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{{Short description|Game-development Java framework}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}{{Primary sources|date=December 2015}}{{lowercasetitle}}

factoids

, Android (operating system), {{nowrap>BlackBerry OS}}, iOS, {{nowrap|Java Applet}}, JavaScript/WebGL| platform = Java platform| license = Apache License 2.0| website =weblink}}libGDX is a free and open-sourceWEB,weblink Official website, libgdx.badlogicgames.com, 2 January 2016, 27 May 2011,weblink dead, game-development application frameworkWEB, Goals and Features,weblink libgdx.badlogicgames.com, 16 December 2015, 6 June 2012,weblink dead, written in the Java programming language with some C and C++ components for performance dependent code.WEB,weblink mobilegameengines.com/game_engines/32-libgdx, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150118010130weblink">weblink 18 January 2015, It allows for the development of desktop and mobile games by using the same code base.WEB,weblink Home - libGDX, libgdx.com, It is cross-platform, supporting Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry and web browsers with WebGL support.WEB,weblink libgdx/README.md at master, GitHub, github.com,

History

In the middle of 2009 Mario Zechner, the creator of libGDX, wanted to write Android games and started developing a framework called AFX (Android Effects) for this. When he found that deploying the changes from Desktop to Android device was cumbersome, he modified AFX to work on the Desktop as well, making it easier to test programs. This was the first step toward the game framework later known as libGDX.WEB,weblink libGDX 1.0 released, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 20 April 2014, 31 December 2015, 13 February 2021,weblink dead, In March 2010 Zechner decided to open-source AFX, hosting it on Google Code under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). However, at the time he stated that "It's not the intention of the framework to be used for creating desktop games anyway", intending the framework to primarily target Android. In April, it got its first contributor.WEB,weblink The Future..., badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 6 March 2010, 31 December 2015, When Zechner created a Box2D JNI wrapper, this attracted more users and contributors because physics games were popular at the time.{{better source|reason=Were physics games really popular at the time? Better source needed.|date=December 2015}} Many of the issues with Android were resolved because of this.Because many users suggested switching to a different license due to LGPL not being suitable for Android, libGDX changed its license to the Apache License 2.0 in July 2010, making it possible to use the framework in closed-source commercial games.WEB,weblink libgdx changes its license, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 13 July 2010, 31 December 2015, The same month its phpBB forum was launched.WEB,weblink Forums!, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 10 July 2010, 3 January 2016, Due to issues with Java Sound the audio desktop implementation switched to OpenAL in January 2011.WEB,weblink OpenAL & Natives Loading in Libgdx, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 21 January 2011, 3 January 2016, Development of a small image manipulation library called Gdx2D was finished as well, which depends on the open source STB library.WEB,weblink Gdx2D and Super Jumper, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 26 January 2011, 3 January 2016, The rest of 2011 was spent adding a UI libraryWEB,weblink UI Fun on Android with libgdx, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 25 June 2011, 3 January 2016, and working on the basics of a 3D API.At the start of 2012 Zechner created a small helper library called gdx-jnigen for easing the development of JNI bindings.WEB,weblink gdx-jnigen: a stupid idea that might just work, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 3 January 2012, 3 January 2016, This made it possible for the gdx-audioWEB,weblink gdx-audio, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 8 January 2012, 3 January 2016, and gdx-freetypeWEB,weblink Create BitmapsFonts on the fly with gdx-freetype, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 6 March 2012, 3 January 2016, extensions to be developed over the following months.Inspired by Google's PlayN cross-platform game development framework that used Google Web Toolkit (GWT) to compile Java to JavaScript code, Zechner wrote an HTML/JavaScript backend over the course of several weeks, which allowed libGDX applications to be run in any browser with WebGL support. After Google abandoned PlayN, it was maintained by Michael Bayne, who added iOS support to it. libGDX used parts of this work for its own MonoTouch-based backend.WEB,weblink Libgdx on iOS, days 1–2, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 8 June 2012, 3 January 2016, WEB,weblink Libgdx on iOS, day 5, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 13 June 2012, 3 January 2016, In August 2012 the project switched its version control system from Subversion to Git, moving from Google Code to GitHub. However, the issue tracker and wiki remained on Google Code for another year. The main build system was also changed to Maven, making it easier for developers with different IDEs to work together.WEB,weblink Git & Maven, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 8 August 2012, 4 January 2016, WEB,weblink Libgdx is now on Github (sorta), badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 10 August 2012, 4 January 2016, Because of issues with the MonoTouch iOS backend Niklas Thernig wrote a RoboVM backend for libGDX in March 2013, which was integrated into the project in September.WEB,weblink Early stage RoboVM libgdx backend, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 9 March 2013, 6 January 2016, WEB,weblink RoboVM backend in libgdx nightlies and first performance figures!, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 10 September 2013, 6 January 2016, From March to May 2013 a new 3D API was developed as well and integrated into the library.WEB,weblink Brace yourselfs, new 3D API incoming, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 28 March 2013, 6 January 2016, WEB,weblink New 3D API in master, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 20 May 2013, 6 January 2016, In June 2013 the project's website was redone, now featuring a gallery where users can submit their games created with libGDX.WEB,weblink New libgdx site live!, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 29 June 2013, 6 January 2016, {{As of | January 2016}} more than 3000 games have been submitted.WEB,weblink Gallery, libgdx.badlogicgames.com, 6 January 2016, After the source code migration to GitHub the year before, in September 2013 the issue tracker and wiki were also moved there from Google Code.WEB,weblink The great libgdx Issue Tracker & Wiki Github Migration, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 14 September 2013, 6 January 2016, The same month the build and dependency management system was switched from Maven to Gradle.WEB,weblink Welcome your new overlord: Gradle, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 22 September 2013, 6 January 2016, After a cleanup phase in the first months of 2014 libGDX version 1.0 was released on 20 April, more than four years after the start of the project.In 2014 libGDX was one of the annual Duke's Choice Award winners, being chosen for its focus on platform-independence.WEB,weblink 2014 Duke's Choice Award Winners, blogs.oracle.com, Caroline, Kvitkar, 28 September 2014, 30 December 2015, Programmers can use this cross-platform game development framework to write, test, and debug Java games., WEB,weblink libgdx wins Duke's Choice Award, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 29 September 2014, 30 December 2015, }}In April 2016 it was announced that libGDX would switch to Intel's Multi-OS Engine on the iOS backend after the discontinuation of RoboVM.WEB,weblink RoboVM is no more, what now?, Mario, Zechner, 15 April 2016, 15 April 2016, 8 November 2020,weblink dead, WEB,weblink RoboVM Winding Down, Henric, Müller, 15 April 2016, 16 April 2016, 15 April 2016,weblink dead, With the release of libGDX 1.9.3 on 16 May 2016 Multi-OS is provided as an alternative, while by default the library uses its own fork of the open source version of RoboVM.WEB,weblink libGDX 1.9.3 released – New iOS backends, Mario, Zechner, 16 May 2016, 17 May 2016, WEB,weblink MobiDevelop's RoboVM fork, 17 May 2016,

libGDX Jam

From 18 December 2015 to 18 January 2016 a libGDX game jam was organized together with RoboVM, itch.io and Robotality. From initially 180 theme suggestions "Life in space" was chosen as the jam's main theme, and 83 games were created over the course of the competition.WEB,weblink libGDX Jam is on! – Theme Voting Round #1, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 22 November 2015, 13 February 2016, WEB,weblink libGDX Jam – And the winner is…, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 6 February 2016, 13 February 2016,

Release versions {| class"wikitable"

! Version! Release dateo|1.0}}| 20 April 2014o|1.1}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.2}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.3}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.4}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.5}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.6}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.7}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.8}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.9}} WEBSITE=BADLOGICGAMES.COM LAST=ZECHNER ACCESS-DATE=13 FEBRUARY 2016, o|1.10}} WEBSITE=LIBGDX.COM DATE=18 APRIL 2021, 19 April 2021, o|1.11}} WEBSITE=LIBGDX.COM DATE=11 MAY 2022, 12 May 2022, c|1.12}} WEBSITE=LIBGDX.COM DATE=2 JULY 2023, 24 July 2023, {{Version|t|show=10100}}

Architecture

libGDX allows the developer to write, test, and debug their application on their own desktop PC and use the same code on Android. It abstracts away the differences between a common Windows/Linux application and an Android application. The usual development cycle consists of staying on the desktop PC as much as possible while periodically verifying that the project still works on Android. Its main goal is to provide total compatibility between desktop and mobile devices, the main difference being speed and processing power.

Backends

The library transparently uses platform-specific code through various backends to access the capabilities of the host platform. Most of the time the developer does not have to write platform-specific code, except for starter classes (also called launchers) that require different setup depending on the backend.WEB,weblink Starter classes & configuration - libGDX, libgdx.com, 18 January 2022,

• On the desktop the Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) is used. There is also an experimental JGLFW backend that is not being continued anymore.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}{{when|date=January 2016}} In Version 1.8 a new {{nowrap|LWJGL 3}} backend was introduced, intended to replace the older {{nowrap|LWJGL 2}} backend.WEB,weblink libGDX 1.8.0, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 5 January 2016, 11 January 2016,
• The HTML5 backend uses the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) for compiling the Java to JavaScript code, which is then run in a normal browser environment. libGDX provides several implementations of standard APIs that are not directly supported there, most notably reflection.WEB,weblink Libgdx goes HTML5, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 12 March 2012, 17 May 2016, WEB,weblink Reflection in libgdx's GWT backend, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 19 January 2013, 17 May 2016, WEB,weblink Reflection API with GWT support!, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 17 June 2013, 17 May 2016,
• The Android backend runs Java code compiled for Android with the Android SDK.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
• For iOS a custom fork of RoboVM is used to compile Java to native iOS instructions. Intel's Multi-OS Engine has been provided as an alternative since the discontinuation of RoboVM.

Other JVM languages

While libGDX is written primarily in Java, the compiled bytecode is language-independent, allowing many other JVM languages to directly use the library. The documentation specifically states the interoperability with Ceylon, Clojure, Kotlin, Jython, JRuby and Scala.WEB,weblink Using libgdx with other jvm languages, libgdx.com, 18 January 2022,

Extensions

Several official and third-party extensions exist that add additional functionality to the library.

gdxAI

An artificial intelligence (AI) framework that was split from the main library with version 1.4.1 in October 2014 and moved into its own repository. While it was initially made for libGDX, it can be used with other frameworks as well. The project focuses on AI useful for games, among them pathfinding, decision making and movement.WEB,weblink gdx-ai/README.md, GitHub, github.com, 12 October 2015, 16 January 2016, WEB,weblink Artificial Intelligence, libgdx.com, 18 January 2022,

gdx freetype

Can be used to render FreeType fonts at run time instead of using static bitmap images, which do not scale as well.WEB,weblink Gdx freetype, libgdx.com, 18 January 2022,

Box2D

A wrapper for the Box2D physics library was introduced in 2010 and moved to an extension with the 1.0 release.WEB,weblink Box2d, libgdx.com, 18 January 2022,

packr

A helper tool that bundles a custom JRE with the application so end users do not have to have their own one installed.WEB,weblink libgdx/packr: Packages your JAR, assets and a JVM for distribution on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, GitHub, github.com, 6 February 2016, WEB,weblink Packr – pack your libGDX app for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, badlogicgames.com, Mario, Zechner, 4 May 2014, 6 February 2016, 27 April 2020,weblink dead,

Notable games

• (Drag Racing: Streets)
• Ingress (before it was relaunched as Ingress Prime)
• Slay the SpireWEB,weblink Road to the IGF: Mega Crit Games' Slay the Spire, Couture, Joel, www.gamasutra.com, 22 January 2020, en, 2020-01-22,
• Delver
• HOPLITE
• Deep Town
• Mindustry
• Sandship
• Unciv
• Mindustry
• Space Haven
• Pathway
• Halfway
• Riiablo
• Mirage Realms
• Raindancer
• PokeMMO
• Zombie Age 3
• Epic Heroes War
• Shattered Pixel Dungeon
• Hair Dash
• Antiyoy
• WildermythWEB,weblink Patch notes - Wildermyth Wiki, wildermyth.com, en, 2022-08-23,
• Line-Of-Five
• Labyrinthian

See also

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

External links

• {{Official website}}

{{Video game engines}}{{Java desktop}}