Android Game Programming For Dummies

Chapter 8

Creating a Complex Title Screen

In This Chapter

Starting Whack-a-Mole

Implementing a title screen with SurfaceView

Adding options menus to your games

Enabling and disabling sound

This chapter sets you on your way toward making an arcade-style game with animations and sounds: a mobile-game version of the classic carnival game Whack-a-Mole. In case you’ve never heard of the game or played it yourself, it typically has a play area littered with a series of holes. When the game starts, a pesky mole pops up from one or more of the holes. The player’s task is to whack the mole on the head as fast as possible, using a hand or a striking object, such as a mallet. The game ends after a set time limit expires or when the player doesn’t whack the moles fast enough.

In your digital version, the play screen displays a field of seven holes, with moles popping up at random locations. You start slowly and then increase the rate at which the moles appear. Figure 8-1 shows a mock-up of the play screen.

When a mole pops up from a hole, the player’s score is rendered in the lower left corner; ...