AWS Documentation » Amazon Lumberyard » User Guide » Creating Android and iOS Games » Android Support » Building Game Assets for Android Games

Building Game Assets for Android Games

When you build an Android game using Lumberyard, you must first build the assets that are included with the game. All built assets are located in the cache directory of your Lumberyard installation. For example, when you build the Samples Project, the assets are saved to the lumberyard_version\dev\cache\SamplesProject\es3 directory. The initial build of the Samples Project assets may take up to an hour to process, but incremental changes should process almost instantly.

To build Android game assets on your PC

1. Close all instances of Lumberyard Editor and the Asset Processor.

2. Edit the bootstrap.cfg file (located in the lumberyard_version\dev directory) to set sys_game_folder to SamplesProject (or the project you want to build). Save the file.

3. Edit the AssetProcessorPlatformConfig.ini file (located in the lumberyard_version\dev directory) to uncomment es3=enabled. Save the file.

   Note

   If the Asset Processor was running when you edited the AssetProcessorPlatformConfig.ini file, you must restart the Asset Processor.

4. Open Lumberyard Editor, which automatically launches the Asset Processor to process and build your game assets as you make changes to your game levels in Lumberyard Editor.

   Note

   You can also launch the Asset Processor (GUI or batch version) from the lumberyard_version\dev\Bin64 directory.

Using Assets in Your Game

You can use assets in your game by copying them to your device manually or by packing them into an .apk file. We recommend copying the assets to your device manually for a faster build time during development.

Manually Copying Assets

As part of the build process, Lumberyard can automatically copy assets built by the Asset Processor to your device, or you can manually copy assets from a command line window using Android Debug Bridge (ADB). Game assets should be copied to the /storage/sdcard0/Your_Game_Name directory.

For example, to manually copy the Samples Project assets, enter the following in a command line window:

adb push cache/SamplesProject/es3 /storage/sdcard0/SamplesProject

Building Assets into an .Apk File

To build an .apk file that includes all of your assets, edit the project.json file for your game project and set place_assets_in_apk to 1. This method requires a longer build time than manually copying your assets.

For example, to build an .apk file for the Samples Project assets, edit the project.json file (located in the lumberyard_version\dev\SamplesProject directory) to set place_assets_in_apk to 1:

    "android_settings": {
        "package_name"  : "com.lumberyard.samples",
        "version_number": 1,
        "version_name"  : "1.0.0.0",
        "orientation"   : "landscape",
        "place_assets_in_apk" : 1
    },

When you generate a build, your computer creates an .apk file that includes an executable and game data. Be sure to run the shader compiler when you run your game for the first time.

Note

If you receive an error indicating the lumberyard_version\dev\Solutions\android\SamplesProject\assets directory does not exist, you can try running the command from a command line window with Administrator privileges.

Sharing Game Assets Between PCs and Macs

After you build the assets to include with your Android game, you can share the cache folder between your PC and Mac. This ensures that changes you make in Lumberyard Editor on your PC are automatically retrieved by macOS.

To set up asset sharing on your PC

1. Navigate to the \dev folder in the directory where you installed Lumberyard.

2. Right-click the cache folder and click Properties.

3. In the cache Properties dialog box, on the Sharing tab, click Advanced Sharing. You must have administrator privileges.

4. In the Advanced Sharing dialog box, select Share this folder. Click OK.

5. (Optional) Click Permissions to set permissions for specific users. This step is required if you want to modify the shared assets on your Mac.

To view shared assets on your Mac

1. In the Finder, click Go, Connect to Server.

2. For the Server Address, enter smb://IP address or DNS name of PC/Cache

3. Click Connect.

4. (Optional) Configure your system preferences to automatically connect to the shared folder when macOS starts:

   1. Open System Preferences, Users & Groups, Login Items.

   2. In the Login Items dialog box, click + to add a new login.

   3. In the Shared pane, locate and select your PC. In the right pane, select your shared cache folder and click Add.

5. In a Terminal window, navigate to the \dev folder in the directory where you installed Lumberyard.

6. To create a symbolic link to the shared cache folder, run the following command: sudo ln –s /Volumes/Cache Cache

   If prompted, enter the password for your macOS login.