Okay, I found it.. check a few replies down starting with CommanderData's post. http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=71525
You don't need a high end computer, but you do need a Mac. (Well actually it's possible to do most of the development on PC, using some extra tools, but I think you still need a Mac to build and submit the final product). My computer is a couple years old Macbook. If you have a Mac / OSX, the development tools you need (Xcode) are provided for free, which is cool. You have to pay $99 USD a year for the dev license, which is needed for putting your app on devices and for releasing it on the app store. So, what's the cost? I guess.. $99 per year plus the price of a Mac. And LOTS of time. Time is probably what you have to spend the most of... But hey, if you've never done any programming before it could be much better to start with something else... e.g. Flash, if you wanna make games. You can make Flash games with entirely free tools - FlashDevelop, Flixel, Flashpunk.. and there's heaps of tutorials and forums around Doing that, you'll learn all the concepts needed for coding, but in a much more forgiving environment.. none of the device-specific stuff needed for iOS. Using Flash+Flixel is way easier than iOS but still powerful and modern so you'd learn what you need to know to work on other platforms... ...anyway that's what I think. There are probably people around with way better advice... I don't really know where a good place to start is these days, I first started trying to code like 20 years ago when it was all much simpler (not that I ever managed to get far enough to make something playable back then).... Seems like starting with modern platforms is like jumping in the deep end (Ignore all the above if you're already programming..... and.. best wishes! making games - as a "bedroom coder" - is sometimes really brain hurty, sometimes a lot of hard work, but overall good fun...especially when people play your game and like it, that's total magic. As for being a games coder at a company in the larger games industry... I have no experience of that.) ..... Man, re-reading my post.. it turned into a bit of a big "giving unasked-for advice" thing eh. >_< sorry about that THE_BOSS. there's nothing wrong with starting programming on iOS if that's what appeals to you the most.
Oh my! Awesome. Thanks PixyJunket! (and CommanderData if you ever read this). That's great. Antialiased pixels make me sad. Unfortunately I don't have a device with retina to test on. I'll look into it though...
Ok, this game is great. You can add me to the list of supporters. I'd love a soundtrack, but only if it's a good chiptunes type of soundtrack. Anything else would be a disservice. Also, make sure it is turned off if music is playing, including if somebody leaves the game, starts music, and then comes back to it. I'm also going to check out that Xbox Indie game.
Thanks a ton for the advice I probably will try my hand at flash first. I don't know what my parents reaction will be when I ask for a mac :/ I will probably post on these forums when the flash game is done and see if anyone would like an idevice version. Again thanks a TON for the advice! BTW I just recently redownloaded MSD and fell in love with it so I will download FMN when I have finished this post!
I was considering downloading Magnetic Shaving Derby... but really it sounds kind of gross from the description. I think I'm going to skip that one. Oh well, at least I bought FMN.
How about instead of an onscreen D-pad, you make the entire screen a virtual one. .\ 1 / . \ / . \/ 2 /\ 3 . / \ ./ 4 \ Any tap in the top moves you up, 2 moves you left, 3 move you right and 4 moves you down. People could then play with two thumbs and get really fast. Thanks in advance for fixing the music on an iPhone issues.
The problem with that last control option is you're forced to put your fingers all over the screen increasing the likelihood you'll obstruct your view. It can't hurt to have it as an option though.
No problem! I'm a HUGE fan of retro/pixel graphics and I was really bummed when I got my iPhone 4 and seeing every lovely game looking like I was viewing it through bulletproof glass smeared with petroleum jelly. [shameless] I write chip music on the original Game Boy if you want a song for the game hit me up. [/shameless]
Three comments, 1) You don't have to put them all over the screen, you can just put them at the top, bottom, left and right edges. 2) If you think about the gameplay, when your guy is at the top of the screen, you will not obscure him because you will not need to make him go up. Similarly, the closer he is to any edge, the less likely it is you will need to change direction to send him towards that edge. 3) I think if the developer does do this, he should change the "pause command" so that the top of the screen only has one function. Perhaps three finger tap or two corners tap.
Yeah that makes sense. Although for 2, you only have to be slightly north of center and you'd still need to press the up direction. I still think it's a bit needlessly complicated because you'd have to change where you press it each time depending on where the character happens to be. Consistent controls are easier to get to grips with.
Hello all. I have a quick question about this cool looking game which I'm hoping to download tomorrow. If I'm playing off-line, will my scores be uploaded to GC the next time I log in, or do I need to be playing whilst online for my score to be uploaded to the leaderboards? Thanks! Feel free to add me on GC. Andy C83
Oh great, another retro game that won't work with first-gen hardware, even though it should be more than capable of handling it. Well, that was two dollars spent foolishly. You let me know when your 8-bit throwbacks don't require the latest bleeding edge systems.
