like Android, you can still launch it to other popular platforms like Windows. Because most all engines support cross platform deployment, it is common to deploy to more than one. However, based on market statistics, a game for mobile is most popular, while also deploying for Windows(desktop/laptop). This gives a developer the best audience overall.

After you decide on your platform, you must choose your Game Engine, Framework, or GUI Toolkit. It is commonly called the 'Game Engine", because it is the core base from which the game is built. In practice, it can also be a Framework or GUI Toolkit as mentioned.

There are a sleuth of game engines available to use for game dev, and many of them offer a free version. The one you choose is a personal choice; usually for ease of use, level of coding knowledge required, and how much coding you have to do versus how much is done for you.
While some engines require less coding, with others, you will code some or most of your game yourself. There are also game engines also offer a simple drag and drop feature to build your game project.

Cross Platform Compatibility

As mentioned, almost all game engines are cross platform compatible. That means they can be developed with one engine, but still used on many others, with little or no tweaks to the code. Common platforms for cross compatibility include; Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Html, Tizen, XBox, PS4, Playstation.

Engine Tasks

The game engine will handle tasks like input, playing animations, rendering(graphics,text), collision detection(graphics,sprites), game physics(calculating physics, motion,moving items around the screen), and compiling code. Developers can spend their time with game logic and aesthetics, while the engine handles all else. Most games engines build a 2d game, while others can build a 2d or a 3d game. Which one you choose depends on how complex a game you want to create. 2D games are usually simplest to develop, while 3D are more complex.

Selecting An Engine - Game Style

You can also select your game engine based on what genre and style of game you want to build. These following engines are listed with the style of game they can develop and their particular features, including if they have a free version.

~Type of Game~ ~Features~ ~Engine Name~ ~Free or Paid~

2D 3D game dev, open source, user Friendly: Godot - Free version,

3D game dev: Unity and Unreal Engine - Free version,

2D iOS game dev, user friendly, iOS Apple store, Popular iOS Engine: SpriteKit- Free version,

Android game dev: Unity - Free for personal use,

For newbies to game dev: Buildbox and Unity - Free version,

Good for newbies - no coding: Buildbox and Gamemaker - Free version,

Casual game dev, cross platform: Buildbox and Unity

Puzzles and racing games, cross platform: Construct 3 - Free and Paid version,

2D game dev,open source, for xbox, nintendo, cross platform: MonoGame, Microsoft's - x, Free version,

2D game dev, user friendly, cross platform: Game Maker Studio2 - Free and Paid verion,

2D game dev, user friendly, cross platform: AppGameKit - Paid version,

2D 3D game dev, drag n drop, no coding req, user friendly, crossplatform: Buildbox - Free and Paid versions,

2D 3D game dev, experienced devs, cross platform: COCOS2D, Free version,

2D game dev, no coding knowledge required, point and click, cross platform: Gamemaker - Free and paid version,

2D 3D, userFriendly, xbox, ps4, Tizen, large Assets Store, Most Popular Engine,cross platform: Unity - Free and Paid version,

2D 3D, Java game engine, very customizable, Popular Open Source Engine, cross platform: LibGDX, Free

2D, GUI Toolkit to build your own mini engine, user friendly, very customizable, built into Python, coding required, Popular for Small Games with light performance: Python Tkinter GUI Toolkit, cross platform - Windows, and Android(with Pydroid3 app) Can code in Python app in Windows, and in Pydroid3 on Android. Free

In Summary

Mobile game apps and users continue to surge in popularity. Game engines for mobile game app development are used by millions of programmers around the world. Many developers are now targeting mobile game apps exclusively for the huge market potential for downloads and of course, ROI(money). You can develop your own mobile app game with little or no app dev experience by using one of the free engine versions that offer drag n drop game making functionality, or you can learn to code a game yourself and build your own mini game engine.

With social media, you can post your game for others to try and comment on. Just post your packaged game info: mygame.apk, mygame.exe, or with url - mywebsite.com/mygame.exe, mywebsite.com/mygame.apk. With this you get feedback and exposure, without having to distribute to larger markets like Google Play, that might not get you results quickly.

Coding With Android

If your new to app development, and game app development, and want to learn how to make your first Android mobile non-game app, browse our Tutorials If you prefer to learn Android game development firstly, you can start with our article Mobile Game Development for Android, with Libgdx; and then continue with our game dev tutorials, all accessible from our Blog.

Whether learning game or non game Android development, the coding language is the same: Java/XML. However, the coding process for each is distinct, and actually, somewhat easier to learn Android mobile game dev than it is to learn non game dev with Android.
Because both non-game and game apps use the Java programming language(our tutorials), either can be learned by using the AIDE mobile coding editor(free version), or you can learn with Android Studio for desktop/laptop. With Android Studio, just use our code examples to practice coding with Android Studio and select Java/xml language as your code language. To develop game apps for Android at Android Studio, you must add the Libgdx interface. More on this in the next section.

Coding With Python Tkinter

If you prefer to learn game dev with Python Tkinter development, you can follow our tutorials here