iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips » Tag: game

News: Moai SDK Game Development Kit Made Available To All

John — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:48:16 +0000

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Moai SDK. An open source iOS game development kit allowing for development of iOS apps (and Android apps) in Lua. What I really liked about the engine that it has already been used in could be extended to support any functionality within the iOS SDK.

At that time Moai a limited beta, the beta has been extended now to support all developers.

In order to download the latest SDK release and the cloud services you will need to sign up on the Moai website for the dashboard here:
http://dashboard.moaicloud.com/signup.php

You can find the Github project for the Moai SDK Source here:
https://github.com/moai/moai-beta

The cloud services look great, and very easy to code – if you’re interested be sure to check out their 60 second tutorial here:
60 Second Moai Cloud Tutorial

There are numerous improvements since I first mentioned the SDK. Looks like the guys developing the Moai SDK have been very busy!

Update: Balloon Game Tutorial In Xcode 4

John — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:37:34 +0000

Recently I received a few comments and e-mails stating that the beginner’s game programming tutorial featured on this site had issues when running with Xcode 4. I decided to test things out, and had no issues when running the tutorial in Xcode 4 with the latest release version of the SDK.

You can see a screenshot of the game running in Xcode 4 and the simulator below.

The issues may have to do with some still running an older version of Xcode, possibly a beta version. Be sure to update to the latest version available in Apple’s developer website, and if you don’t have access to download the latest version of Xcode 4 you can find it available in the app store for $4.99 here.

If you still receive an error when running the tutorial even wit the latest version of the SDK, please state the error within Xcode.

Thanks!

. Tags: ios, apple, xcode, programming, languages, tutorial, game

iPhone Math Library – Open Source 400%+ Faster

John — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:55:29 +0000

If you’re app makes extensive use of trigonometry (and if you’re working on game development then you probably are) then you probably make extensive use of the built in math functions. This isn’t the first open source iPhone math library to offer a speed increase, but it is the only one as far as I know that is still in active development.

According to Apple apps that make extensive use of floating point numbers should not make use of the thumb compiling option which reduces code size.

Dave Dribin has created a math library exclusively making use of integers, and based on the speed of the sine function vs. the standard libary sin and sinf functions it looks like Dave’s trigint library is at least 4x faster.

You can find the library and more info here:
Trigint: An Integer-Based Trigonmetry Library

Thanks for reading, please share this using the buttons below!

[via: Under The Bridge]

. Tags: programming, ios, developers, development, maths library, ipad, iPhone, trigint, math library, game

Sparrow Tutorial: Creating HD Games With The Sparrow Framework

John — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:56:38 +0000

Sparrow, the game framework I used in my iOS programming tutorial on creating an action game, has recently added a new feature to easily handle the higher screen resolutions provided by the retina display of the iPhone 4. I hope to update the tutorial to utilize this new feature in the near future. A new Sparrow Tutorial from the creators of this grame framework illustrates the process.

The process involves using tools that are included with the Sparrow Framework that will automatically create all the required textures from your high definition textures.

You can find the step-by-step tutorial from the creators of sparrow here:
How To Make HD Games With Sparrow

The new feature is in Sparrow 0.9 which can be found here.

Thanks for reading, please share this using the buttons below!

. Tags: ipad, tutorials, tutorial, development, sparrow, game, programming, iPhone, ios, sparrow framework

Game Programming Tutorial – Beginners Action Game

John — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:14:09 +0000

Welcome to my game programming tutorial on how to create a beginners action game for the iOS. This is a step by step tutorial for creating an iPhone action game. The principles taught also apply to the iPad.

You can see the result of a game running the code in the video below:

The graphics are a bit different with the tutorial (as some of those in the video are being used in an actual project) but that is the result of running the actual code within the tutorial.

Specificially the tutorial features:

Loading/Placing Images
Animation
Touch Events
Text
Sound Effects
Background Music
Buttons
Resetting The Game

Pre-requisites For This Game Programming Tutorial

Now before we start there are a few pre-requisites. You should have a basic understanding of Objective-C and will need a Mac with the iPhone SDK installed. The game was created using iPhone SDK 4.0, and the Sparrow Framework. Also note that I created this to be as easy to follow as possible so I used a minimum number of classes/methods to make it as easy as possible for a beginner to follow – I’ve even exclusively used autorelease objects so you don’t need to worry about memory management (one of the facets of Objective-C many beginners have trouble with).

Why Am I Using The Sparrow Framework In This Game Programming Tutorial?

In case you’re wondering why I chose to go the route of using the Sparrow Framework it’s because I believe it is the easiest iPhone game development framework available for free for a beginner to start with, and it has already been used in a number of games in the app store.

Please share this tutorial by tweeting it or sharing using one of the buttons at the bottom.

You can navigate through the tutorial by using the page numbers at the bottom of each page.

If you’d like to jump right in you can download a project with all the resources loaded in here.

Getting The Code

You can download the code using the download links at the end of each page, or you can use the Github project found here:
https://github.com/maniacdev/iOS-Balloon-Game-Tutorial

Otherwise if you’d like to go the route of installing Sparrow, and setting everything up you can visit the Sparrow Framework getting started page here which explains the process of setting up an Xcode project that utilizes the Sparrow Framework. You can get just the game assets (graphics/sound) here.

The tutorial is definitely not perfect, and there are probably some spelling/grammar mistakes, but it is the most extensive single tutorial I’ve seen around and might never be released if I tried to perfect it

The first thing we’re going to do is start the game scene by displaying in a background image, adding the score and level text, and playing some music. To navigate through this game programming tutorial use the page numbers at bottom, now go to page 2 by clicking that number at the bottom of this article to go to that page.

. Tags: ipad, balloongametutorial, object, tutorial, game, iPhone, ios4, ios, programming, c++

Beginners iPhone Action Game Tutorial: Source Code

John — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:16:50 +0000

A few weeks ago I posted a short video similar to this one:

UPDATE: Tutorial Has been posted!

I’ve been asked since then when I would come out with the tutorial. I was finally able to get around to completing the source file, and I’ve added line by line (well pretty close) comments in plain english to make it easier to follow.

The above video utilizes the exact source code from this tutorial running in the iPhone simulator.

Following the suggestions of a friend of mine who is just starting to learn this I’ve used as few methods as possible, and made extensive use of autorelease objects to make the flow easier to follow for beginners.

The tutorial features:

Loading/Placing Images
Animation
Touch Events
Text
Sound Effects
Background Music
Buttons
Resetting The Game

Coming up next week I will be posting a more comprehensive tutorial, but I am posting the source code now. If you look through this code and the comments you should be able to grasp what is going on, and I hope that the upcoming tutorial will fill in the gaps. Be sure to come back next week when the full tutorial is posted!

I recreated this from scratch using Sparrow Framework and Objective-C because in my findings it was easiest to follow for a beginner looking to create an action game.

Things could change a little as I haven’t really looked through it myself.. just quickly coded it and wrote line by line comments. If you open it up, and are wondering which files to look at to understand things go to the Game.h and Game.m files.. the app delegate files were created automatically with the Sparrow project and I didn’t comment those.

Update! I have modified the project to remove an error that occurred on some systems due to a recursive search being done in the project for already included files. Please re-download if you encountered this problem.

You can download the source with music/sound effects here:
BalloonGameTutorial

Graphics are included so the example will run but are slightly different because I am using graphics similar to those in the video in my own game.

As far as licensing goes feel free to use this in your own apps, and if you do send me a message or post a comment about it, and I’ll mention it on this site. You may not use any portion of this project in your own tutorials, books, etc. (and definitely don’t submit it to a site buying tutorials.. you know who you are!) without permission.

Please be sure to check back next week when the entire tutorial is posted which will give you a much better idea of how to extend/use this source code and utilize the Sparrow Framework.

If you have any questions as to why I did something or have any suggestions for the tutorial then please post them below — it will help to make the final tutorial better.

Also, if you could share this post that would be great too and help motivate me to make more!

. Tags: source code, iPhone, objective-c, game

Great Cocos2D iOS Example Featuring Common Game Elements

John — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:45:08 +0000

As Cocos2D has increased it’s feature set it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the many features of the engine. The game has evolved from a simple rendering engine with some timing control into a full-fledged 2D game engine.

Fortunately there is an active community and some great examples are available. You can find examples of almost anything.

I found this example to be particularly exceptional, as it contains many desired game elements — including:

CocosDenshion (Cocos2D Audio) Usage
Object Rotation
Health Bars
Spritesheets And Animations

The example is from Ray Wenderlich the creator of the Space Game Starter Kit and co-author of the Learning Cocos2D book, Steve Oldmeadow, and Victoria Wenderlich and can be found in Cocos2D versions 0.99.4 or higher (download here).

In order to view the example you will need to set the active target, and executable to Cocos Denshion – Tom The Turret.

Make sure to select the iphone simulator — if you can’t find it, hold down the option key when clicking on the pulldown selector where you set the active target and executable that will bring up more options.

Update: Added video to show those with issues running the game in the right simulator how it’s done.

[Source: Ray Wenderlich]

. Tags: ios, game, Cocos2D, example

iPhone Game Tutorial With Videos – Programming Tutorials

John — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:56:54 +0000

Just like to turn you guys on to what is the best iPhone game tutorial with videos on the web so far in case you haven’t seen them. Please note that this is not the simplest iPhone game programming tutorials as you will be building an OpenGL game engine from scratch. This does also make this a great iPhone opengl tutorial.

These tutorials are from 71 squared. They run through the steps to creating a game on the iPhone in tremendous detail, and include source code. Included are in-depth videos.

Together These Make One Excellent iPhone Game Tutorial

Now these gents are also writing a book on iPhone game programming. So absolutely if you like their tutorials I suggest you check it out. I don’t think it’s available for pre-order yet but you can read some info about it here.

. Tags: book, vertex array, game, sdk, video, development, programming, opengl, tutorial, game engine

iPhone Game Engine Comparison – Open Source

John — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:40:55 +0000

I’m often asked about which iPhone game engine to use, and I know most people are looking for a free game engine so here is a comparison of the different open source iPhone game engines that actually have apps out there. These game engines now also support the ipad.

There are several open source game engines to choose from, and many cropping up all the time. On this page I have only listed those that I know have been used in games already available on the iPhone or iPad, and with just one exception I have chosen not to list those for which there are no apps available in the app store.

The SIO2 game engine has been removed from this listing, as if you go to their site and attempt to download the open source legacy version all you get is a popup telling you to get the new engine — so if you are looking for information on the SIO2 engine please visit the commercial iphone and ipad game engine page.

If you find anything inaccurate on this page, or know of an open source iOS game engine that deserves mention then please post a comment.

Choosing Your Open Source iPhone Game Engine

Sparrow Framework

The Sparrow Framework is a very lightweight 2D game engine created in Objective-C. In a very short amount of time I was able to understand the framework, and I find it to be very intuitive.

If you’d like to take a look at some actual coding with the Sparrow Framework be sure to check out the Beginners iPhone Action Game Programming Tutorial.

While I have not done much Flash game programming the developers state that the game engine was created with Flash game developers in mind.

The game framework includes all the necessary features you’d require for creating a basic 2D game such as easy animation, and a sound engine.

iSGL 3D

The iPhone Scene Graph Library 3D. A 3D graphics engine providing a multitude of features – more information to come as I am still trying it out. Has been used in the Project Mos game available on the app store.

Cocos2D IPhone

The Cocos2D iPhone game engine is a port of a game engine originally created in Python and converted to iPhone Objective-C. As you can tell from the name, Cocos2D is designed for 2D games, that being said, although the engine is in a 2D world, the engine includes a growing collection of high quality 3D special effects. Cocos2D has also been released on the Mac so you can ease the release on 2 platforms.

Cocos2D has been used in many games on the iPhone app store, you can visit the official site here, where many are listed.

Cocos2D is the first engine to check out, while many may be turned off by the engine not supporting a 3d world, if you look at most of the top iPhone games the gameplay is 2D, in fact the iPhone’s touch screen controls can make it difficult to operate in a 3D world.

Also included is support for the in-game Chipmunk engine, and the latest version of Cocos also includes an OpenAL based sound engine.

The engine provides more examples than any of the other engines out there because of the large community. Overall I’d say the engine is as easy to use as any engine that does not have an environment editor.

Uses the LGPL license.

Note On The Following Engines

The following engines are currently more for educational purposes than anything unless you want to do a lot of tinkering. They are all either works in progress or not actively being worked on by their initial developers and have somewhat fallen to the wayside.

Galaxy Game Engine

The Galaxy Game Engine is a very promising engine with an extensive feature set. From what I understand no apps have been released with this, but the project deserves some mention because of the feature set boasted by this engine, and it appears as though the developers are committed to the project.

This is a BSD licensed 3D engine that includes some very useful tools such as a level editor, terrain editor, model viewer, particle editor, and shader IDE.

Oolong Engine

The Oolong game engine is a 3D engine written in C++, and provides excellent performance. The downside of the Oolong engine is that it is difficult to use for those that are not familiar with OpenGL ES.

Oolong provides support for a wide variety of features, and very good performance, as I said my only problem with Oolong is that it is difficult to use. This is a low-level engine designed for programmers so if you’re just getting into game development I would stay away.

You will find the latest version on google code, there is very little documentation for Oolong, but the community is very active, and you can get answers to many of your questions there.

I would recommend Oolong to those looking to create their own game engine looking for something to start with.

Uses the MIT license.

Irrlicht Engine

I mention Irrlicht here only because I received a message from someone stating that it was available on the iPhone. I know that it has been used in the creation of apps already available on the iPhone.

The Irrlicht game engine is a 3D game engine written in C++.

While there is no official port available on the Irrlicht website for the iPhone with some tinkering I was able to get the OpenGL ES version running on the iPhone — somewhat. You will find the OpenGL ES version hidden away in the repository.

Irrlicht is an excellent open source engine that has support for an extremely wide variety of file formats, and has the best support for the “classic” BSP format that I’ve seen in an open source game engine. There are also numerous other tools that have been created for the engine.

All this being said, I can’t recommend Irrlicht because there is no official port, and if you check out the forums there really is no one willing to provide help to those looking to get it running on the iPhone although some have created apps running on the iPhone.

The Irrlicht engine uses the Zlib license.

Haxe

Haxe is a multi-platform language that most notably compiles to SWF and has been used in many Flash games. Because of this ability to compile to SWF you can use Adobe’s Flash builder for iOS tool to get your games on iOS devices. If you do things this way it suffers the same performance limitations that Flash Cs5 iOS games currently suffer from. You can also compile straight to iOS devices, but you’ll need to hit up their mailing list to figure out exactly how to get things done, and do some figuring yourself.

Flixel

This is the port of a popular 2D Flixel Flash game framework to iOS Objective-C. So if you have developed a flash game using that framework this should be very helpful to you.

Flixel has not officially been released as an open source project however if you take a look at the release of the open source game MIT-licensed Canabalt you will find their first major attempt at porting the framework to iOS and could be potentially used in your code. There will likely be an open source release soon.

Summary

The Sparrow Framework makes an excellent first choice for those developing a 2D iPhone game. Cocos2D is the most popular, and has the most support but is less intuitive. You will learn Objective-C while using the engine, and the engine has been proven in a wide variety of games.

For 3D games there really isn’t much to choose from any longer as far as open source goes as SIO2 has become a commercial game engine without a lot of potential tinkering. Fortunately, especially with the addition of the free for indies publishing to Airplay SDK for iOS and the variable priced Unreal Development Kit for iOS you can license a 3D game engine at little cost as an indie. Read more on the commercial iPhone and iPad game engines page.

. Tags: sparrow, free game engine, game engine reviews, irrlicht, oolong, game engines, Cocos2D, game engine, open source, best iphone game engine

Doing Some iPhone Game Programming

John — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:35:44 +0000

Just in case there’s any graphics designers interested, I have finally finished off some more of the contract work, and with a lighter load, my next ambition is to do some iPhone game programming.

My intent is to develop a number of iPhone games in a short amount of time. Ultimately all will be open sourced, released as 0.99 cent or free games, and have coinciding tutorials written. I actually created a very simple game this evening in a couple of hours that could already use the styling of an artist. I’ve planned out the next few games, and they shouldn’t take to long, all the games will be 2D, the first few written wiith Cocoa, and the rest using Cocos2D.

So just in case there’s any graphic artists out there reading interested in the possibility of some publicity and possibly profit from iPhone graphics work feel free to contact me. Please understand that my intent with the games is for publicity, although I do believe future work customizing/rebranding these games is possible after talking with a few peers.

Thanks for reading.

. Tags: game, Graphics, programming, development, language