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I've searched online for help and tutorials on LibGDX but I couldn't really find any, except and the wiki for asking questions on stackexchange. Besides the source (demos) and wiki, is there any other tutorials online that's hidden or indirect?

From what I read, there isn't much documentation for LibGDX, so there's only two options I see

  • Give up move to a different framework.
  • Ask people a lot of questions.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ This is not classic tutorial it is demo game with source code written in libgdx 0.96+ using scene2d and actors, and also including box2d: minimaldevelop.com/blog/libgdx-scene2d-game-example-code \$\endgroup\$
    – zarej
    Commented Dec 5, 2012 at 9:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ I voted to close this because it's essentially asked for a "list of X" which isn't really well-suited to a single definitive answer on an SE site. Possibly making the question a community wiki might be appropriate. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Commented Dec 10, 2012 at 16:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ The have their own site now. A bunch of tutorials and links can be found at - libgdx.badlogicgames.com/documentation.html \$\endgroup\$
    – Makubex
    Commented May 11, 2013 at 12:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm the author of the book "Learning Libgdx Game Development". Hope you don't mind if I put a link here for more information: gamerald.com/learning-libgdx Hint: There's also a post on Gamerald's blog on how to get a free copy of the book! :-) gamerald.com/… Regards, Andreas \$\endgroup\$
    – AndreasO
    Commented Oct 28, 2013 at 22:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ There are some great video tutorials on youtube, for example: youtube.com/… \$\endgroup\$
    – Vincas Stonys
    Commented Nov 22, 2013 at 14:31

2 Answers 2

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Welcome to open source! As most developers will tell you: "What documentation?". Documenting code is probably the least fun developers have when creating a project. So what do you think is often severely lacking when the developer isn't even getting paid for their creation? Documentation of course! (Even fully paid programmers will often leave out the documentation).

I mentioned to you before that open source isn't "supposed" to be easy. This is one of the reasons. However, the nice thing about open source is that it's open, so you can find out what the code is doing on your own. However this is often a lot of work.

That being said, I took a look at the demos provided in the libgdx source, and the wiki. Libgdx is pretty well documented, considering it's open source. I don't think your issue is with documentation. I think you may be trying to bite off more than you can chew. From your previous questions, I understand that you're pretty new to programming in general and brand new to the Android platform. Programming on the Android platform isn't the easiest place to start, and programming games on the Android is even further from the mark.

I really think you should try some 2D game programming for the PC, there are plenty of tutorials for getting started in 2D Java game programming on the PC. Once you're more comfortable with programming in general, I think you'll find that the resources available to you for libgdx are more than sufficient.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Good comments but libgdx is best known for having a LWJGL and JOGL backend which makes testing for android much nicer than the emulator. I have done a few games in libgdx and it's a really nice library for android/pc games. @OP : Mario and other knowledgeable people answer the forums often, are usually on IRC and will also reply on twitter. The project examples are very helpful but like any platform you use, you have to plug through the learning curve and it will get easier. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chuck D
    Commented Mar 26, 2012 at 23:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ I agree with your sentiments, but it is worthwhile noting that libgdx does make it pretty easy to get started with desktop games too (although it is not designed for that per-se). If you follow the tutorial video on the google code page, that will help you get past all of the boilerplate stuff (kind of like how many university students first learn to code in Java by trusting that the starting point is "public static void main(String[] args)" - just because the teacher says so. Later on you can go learn why everything is like it is. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peter Serwylo
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 4:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ Its just that LibGDX doesn't explain in detail. \$\endgroup\$
    – Blue
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 8:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ That's kind of what I'm saying. If you were more experienced, you wouldn't need it to explain in detail. \$\endgroup\$
    – House
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 19:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ I absolutely disagree with the main point of this answer. 'open source isn't "supposed" to be easy'? Why not? I often find that documentation is the most important factor when choosing an open source library/framework. I do agree that the OP may just be inexperienced, as at least the basics of LibGDX are well documented. But either way, this didn't answer the question. \$\endgroup\$
    – twiz
    Commented Jul 23, 2014 at 14:43
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I agree with @Byte56 that you may be better off with something a bit simpler than Android game development, however for completeness (if other people would like to know where to look):

http://steigert.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/1-libgdx-tutorial-introduction.html

Steps through several different aspects of development with libgdx, from setting up your project, to drawing, to GUI's, file handling, etc.

http://www.badlogicgames.com/wordpress/

This is the blog from the developers, and each time a new feature is introduced, there is always a very well written, comprehensive discussion of how it works and why it is there in the first place.

http://code.google.com/p/libgdx/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk%2Fdemos

As has been mentioned, there are several demo's you can study to see how different things are achieved (e.g. how do you integrate Box2D physics engine into your game? or how do you animate sprites?)

http://code.google.com/p/libgdx/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk%2Ftests%2Fgdx-tests%2Fsrc%2Fcom%2Fbadlogic%2Fgdx%2Ftests

In addition to the game demo's which are shown above, I find it easier to look at the tests if there is a specific feature of libgdx I want to investigate. There is good coverage of most of the different features (e.g. sprite handling, physics, file handling, etc).

And finally, the usuals: http://www.google.com, http://gamedev.stackexchange.com if you have very specific things you want to find out.

I'm sure there are several other good tutorials out there, but these are the ones I stumbled across and found helpful for my recent foray into libgdx.

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