Newbie - Game Development (iPhone) - New to Objective C and Game Dev

Question

I have never developed a game before and actually never developed anything for iPhone.

1. What should be my Plan of Action if I want to build a game for iPhone/iOS? I need to know what are the steps I should be aware of to learn first, since I am a complete newbie to the entire universe of Game Dev and also for iOS programming.

2. I also want to know about how to gaming folks get inspired to write a game? Is there a good book that can give insight on game development from an inception point? How are ideas of games started and built?

3. Please give good examples of the resources I can use at each action step. For example, good resources to read up on Objective-C.

Answer 1

Learning objective c is a good option, but it's not the only option.

If you are not a strong programmer, or if your focus is on being a good game designer rather than a good programmer (they are not mutually inclusive), than you might look into various middleware that can let you learn the basics of programming, without the challenge of learning objective-c simultaneously.

There is a misconception that becoming a good objective-c programmer will make you a good game designer. What makes you a good game designer is making A LOT of games. So the faster you can get into making games, the better.

Some good options that I use with my students:

Game Salad - Great for rapid prototyping, very easy to get into. Can be a frustrating if you want to do really complex stuff

Stencyl - More robust than game salad, allows "drag and drop" coding, or actual code. Also more complicated than Game Salad and not quite as intuitive.

Corona - A true code based platform, working with the Lua language. Definitely more complex than the prior two, but probably easier to get into than objective-c and cocos.

There are always going to be frustrations and limitations with these programs, but the trade off is speed.

When it comes to getting started in game design, I recommend your first game be something very simple, preferably start with a known concept (in other words, clone something - its a good way to learn the basics). Once you have the hang of basic development and the different parts of game design, start to work on your own concepts, but keep it simple at first.

Publishing a game on iOS is a whole other ball of wax, but the first step is making some games. Good luck, and drop a line if you need help. @happybadgers / happybadgers.com

Answer 2

To get your feet wet you should first start off by learning Objective-C. A Great book, probably the best book out there is Programming in Objective-C by Steven Kochan, preferably the latest edition out.(They keep releasing updates.)

Then I would go to the to the Apple Developer Center and read most if not all of these documents found here. There are also tutorials released by Apple that are very helpful..."Your first iOS Application", "Your second iOS application", etc.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#referencelibrary/GettingStarted/RoadMapiOS/chapters/WhereToGo.html

That should get your familiar with Objective-C and Xcode. Next you should look into all the iOS Game Engines out there, programming your own would be counterintuitive at this stage of learning. Torque, Unity 3d, Game Salad, Cocos2d w/ chipmunk would be good to look into. Pick one and learn, learn, LEARN.

Another note is, your probably going to need to know how to work your way around 3d modeling software and or graphics software for sprites, characters, buildings etc. (That is probably going to be your largest learning curve.)

The important thing is to pace yourself and not try to build your vision straight from the get go. Go through tutorials, build small basic games until you're comfortable. Then you can start tackling your million dollar game idea.

Take it from a guy who has been been trying to learn iOS Development for the past 3 years, I have tried countless books and tutorials that just didn't cut it... Those two resources I gave are the best out there in my opinion. Hope all goes well, the best and most rewarding feeling is when are able to finally say "I Get it!".

Answer 3

1. Learn Objective C and the IPhone environment.

2. Most game developers start because they already have an idea for the game they want to develop. Game development is tedious, because the code has to work and the game has to be fun. It's hard to get the fun part right without a lot of trial and error.

   Since you're just getting started, you can pick a simple game that's been done many times. Consider that your practice game, while you're waiting for inspiration for the game you want to develop.

3. Since the IPhone isn't where I develop my games, I'll leave this question for others to answer.