Exploring the PlayN APIs
In this post, I'll be covering an abbreviated view of the PlayN APIs. Generally, if you want to deploy an application to multiple platforms, you have to handle each platform individually or use a compromise solution like Apache Cordova (née PhoneGap). In many cases, you end with a solution that supports many platforms but looks a bit off as you are playing to a lowest common denominator.
PlayN uses a more robust Service Provider Interface approach by abstracting functionality in its core layer enhanced by platform specific implementations. The PlayN class provides accessors for assets, audio, graphics, interactions (pointers, mouse, and keyboard), networking, storage, and more.
The specific platforms, for example JavaPlatform and HtmlPlatform amongst others, after being registered with the function setPlatform(Platform platform)) provide the implementation details to execute the core code you write for your application.
playn.core.Game
The Game interface is your main entry point into your game. If you are lucky, most of your code will live here. A class implementing Game requires the following functions.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| void init() | Called on initialization and used for general app setup |
| void paint(float alpha) | Called each time game updates display, no logic should be here |
| void update(float delta) | Game logic should be here |
| int updateRate() | Frame update rate |
In the next post, we'll explore how to put this knowledge to work in a small game.