Before I get started with this, let’s get folks up to speed that might not be aware of what cocos2d is- Cocos2d is an extremely popular totally free framework that provides core functionality for developers to use to build their games. The basic idea behind cocos2d and other similar projects is to provide easy to use tools to do things like handle sprites, sounds, physics, and more so developers can focus on building their games instead of, for example, investing time into writing their own text rendering or texture handling.
For examples of the kinds of things I’m talking about, check out the following demo video for cocos2d:
As of yesterday, cocos2d went 1.0.0. This is the product of 2600 commits to the codebase from 140 different contributors, with the first commit taking place just a little over 3 years ago. Cocos2d even saw 63 releases before it officially went 1.0.0.
It’s been a long road too, cocos2D started as a Python project by Ricardo Quesada with some friends of his in the Argentinian town of Los Cocos, hence the name. The coconut logo comes from the spanish meaning of “cocos," although Ricardo admits that when it was originally named they didn’t exactly have coconuts in mind. Oh, and check out the original roadmap as it was sketched out, emphasis has been placed on the original planned 1.0 release in February of 2009:
Even though cocos2d took forever to hit the 1.0.0 mark, it’s easily among the best frameworks out there for iOS developers to use, and chances are you already have several games on your device(s) that utilize it. Ricardo estimates that more than 2500 iOS games are using it now, along with 50 or so on the Mac App Store. Feed Me Oil [99¢], League of Evil [$1.99], heck even FarmVille [Free] uses it.
Congratulations on turning 1.0.0, cocos2d team!
