Chapter 7

OpenGL ES: A Gentle Introduction

Mr. Nom was a great success. Due to its solid initial design and game framework, implementing Mr. Nom was a breeze for us. Best of all, the game runs smoothly even on low-end devices. Of course, Mr. Nom is not a very complex or graphically intense game, so using the Canvas API for rendering proved to be a good idea.

However, when you want to do something more complex—say, something like Replica Island—you will hit a wall: Canvas just can't keep up with the visual complexity of such a game. And if you want to go fancy-pants 3D, Canvas won't help you either. So . . . what can you do?

This is where OpenGL ES comes to the rescue. In this chapter, first we'll look briefly at what OpenGL ES actually is and does. We'll then focus on using OpenGL ES for 2D graphics without having to dive into the more mathematically complex realms of using the API for 3D graphics (we'll get to that in a later chapter). We'll take baby steps at first, as OpenGL ES can get quite complicated. Are you ready to get introduced to OpenGL ES?