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

Devs Running Away From Wii Flocking To iPhone

John — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:55:33 +0000

There’s been alot of hate from the “hardcore” gaming and game development crowd towards iPhone and iPad gaming. They don’t like it that on the iPhone you can purchase high-quality games at a small fraction of the price thanks to the relatively low cost of the iPhone SDK vs. the “hardcore” gaming platforms. They seem to like it even less when independent developers achieve some level of success.

According to the Game Developer Research 2009-2010 Survey, the Wii is the big loser dropping from 42 to 30 percent of console developers. The iPhone and iPod touch developer numbers more than double those on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. This bodes well for the iPad which will allow for more complex games.

The fact of the matter is that the iPhone 3GS has tremendous graphical power. The controls are intuitive, even though there’s no available gamepad (yet…), and there are first class tools and libraries available at little or no cost. The more traditional platforms will need to let independent developers in at a low cost, or they will continue to lose support.

You can read more about the survey and it’s results on Gamasutra here: State of Game Development Survey Reveals iPhone Support Surge, Wii Lull

If you are looking to get started with iPhone game development, and are looking to go the Objective-C route you should check out these excellent iPhone game programming tutorials.

You can also check out some open source iPhone game engines, and commercial iPhone game engines.

Please post any comments below, thanks!

. Tags: ipod touch, game development, ipad, wii, iPhone

The Apple iPad – Is it just a big iPhone?

John — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:44:58 +0000

Now that the Apple iPad has officially been announced, it’s time to look at what sort of opportunities for app development have arisen because of this new hardware. If the name is making you giggle, that’s a natural reaction. At first glance the iPad looks like a big iPhone, here’s a rundown of the essential specs.

Apple iPad Hardware Specs (Known so far):

9.7″ Screen
1.5 lbs. weight
0.5″ Thick
16-64GB Storage
Capacitative Multi-Touch Screen
Custom 1gHz A4 chip (custom Apple chip)
Accelerometer
Compass
Microphone
30-Pin Connector
10 hour battery (this seems kind of weak)

Noticeably missing: A camera. So we can’t use the power for more cool augmented reality apps.

Cost: Starting at $499 (probably the best thing in the announcement)

Now, looking at the hardware, we don’t know exactly how quick the graphics will be, but the gaming displays looked very good, and considering the larger size of the screen it appears that there is enough extra juice in the iPad to handle larger games.

Conclusion

While it looks great, I can’t help but really think this is just an iPod Touch with a bigger screen. We have Kindle on the touch and I hope this better looking iBooks app lets me load in my Kindle books.

I see the larger screen pretty much putting an end to the “iPhone vs. PSP” type arguments. This is now THE portable gaming device. Developers now have the room to put custom controls.

As far as software improvements go we don’t know yet until we see all the features in the new OS, but I have to admit that this really does just seem to be little more than a bigger iPhone. That being said I plan to get one, since i want a bigger iPhone.

The new iPhone SDK update supports the iPad, complete with simulator you will be able to get it at http://developer.apple.com

The official iPad page:
http://www.apple.com/ipad

. Tags: iPhone, islate, ipod touch, ipad, apple ipad

Code Snippet: Easy fading iPhone buttons, images, views

John — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:48:08 +0000

I was asked by a friend working on their first iPhone app if I could show them how to fade buttons to provide the user with visual feedback. So I came up with this quick iPhone development tutorial using some source code that is actually from the second app that we I will be showing how to build in my iPhone development videos.

A very quick demonstration of the effect is shown in this video:

Fading a view on the iPhone is very easy you simply specify the ending alpha value, and duration, and commit the animations. The views will then fade to the chosen alpha value. Overall it’s a pretty sweet way to fade buttons, and images used in your interface especially if you’ve had to go through more complex techniques.

The code for the two methods to create the buttons is shown here:

That’s all there is to it, it’s very plug and play so all you have to do is run the methods to perform the effect., and I’ve included some sample code with a project that has various views fading in and out based on which button is selected. With a little bit of playing around you can make flashing images/buttons etc.

The completed project can be downloaded here: >>> FadingViews <<<

. Tags: ipod touch, animation, effects, iPhone, programming, ipod, development, itouch, apple

8 Sensational iPhone Game Engines (2D and 3D)

John — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:12:56 +0000

After finishing up a contract, I decided to start work on my first graphical iPhone game title. Originally I had set out to create to an iPhone game, and tested out several of the engines available, but put things on hold to work on some small contracted apps. Now I’ve decided to get back to that, and took another look at the iPhone game engines available, so here they are with a small writeup about each engine.

Bork 3D – Bork 3D is a 3D engine specifically for programmers. No wysiwig tools here. I haven’t had a chance to check out this engine as I just heard about it, but Bork 3D was used in the create of the Anytime Golf game. Something that I find very appealing is that the author provides the full source and the cost for the engine begins at only $49.

Cocos 2D iPhone – Cocos 2D iPhone is an extensive open source framework for producing 2D games on the iPhone. Cocos has been used as a starting point for many developers interested in creating iPhone games, and title after title is produced using this framework. The feature list continues to grow, and the question is where will it end.. these guys seem to be putting everything into it. You certainly can’t beat the price at free.

iTGB – A 2D game engine with an extremely easy to use visual scene editor. This is an excellent 2D engine with a very rich feature set. The full source is included, and I believe this would be an excellent way to get started with game development on the iPhone if not for the cost starting at $750.

iTGE – A 3D game engine from the makers of iTGB. From what I understand this engine uses Oolong at it’s core. The engine has a visual scene editor and an extensive feature set. The Torque Game Engine that iTGE has been used in many hit indy game titles on the Windows platform. The cost starts at $650.

Oolong engine – Oolong is a game engine written by author/graphics programmer Wolfgang Engel. It contains an extensive feature set and a very liberal MIT license. That being said, it is definitely an engine created for programmers, and requires solid knowledge of OpenGL ES to use. There is a discussion list, and a nice collection of examples. The only thing that I don’t like is the lack of documentation. Free MIT licensed.

Shiva Ston3d – Shiva is a game engine with a visual editor for scene design and from checking out the forums it appears as though some very nice games have been/are being created with it on the iPhone. Shiva utilizies a Lua like scripting langue. There is one huge negative for me personally which is that the editor runs in the windows environment, it runs in parallels but not too well on my Mac. The price starts at ~$250.

Sio2Engine – SIO 2 Engine is an open source 3d engine with an extensive feature set that utilizes Blender for scene creation. I’m not the world’s biggest blender fan so I can’t say too much about the engine., but still this game engine has been used in many different iPhone titles so it is worth looking at and the price is definitely right as there is no charge as long as you place a splash screen at the start of your game advertising the engine.

Unity 3D – Unity 3D is a game engine that has been around for a number of years, and has grown quite a following for it’s ease of programming. Unity 3D has it’s own visual editor for scene design, and utilizes the C#, and Boo programming languages. Unity is well known for it’s ease of use, and has established been used in many iPhone different games. Costs begin at $199 + $499.

Ultimately I have decided not to use any of the current iPhone game engines, but have decided that at least for my first few titles I will attempt to create a 2D game engine on my own, and go from there. My main reason for doing this is simply because while I have used/purchased some indy game engines in the past for development of freeware/shareware hobby titles I would like to learn how to do this myself, and put all the graphics programming, and math that I learned in college to use.

If you have any experience using any of the above game engines, or a title you created using one of them feel free to post about it below.

. Tags: 2d, game engine, iPhone, opengl es, itouch, programming, game, game framework, ipod touch, 3d

Finishing With Interface Builder – Building Your iPhone Apps Interface Quickly 2/2

John — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:32:11 +0000

This is the second part of the tutorial on building your iPhone App’s interface in interface builder. In this video I quickly drag out all the elements, and connect the interface elements with the appropriate outlets, and actions, and build the class file automatically.

This is the 5th video/tutorial in this series, and I hope you enjoy it.

The first tutorial can be found here:
>>> Developing Your First Apple iPhone App <<<

The project containing the app at the end of this video can be found here:
Project file for tutorial

We will finally get into writing code in the next video!

Here it is:

Thanks for reading.

. Tags: developer, tutorial, apple, development, iPhone, ipod, programming, interface builder, ipod touch, getting started

Big List of Youtubers Who Will Review Your iPhone App

John — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:35:50 +0000

As many of you may have noticed, I have been updating my older resource lists with updated links that have been shared with me in the last few months since starting this site, and I’ve been uploading tutorials/other videos to Youtube.

One resource which I didn’t really think about was Youtube. I wasn’t really a Youtuber before uploading my videos, but something I noticed was that there is a massive number of people on Youtube doing app reviews. Usually developers will upload a usage video to Youtube, and ultimately that’s the end of things, it’s hit or miss, and most videos get very few views.

Why not send the App reviewers your apps? Many of these reviewers have already established a subscriber base of 10,000 or more on Youtube (along with nearly as many on Twitter), and I’m sure would be flattered if sent a promotional code. A couple who I have contacted seemed very excited about the idea. Also, many of these videos end up being shown on other sites so the effect can multiply.

I wouldn’t be turned off it appears that many of these viewers are members of the younger set, after all this is a large segment of the App market, and especially if you’re developing an entertainment app this likely is your market.

Don’t forget to mention if you have/know of an active channel in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

. Tags: app, reviewers, apple, review, iPhone, ipod touch, itouch, ipod, youtube, app store

Building Your iPhone App’s Interface Quickly

John — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:33:37 +0000

Hi everybody, this is the fourth installment of my series Your First Apple iPhone App Store App Step-By-Step tutorial series. This is a 2-part lesson on building your App’s interface in Xcode’s interface builder.

Here is the video:

In this installment I create a basic project, and explain a little bit about interface builder. I also present a small exercise at the end where I ask you to place the interface elements onto the view, and as promised I have placed the project that I created where I laid out the elements here:
>>> Download Soundboard Project With Basic Interface <<<

Please do not download the Soundboard project unless you were having trouble laying out the elements yourself, or you already understand how to do this, and don’t want to spend the time.

This will be fairly easy for many of you, we will be getting into code soon, I promise!

Here are the action steps that I took in the video.

1) Create a new project, select iPhone application, and choose a View-Based Application (I will assume you gave it the name Soundboard)
2) Open The SoundboardViewController
3) Set Identity Inspector To List Mode
3) Remove the fake status bar at the top of the soundboard

Exercises:
1. Take components from Library, place them in View (UINavigationBar, 2xUIButtons, UITextView, & UILabel)
Optional:
1. Run Apple’s UICatalog example and learn names of common UI elements.

In the next video in this series you will look over my shoulder, design the interface, the class skeleton for our view app complete with attributes and methods, and do it in less than 5 minutes.

The first lesson in this series can be found here Your First Apple iPhone App Store App Step-By-Step Part 1

. Tags: sdk, xcode, apple, development, programming, interface builder, ipod touch, 3gs, 3g, iPhone

iPhone SDK Objective-C Cheat Sheet Updated

John — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:30:08 +0000

I have updated the Cheat Sheet on this site with larger headers as suggested by visitors to the site. For those that don’t know this is a cheat sheet designed for beginners just getting started with the iPhone SDK who have some knowledge of C/C++ or Java providing comparisons with similar syntax in those languages for common Objective-C keywords.

Covered is:
Messages
Import
Self
Method Headers
Inheritance
Property and Synthesize
Interface
Implementation
Protocol
Id

You can find the cheatsheet here:
>>> iPhone Objective-C Cheat Sheet <<<

This is the original video I made explaining the concepts contained within this cheatsheet:

Here is a little video I made about this cheatsheet update:

Please post any suggestions for improvement in the comments.
Thanks.

. Tags: programming, iPhone, 3gs, ipod touch, development, 3g, apple, itouch, cheat sheet

Your First App Store App Step-By-Step – Part 1

John — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:20:54 +0000

This is the first in a series where we will be building a simple app based on the soundboard app that I created which is in the app store that can be found here.

Check out the video:

We’ll be learning:

1) Simple App Design

2) MVC Basics

3) Interface Builder Basics

4) Playing Music Files

5) Basic Accelerometer Use

6) Objective-C Collection Basics

7) Submitting Your App

I hope that you enjoy the series, come back for Part 2

. Tags: tutorial, 3gs, basics, 3g, development, app, getting started, programming, ipod touch, app store