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libGDX on Termux

This is a simple game written in Java using libGDX for Android with the intention to be built from Android using Termux

Features

  • The game is based on the libgdx wiki Drop example.
  • An ExceptionHandler is provided so crashes will write the stacktrace in a file within /sdcard this makes debugging easier when you don't have a computer to access logcat.
  • Game is fullscreen, including an additional value that also covers the notch area on Android 9+ (see res/values-v28)

Getting Started

The first step is to install a few tools we are gonna need

$ pkg install git ecj dx apksigner aapt unzip openjdk-17

Then clone this repository

$ git clone https://github.com/ravener/libgdx-termux
$ cd libgdx-termux

First we need to fetch the gdx libraries, this only needs to be done once:

$ ./fetch.sh

There are a few more tools you can use with libgdx (e.g Box2D) those are optional but you can edit the script and uncomment those lines if you desire those libraries for your project.

Next generate a keystore so we can sign the apk, which is required otherwise Android won't allow us to install the apk.

keytool -genkeypair -validity 365 -keystore game.keystore -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048

Just answer the questions and enter a password and you will be done.

The script assumes the filename to be game.keystore and the password to be android, edit the build.sh script to change as needed.

Now that we have our keystore and all libraries we can proceed to the build:

$ ./build.sh

This will build the apk and also copy it into /sdcard/APKs so you can easily install it from your file manager afterwards.

Bonus Optimization

At first the script compiles the .jar files from ./libs everytime it's invoked, that wastes a lot of time and resources, we can compile them once, store the dex, and when building the main project just combine those cached dex files.

It is possible to optimize this, the script already looks for a special directory called libs/dex/ which can store cached dex files and if it finds it, it will only include everything from there and ignore the raw jar files.

A script has been provided to predex all the jar files for faster compilation, run that once:

$ ./predex.sh

Now you will see huge improvements in the compile time when using build.sh

Updating

When updating the gdx libraries start by deleting the lib folders

$ rm -rf lib/ libs/

Note: If you added your own .jar files, take care to backup them or just manually delete the gdx libraries only.

edit fetch.sh and bump any versions you want and run ./fetch.sh

also run ./predex.sh again for caching the dex files.

The Notch

The notch area or also known as the display cutout is supported by default in this template, the game will be full screen to cover the notch area.

This is meant to give you a starter on how to do it but you may not want it for your game, for example if you are heavily relying on the screen borders, on some phones with rounded edges the corners can hide some parts of what you render.

If you would like to disable it and let android render your screen below the notch area simply remove the res/values-v28/styles.xml file.

The Exception Handler

The template comes with an ExceptionHandler.java which is applied in AndroidLauncher.java it replaces the default uncaught exception handler to redirect the error to a text file within /sdcard this allows you to easily go to your file manager and open the log file to read the crash if you don't have access to a computer to view logcat.

Please note that in order for this to work, storage permissions are required.

Starting from Android 6+ apps must request storage permissions via a dialog which has not been implemented here because it's just an example debugging tool and not really meant to be published in the end. So you will need to go to the app's settings and manually grant the Storage permission to make use of this.

Moving Forward

This project is supposed to act like a starter template to get you running quickly, now it's up to you what you do with it, add more libraries, assets, resources and get creative.

The scripts are fully commented to help you modify it as you see fit.

Feel free to contribute any useful changes to the scripts or the project layout.

TODO

Some additional things I'd like to work on:

  • Desktop support. Create .jar files runnable on desktop too.
  • Ant file. Allow the option for users to use ant if they wish

Related Resources

Credits

Game is based on the example from libGDX wiki and I do not own the assets provided.

Assets credits: