In this chapter, we will take a look at Box2D—a physics engine to simulate realistic-looking physics of the objects in 2D space. After we cover the basics of how to use Box2D, we will move on and create a little physics simulation that is going to be triggered at the end of the level. For this to work, we will also need to add a new level object that represents the level's end.

Next, we will look at the topic of shader programs. Shaders, in general, are simple programs that are executed on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). We will create our own shader program consisting of a vertex and a fragment shader to achieve a simple monochrome filter effect.

Physics engines, such as Box2D and programming shaders, are very complex topics. Each deserves at least one book on their own to get hold of their gist. Nonetheless, this chapter is meant to give you the first push in the right direction on how to approach these broad topics.

Today...