Posting it here because I'm not really interested in how apps in general are constructed, just games 1. How do you come up with the idea if it's original, i.e. Sway? 2. How do you code it? C/C++, something else? 3. How do you create the images? 4. How do you create the sound? 5. How do you put it all together?
Good quesiton....I think there are a number of devs who could answer these questions by writing a series of books..
Questions I'm not a real game developer, but I think I can answer your questions: First of all, download the iPhone SDK and the developer tools. 1. Use your brain ! 2. The standard Apple coding language is Objective-C. 3. Use Photoshop (or The Gimp, Inkscape etc.) for 2D graphics, for 3D you need a 3D modeling app. 4. Hmm, GarageBand is a quite good solution for creating in-game music. You can record sound effects yourself or use a sound effects app f.e. SFXR. Just Google. 5. Apples development application is called Xcode. You write your code in there and implement all of the source files (images, music, ...). You can test your app right in the iPhone simulator on your Mac.
1. Play lot of games. And I mean, really really a lots! 2. For iPhone you can use Objective C or C/C++. Just get the iPhone SDK. 3. It requires artistic skill. You can use Photoshop for 2D & 3DSMax & Maya for 3D. But they are just tools. It all depends on how good you are in painting/ modeling. Combining 2D & 3D will usually gives best result. See below for an example. The house, tree, fish and everything are 3D models. The 3D modellers will make the models then another 2D graphic artist will create the textures to give it real-world appearance. 4. Music instruments + recorder for music. For sound effects, anything can be used 5. XCode is a good answer.
Actually I will have to change my old laptop soon, and I was thinking about switching to Mac... one of the reasons would be to play a bit with that.
1. Lots of creative people, beer helps too. 2. C/C++ 3. You don't, unless you're a designer or a 3D graphics artist. Do what you are good at. If you like programming, you should stick to that. 4. Buy a proper microphone and spend a couple of days recording sounds and tweaking them and trying them out. Music is harder, let someone else do that, see nbr 3. 5. Hard work and no sleep
This has been my stumbling point. I have the books, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out (I've been programming for 20 years now), and even if I can't come up with a good idea, I have friends that can. I just need that stinkin' Mac...
Thinking. Drinking. Lots and lots and lots of playing. A long history of gaming never hurts. Objective-C. You'll need some OpenGL learnin' if you want to get into the whole 3D thing, too. Photoshop, in large part, but 3D modelling software (Maya, 3ds Max, etc.) can be thrown in there too if that's your gig. That one's tricky. Music can be done either with MIDI instruments or softsynths. On a Mac you could use Garage Band. I use Fruity Loops under Windows myself. That's good for music and some sound effects, too. Otherwise, there are lots 'n lots of royalty-free sound sample CDs you can buy from a wide variety of sources. And of course, there's always the Wilhelm Scream. Duct tape. Duct tape solves everything. Er, seriously, this is really a design question. Putting it all together is nothing more than adding it to your resources in the IDE (that's the visual development thingy you write your program in -- Integrated Development Environment) and then writing the code that puts it to work. Actually, this question is about the same as "How ou write apps?" I was in the same boat -- we've even been designing everything we could design on Windows that didn't require a Mac. I did recently acquire a Macbook though, so now things are full steam ahead. (Well, first I need to know how to make that steam, but that's to be expected.) I found out the hard way that Macs tend to hold their resale value pretty well, so they ain't cheap, but you can still pick up a Macbook for $400 or so as the cheapest route.
Amen. I have that same problem I got graphics down packed, got my resources(books, interenet etc.) the only thing holding me back is lack of a mac. It's actually incredibly frustrating to have many solid ideas with almost all design mapped out(menu screens, UI, characters, enemies, and landscape) and just not have the on resource which is the starting block to creating everything, honestly it just makes you feel like an empty dreamer. Personally I have at least 4 solid ideas which Im pretty confindent that they would do well in the appstore and be fun, but my only problem is that a mac is about $800 away, but enough of that lol.
