My book will teach you everything about Android game programming with AndEngine. It describes the publishing as well. If you have bought the book and want to get some free promotion, here's a deal.

1) Take a picture with you, the book (Kindle is fine, just pick a page with some screenshots I can recognize) and your game, and post it anywhere in social media.

2) Review the book on a website, where did you buy it, or Amazon if you have bought it on Packt website.

3) Send me the link to your photo, link to the review, link to Google Play and a small 125x125px button-banner with your advertisement. Use my email android@kul.is.

I will put the ad to the right panel with the link to your game and if there will be more games, I will write an article about submitted entries.

Right now it's a perfect time to publish a game. Christmas is coming and with millions of new Android phones to be sold to new gamers, perfect chance to get your game out there.

I have written this tutorial style book for AndEngine beginners and it was published last month. Packt has given me 6 copies for a giveaway contest. The contest ended on 12th October.

All you have to do is fill in your email in the contest form. You can also post about entering the contest on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or your website. In the post, tell me why do you want this book and include this link: http://bit.ly/1udi1vz. It leads to the book page on Packt website. Don't forget to change the visibility of the post to public so I can actually see it.

Please go to the form and submit all required information. The contest will run from 4th October until the end of 12th October. Good luck! Any questions? Just use the comments below!

My book about AndEngine has finally been published. If you are interested in getting a copy, you can get one at Packt website or Amazon. The book is really basic. It teaches everything from downloading AndEngine to publishing the game. It covers most of the basic aspects of AndEngine and it does that by slowly developing a doodle-jump style game. The game is available in Google Play store.

While reading the book, you will learn a bit about game design, how to design entities and also which software development pattern to use to make the code more readable. Moving sprites, getting input from user, using physics and playing sounds and music; this all is described as well.

I have finished the last chapter of my book and half of the chapters are finalized by the publisher. Right now the technical editor is making sure the book looks good and checks for the last mistakes that has been left in the remaining chapters.

It's been a great journey and I am looking forward to holding the book in my hands. According to the contract, I can use a little piece of the material in the book here on this website, so I am going to take a piece of code and post a short tutorial. If you are interested in seeing the piece, let me know! (comments, facebook, twitter, g+).

You can get a free copy of the ebook! See the next article for more information.

When I was in the middle of writing a step by step tutorial to making games for Android in AndEngine, I was approached by Packt Publishing representative with an offer to write a book.

After an initial exchange of ideas about what the new AndEngine book should be about, we agreed on creating a really basic book that would require only a basic knowledge of Java and guide the readers through all steps starting from installing the required software all the way to publishing a game. This book is called Learning AndEngine and it has been published in September 2014.

My book was the reason why I stopped writing the long tutorial for this website. The game I was trying to make here was a bit too difficult and I was actually glad I can start again. Since I learned from my mistake I believe the example game in the book is very easy to understand and will be a great starting point for people who want to use AndEngine to make games. The writing style is similar to my tutorials, but it's more detailed.


If you have any questions about the book, you can contact me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Unity's popularity is still rising. The active development, new features, the fact it's multiplatform and recently even the increased effort to fix all the bugs and tie the loose ends, this all makes Unity the number one choice for many developers. And the new 2D tools included in the standard package help to bring even more developers who used to work with 2D only engines to Unity. And just in time, Packt released a new book about making 100% 2D games in Unity.

The new book is thinner than other books from Packt on engines and it is also a bit cheaper. It reads well, but it feels too short and it doesn't explain much of the code.

The author used a different narrative than most other technical books. It will certainly appeal to those who prefer a more friendly and less technical approach, but unless you can read the code well, you might not understand everything.

The book is full of illustrations and code examples and at the end of the book, the readers will end up with an almost finished game ready to be shipped. The code examples in the book and the code attached is C# only, but the code is simple and it was easy to understand for me.

Summary

The new book about Unity 2D from Packt is easy to read quick guide that will teach you to create a simple and functional 2D game. It is written in a friendly and approachable style but it somewhat lacks important explanations. It's keenly priced right now, so it might be worth the buck. It's available on Packt website and also Amazon as always.

Free e-book giveaway

Thanks to the kind people in Packt I have three copies of the e-book to giveaway (with source codes). Submit your name and email here if you want to enter the contest.

Three lucky winners will be picked randomly on 19th June and Packt representative will send them access to the Packt library. Visit Packt website for more information about the book.

I got my hands on a copy of this new book about 2D games development in Unity called simply Unity 2D Game Development. Since Unity is now much friendlier to 2D game devs even with just the basic package, I decided to make a game in it too and this book might be just what I need. A review is coming soon, maybe this week.

In the meantime, I decided to open the giveaway contest already. Thanks to the kind people in Packt I have three copies of the e-book to giveaway (with source codes). Submit your name and email here if you want to enter the contest.

Three lucky winners will be picked randomly on 19th June and Packt representative will send them access to the Packt library. Visit Packt website for more information about the book.

Unity is probably the most popular game engine for mobiles right now. There are a lot of books and online tutorials on this topic, so what does this one offer? Unity Android Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide will give you exactly what the title promises - beginner's guide. And it does it well.

This book should be the first one you read before you start developing games for mobiles. It will tell you all the general information about mobile games starting from the platforms available, how to assemble a team followed by description of each part of modern games such as graphics, music, sounds, user interface and it ends with the most important part - how to design games to be fun.

The book will also tell you how to monetize your mobile game and it describes different business models. It has as a basic the introduction to mobile market and gamers demographics.

A lot has changed since I started this website in May 2013. From a humble blog it grew into a website with hundreds of readers daily. Kulíš Android now features blog entries, game reviews, Android game development tutorials and other resources for indie devs. I also created a Facebook page and Twitter account. Since Google+ was kind of forced on us (users in general), the blog has been partly migrated there as well.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support in 2013. Here is what you can expect in the year 2014.

Book reviews and giveaways

If I get my hands on any Android books that could help the game devs, I am going to review them. I  have also made a deal with Packt Publishing and you will see more of the e-book giveaways during this year (one is in progress right now). Packt published a range od Android books, including but not limited to these:

• Unity Android Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
• Learning Android Canvas
• Voice Application Development for Android
• Mobile Game Design Essentials
• Practical Game Design with Unity and Playmaker