LibGDX is a game development framework prepared in Java with several elements of C and C++ for action dependent code. The libGDX game engine permits the creation of mobile and desktop games by utilizing the same code fundament. The open-source framework can be used for diverse platforms such as Mac OS, Windows, Android, IOS, Linux, and Blackberry and browsers with WebGL support.
In 2009, the founder of libGDX, Mario Zechner wanted to create Android games. With this purpose in mind, he began to establish a framework, namely AFX. Later, he understood that it is pretty challenging to place changes from Desktop to Android devices. So, he altered AFX to be feasible to work on the desktop, too. It was the first move towards the framework that would be known as libGDX in the future. In 2010, Mario Zechner decided to make AFX open-source. He hosted it on Google Code under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Nevertheless, at that time, Zechner mentions, “The purpose of the framework is not to generate desktop games,” meaning libGDX Game Engine would mainly target Android. The initial version of the libGDX game development framework was presented in April 2014. It happened after a clean-up stage at the beginning of the same year.
The library uses platform-specific code through different backends to reach the capacities of the host platform. In most cases, the developer does not need to write platform-specific code. He should do it only for starter classes, which demand various setup on the basis of backend.
Lightweight Java Game Library is used for the desktop.
The HTML5 backend uses Google Web Toolkit to assemble Java to Javascript code. Afterward, it runs on a regular browser.
The Android backend runs Java code assembled for Android.
A multi-OS Engine is used for IOS as an alternative since RoboVM. The original backend stopped operating.