SFML Game Development

If you've got a firm grasp of C++ with a secret hankering to create a great game, this book is for you. Every practical aspect of programming an interactive game world is here - the only real limit is your imagination.

Overview

• Develop a complete game throughout the book
• Learn how to use modern C++ styles to create a fully optimized game and support for all major operating systems
• Fully network your game for awesome multiplayer action
• Step-by-step guide to developing your game using C++ and SFML

In Detail

Game development comprises the combination of many different aspects such as game logics, graphics, audio, user input, physics and much more. SFML is an Open Source C++ library designed to make game development more accessible, exposing multimedia components to the user through a simple, yet powerful interface.

If you are a C++ programmer with a stack of ideas in your head and seeking a platform for implementation, your search ends here.

Starting with nothing more than a blank screen, SFML Game Development will provide you with all the guidance you need to create your first fully featured 2D game using SFML 2.0. By the end, you'll have learned the basic principles of game development, including advanced topics such as how to network your game, how to utilize particle systems and much more.

SFML Game Development starts with an overview of windows, graphics, and user inputs. After this brief introduction, you will start to get to grips with SFML by building up a world of different game objects, and implementing more and more gameplay features. Eventually, you’ll be handling advanced visual effects, audio effects and network programming like an old pro. New concepts are discussed, while the code steadily develops.

SFML Game Development will get you started with animations, particle effects and shaders. As well as these fundamental game aspects, we’re also covering network programming to the extent where you’ll be able to support the game running from two different machines. The most important part, the gameplay implementation with enemies and missiles, will make up the core of our top-scrolling airplane shoot' em-up game!.

You will learn everything you need in SFML Game Development in order to start with game development and come closer to creating your own game.

What you will learn from this book

• Learn the basics of SFML and render an airplane to the screen.
• Create a game world to play in using entities and handle input from the player
• Make your game richer with support menus, settings, and other states
• Implement the foundation for a GUI library
• Populate the world with enemies and let them interact
• Load resources like textures from the hard drive and learn about resource management
• Animate the game object, build a particle system and look behind the scenes of rendering
• Add music and sound effects to your game to create an immersive gaming experience
• Implement multiplayer over a network to indulge in gameplay over the Internet

Approach

SFML Game Development is a fast-paced, step-by-step guide, providing you with all the knowledge and tools you need to create your first game using SFML 2.0

Jan Haller

Jan Haller is a Master’s student in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. In his free time, he occasionally develops games in C++. He is also interested in the creation of graphics and 3D models.

In 2008, Jan stumbled upon SFML. Since then, he has used the library for a lot of his work. One of his bigger projects was a 2D jump’n’run game, where the character has to find its way through different levels, defeating enemies and collecting various items. During the years, Jan has actively participated in the SFML community, getting a lot of insights into the development of SFML 2. He has also written a C++ library called Thor, which extends SFML with ready-to-use features like particle systems or animations.