<s>
libGDX	B-Library
is	O
a	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
game-development	O
application	O
framework	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
with	O
some	O
C	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
components	O
for	O
performance	O
dependent	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
cross-platform	O
,	O
supporting	O
Windows	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
Android	B-Application
,	O
iOS	B-Application
,	O
BlackBerry	B-Application
and	O
web	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
with	O
WebGL	B-Library
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
middle	O
of	O
2009	O
Mario	O
Zechner	O
,	O
the	O
creator	O
of	O
libGDX	B-Library
,	O
wanted	O
to	O
write	O
Android	B-Application
games	O
and	O
started	O
developing	O
a	O
framework	O
called	O
AFX	O
(	O
Android	B-Application
Effects	O
)	O
for	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
he	O
found	O
that	O
deploying	O
the	O
changes	O
from	O
Desktop	O
to	O
Android	B-Application
device	O
was	O
cumbersome	O
,	O
he	O
modified	O
AFX	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
the	O
Desktop	O
as	O
well	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
easier	O
to	O
test	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
step	O
toward	O
the	O
game	O
framework	O
later	O
known	O
as	O
libGDX	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2010	O
Zechner	O
decided	O
to	O
open-source	O
AFX	O
,	O
hosting	O
it	O
on	O
Google	B-Protocol
Code	I-Protocol
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Lesser	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
License	I-Application
(	O
LGPL	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
he	O
stated	O
that	O
"	O
It	O
's	O
not	O
the	O
intention	O
of	O
the	O
framework	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
creating	O
desktop	O
games	O
anyway	O
"	O
,	O
intending	O
the	O
framework	O
to	O
primarily	O
target	O
Android	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Zechner	O
created	O
a	O
Box2D	B-Application
JNI	B-Language
wrapper	O
,	O
this	O
attracted	O
more	O
users	O
and	O
contributors	O
because	O
physics	O
games	O
were	O
popular	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
of	O
the	O
issues	O
with	O
Android	B-Application
were	O
resolved	O
because	O
of	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
many	O
users	O
suggested	O
switching	O
to	O
a	O
different	O
license	O
due	O
to	O
LGPL	B-Application
not	O
being	O
suitable	O
for	O
Android	B-Application
,	O
libGDX	B-Library
changed	O
its	O
license	O
to	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
License	I-Application
2.0	I-Application
in	O
July	O
2010	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
framework	O
in	O
closed-source	O
commercial	O
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
month	O
its	O
phpBB	B-Application
forum	O
was	O
launched	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
issues	O
with	O
Java	B-Language
Sound	O
the	O
audio	O
desktop	O
implementation	O
switched	O
to	O
OpenAL	B-Application
in	O
January	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
2012	O
Zechner	O
created	O
a	O
small	O
helper	O
library	O
called	O
gdx-jnigen	O
for	O
easing	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
JNI	B-Language
bindings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
made	O
it	O
possible	O
for	O
the	O
gdx-audio	O
and	O
gdx-freetype	O
extensions	O
to	O
be	O
developed	O
over	O
the	O
following	O
months	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inspired	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
PlayN	B-Language
cross-platform	O
game	O
development	O
framework	O
that	O
used	O
Google	B-Language
Web	I-Language
Toolkit	I-Language
(	O
GWT	O
)	O
to	O
compile	O
Java	B-Language
to	O
JavaScript	B-Language
code	O
,	O
Zechner	O
wrote	O
an	O
HTML/JavaScript	O
backend	O
over	O
the	O
course	O
of	O
several	O
weeks	O
,	O
which	O
allowed	O
libGDX	B-Library
applications	O
to	O
be	O
run	O
in	O
any	O
browser	B-Application
with	O
WebGL	B-Library
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
Google	B-Application
abandoned	O
PlayN	B-Language
,	O
it	O
was	O
maintained	O
by	O
Michael	O
Bayne	O
,	O
who	O
added	O
iOS	B-Application
support	O
to	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
libGDX	B-Library
used	O
parts	O
of	O
this	O
work	O
for	O
its	O
own	O
MonoTouch-based	O
backend	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
August	O
2012	O
the	O
project	O
switched	O
its	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
system	I-Architecture
from	O
Subversion	B-Application
to	O
Git	B-Application
,	O
moving	O
from	O
Google	B-Protocol
Code	I-Protocol
to	O
GitHub	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
issue	O
tracker	O
and	O
wiki	O
remained	O
on	O
Google	B-Protocol
Code	I-Protocol
for	O
another	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
build	O
system	O
was	O
also	O
changed	O
to	O
Maven	B-Language
,	O
making	O
it	O
easier	O
for	O
developers	O
with	O
different	O
IDEs	O
to	O
work	O
together	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
issues	O
with	O
the	O
MonoTouch	O
iOS	B-Application
backend	O
Niklas	O
Thernig	O
wrote	O
a	O
RoboVM	O
backend	O
for	O
libGDX	B-Library
in	O
March	O
2013	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
integrated	O
into	O
the	O
project	O
in	O
September	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2013	O
the	O
project	O
's	O
website	O
was	O
redone	O
,	O
now	O
featuring	O
a	O
gallery	O
where	O
users	O
can	O
submit	O
their	O
games	O
created	O
with	O
libGDX	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
migration	O
to	O
GitHub	B-Application
the	O
year	O
before	O
,	O
in	O
September	O
2013	O
the	O
issue	O
tracker	O
and	O
wiki	O
were	O
also	O
moved	O
there	O
from	O
Google	B-Protocol
Code	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
month	O
the	O
build	O
and	O
dependency	O
management	O
system	O
was	O
switched	O
from	O
Maven	B-Language
to	O
Gradle	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
a	O
cleanup	O
phase	O
in	O
the	O
first	O
months	O
of	O
2014	O
libGDX	B-Library
version	O
1.0	O
was	O
released	O
on	O
20	O
April	O
,	O
more	O
than	O
four	O
years	O
after	O
the	O
start	O
of	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2014	O
libGDX	B-Library
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
annual	O
Duke	O
's	O
Choice	O
Award	O
winners	O
,	O
being	O
chosen	O
for	O
its	O
focus	O
on	O
platform-independence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2016	O
it	O
was	O
announced	O
that	O
libGDX	B-Library
would	O
switch	O
to	O
Intel	O
's	O
Multi-OS	O
Engine	O
on	O
the	O
iOS	B-Application
backend	O
after	O
the	O
discontinuation	O
of	O
RoboVM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
libGDX	B-Library
1.9.3	O
on	O
16	O
May	O
2016	O
Multi-OS	O
is	O
provided	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
,	O
while	O
by	O
default	O
the	O
library	O
uses	O
its	O
own	O
fork	B-Application
of	O
the	O
open	O
source	O
version	O
of	O
RoboVM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
18	O
December	O
2015	O
to	O
18	O
January	O
2016	O
a	O
libGDX	B-Library
game	O
jam	O
was	O
organized	O
together	O
with	O
RoboVM	O
,	O
itch.io	O
and	O
Robotality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
libGDX	B-Library
allows	O
the	O
developer	O
to	O
write	O
,	O
test	O
,	O
and	O
debug	O
their	O
application	O
on	O
their	O
own	O
desktop	O
PC	O
and	O
use	O
the	O
same	O
code	O
on	O
Android	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
abstracts	O
away	O
the	O
differences	O
between	O
a	O
common	O
Windows/Linux	O
application	O
and	O
an	O
Android	B-Application
application	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
usual	O
development	O
cycle	O
consists	O
of	O
staying	O
on	O
the	O
desktop	O
PC	O
as	O
much	O
as	O
possible	O
while	O
periodically	O
verifying	O
that	O
the	O
project	O
still	O
works	O
on	O
Android	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
desktop	O
the	O
Lightweight	B-Language
Java	I-Language
Game	I-Language
Library	I-Language
(	O
LWJGL	B-Language
)	O
is	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
HTML5	O
backend	O
uses	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
Web	O
Toolkit	O
(	O
GWT	O
)	O
for	O
compiling	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
to	O
JavaScript	B-Language
code	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
then	O
run	O
in	O
a	O
normal	O
browser	B-Application
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
libGDX	B-Library
provides	O
several	O
implementations	O
of	O
standard	O
APIs	O
that	O
are	O
not	O
directly	O
supported	O
there	O
,	O
most	O
notably	O
reflection	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Android	B-Application
backend	O
runs	O
Java	B-Language
code	I-Language
compiled	O
for	O
Android	B-Application
with	O
the	O
Android	B-Application
SDK	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
iOS	B-Application
a	O
custom	O
fork	B-Application
of	O
RoboVM	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
compile	O
Java	B-Language
to	O
native	O
iOS	B-Application
instructions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
libGDX	B-Library
is	O
written	O
primarily	O
in	O
Java	B-Language
,	O
the	O
compiled	O
bytecode	B-Language
is	O
language-independent	O
,	O
allowing	O
many	O
other	O
JVM	B-Language
languages	I-Language
to	O
directly	O
use	O
the	O
library	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
documentation	O
specifically	O
states	O
the	O
interoperability	O
with	O
Ceylon	B-Language
,	O
Clojure	B-Language
,	O
Kotlin	B-Language
,	O
Jython	B-Language
,	O
JRuby	B-Language
and	O
Scala	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
(	O
AI	O
)	O
framework	O
that	O
was	O
split	O
from	O
the	O
main	O
library	O
with	O
version	O
1.4.1	O
in	O
October	O
2014	O
and	O
moved	O
into	O
its	O
own	O
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
it	O
was	O
initially	O
made	O
for	O
libGDX	B-Library
,	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
other	O
frameworks	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
project	O
focuses	O
on	O
AI	O
useful	O
for	O
games	O
,	O
among	O
them	O
pathfinding	B-Algorithm
,	O
decision	O
making	O
and	O
movement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
render	O
FreeType	B-Application
fonts	O
at	O
run	O
time	O
instead	O
of	O
using	O
static	O
bitmap	O
images	O
,	O
which	O
do	O
not	O
scale	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
wrapper	O
for	O
the	O
Box2D	B-Application
physics	O
library	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
2010	O
and	O
moved	O
to	O
an	O
extension	O
with	O
the	O
1.0	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
