IPhone Game Development Help!

Rick39 · 03-10-2011, 08:06 PM

Hey guys, so I'm currently saving up my pennies so I can get a Mac and make games for the IPhone, so in the meantime I figured now was as good a time as any to become as well versed as possible in Objective C and the general IPhone SDK.

So my question is does anyone have any advice or personal experience they can give? Or links to good beginners tutorials? I'm having a pretty tough time figuring all this coding stuff out, so a tutorial that really "dumbs it down" I suppose would be the best haha

Thanks guys!

Brambo23 · 03-11-2011, 03:16 AM

I have not personally learned objective C (yet), but there are a lot of good sites that provide help on these languages, some free, some not.

The site I'm currently looking into is www.3dbuzz.com

Also there are plenty of digital books on how to learn these languages. Start there.

Is objective C going to be your first language?

Rick39 · 03-11-2011, 06:56 AM

Yeah Objective C will be my first language, also I checked out 3D Buzz and its helping quite a bit! Think I might spring for the membership on this one, not sure yet.

HagNasty · 06-24-2011, 02:34 PM

Depending what you want to make, I would say save your money for now. UDK allows you to create IOS games on your PC using the Unreal Engine. Start there and see if you like what's possible. If you enjoy yourself, then get a mac.

JohnLeeroy · 06-24-2011, 11:40 PM

One thing to keep in mind about Apple is that if you wish to work with Apple devices, you need to apply and be approved as an Apple developer. There is a 100$ fee and the application process may be slow.

Using pre-existing engines like Unreal is a good way to start. It provides you with functionality for physics, collision, lighting, etc; things that you would otherwise have to code yourself.

Ben Jammin · 12-15-2011, 01:36 PM

What are the qualifications in becoming an Apple developer? Is there an online course that I could do to get qualified and start making games for the IPhone?
I have experience with flash animations, photoshop and audio production already so was wondering what would be the best route to take in order for me to get into the designing and coding of interactive learning games for the Iphone.

yaustar · 12-16-2011, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Jammin

What are the qualifications in becoming an Apple developer?

In general, a Mac and $99. There are so many ways to create a game for the iOS, I can't give a concrete answer. If you have no coding experience, you will probably be better off with using http://www.stencyl.com/

Zooch · 12-27-2011, 04:46 PM

I've released large scale indie games on iOS and Tegra devices, one using UDK (then transferred to UE3) and another using Unity (then grew into Unity Pro).

If you're interested in learning how to program AND release a game at the same time, I'd recommend leaning towards Unity. Unreal Engine is an amazing piece of software but the authoring tools are cumbersome and UnrealScript/C++ isn't the most well balanced in terms of finding appropriate documentation and receiving real code answers. Unity Script Reference and Unity Answers are pretty awesome resources for learning JavaScript and C#. Unity was my first exposure to both languages and I had a complete, working game in 4 weeks.

As for getting started as an Apple developer, it really is as easy as paying $99. You don't even need the mac immediately, you just need it to publish your finished game to the App Store. Matters become increasingly more complicated as you get closer to releasing your product, as Apple requires a lot of key information such as bank account information. All of that information is on Apple's dev websites though, so just be sure to do your reading.