How many of you guys, because of the success of the app store and the hype over "good" iphone games and seeing the developments process and talking with the developers and whatnot, are actually tempted to start trying to develop iphone games yourself? I have certainly thought about it; but it just seems to complicated. I really don't know the first thing about the actual programming, even though i have a bunch of ideas that i think would make pretty fair games! Or even better, anyone here actually BECOME a dev because of the things they read here on TA?
Yup, I was inspired to produce an app for the App Store. I've tried out Unity, Torque very briefly, and now Shiva (probably the best). However, the programming is so hard to learn, I've given up for the moment because i'm going to uni next year to study game design, and they'll teach C++ there, so no point spending time trying to learn it now imo. I have loads of ideas though, can't wait until I can start to make them.
hah oops! Hate to give senior mems a bad name! considering i am one is there any way to move the thread?
I would definitely develop if i could! you are right, it is just to complicated. The good thing about being a dev is that we could just put a piece of crap app on the appstore, charge one dollar, get maybe 50 sells annd we just made 50 dollars. I know how to program small equations and stuff like temperature conversions but i wouldnt know how to put those into ipod format ot to get them to apple
Click the red triangle thingy I think. Its no biggy. I have wanted to dev for the mac SOOOOO BAD. I'm learning .NET (i'm homeschooled and go to a co-op and they have a programming class) i dont like it cause i wanne learn c,c# etc......... But thats not the case in the class.
Of course and as of right now I have a of so that's my excuse but soon my friend is getting an iMac and I'll going to help him dev but I don't no da first thing about it
Well if everyone became devs who would be left to give good advice to them?......jk......but do think we already play an important role in game making. Kind of like they drive the car and we tell em' where to go....heh!
You need a mac? I always thought all you needed was an iphone and inspiration. O well. So much for PC developing.
The iPhone SDK is programmed and made to run on a mac and os-x, so yeah you need a mac alongside an iphone, then you have to pay for the right developer license you want if you want to sell items on the app store, it's simple to do but if you lack all these things it's going to cost you a little bit to get started, as I am constantly bumping into
Well its not that bad. Most devs use C,Objective C,C#,or C++. You can get use to deving in one if those codes so when you get a macv you know what to do. You could download Microsift Visual Studio C++ and get use to C++. Before you get a mac
Ideas are commonplace, being able to execute them is critical. Here's a couple helpful pieces of advice for anyone thinking of getting into development: "Don't go at it alone." - Our first game Sliders - Match 3 was my first step in development with the iPhone/iPod Touch, but not the first time for our programmer. He had already done an application before, so he was quite familiar with Xcode, and the SDK. This prior experience helped a lot in the initial stages of prototyping. "Write a design doc." - Having a universal design doc (or design bible) allows you to organize all the information, concepts, rules, gameplay mechanics, etc.. in 1 single place. This makes development a lot easier. Expect to revise and update this document more then you could ever imagine possible. "Simplify and iterate." - The initial designs i wrote for Sliders - Match 3 had several additional modes, features, and ideas that never made it to the final version. They would have resulted in at least 1-2 more months of development time, and would probably not have resulted in significantly greater sales as a result. It's ok to cut features. Focus on keeping things simple, casual, fun, and addictive. "Organize your tasks and todo's" - It's one thing to have a list of what to do, but knowing what everyone is completing, and what is needed to be done overall helps a lot. I'd suggest using a tool like Fogbugz to organize all tasks, bugs, and features.
I've been wanting to make my own apps, but the problem is I dont have apple computer! The other hurdle I would have to get over is the program language. At the moment I only know how to program with Visual Studio (Visual Basic). I don't know the syntax of the language required for the iPhone. I haven't had time to actually learn it. The only thing i'd be able to make at the moment is the game art. I've been working graphics for a long time now. My brother is learning the language though so hopefully he can help me understand the syntax and we can start making apps, with the purchase of a mac of course....
We drive the car and we tell us where to go, not you. Do you remember what happens to threads that say "Make me this app" or "This is a good idea, make it"?
Yeah i've always stuck with PC since my first comp...But for my next computer i might get a MAC, especially now that i have a lot of apple software; Maybe then i can get into Deving. But really, the games like Scoops, Textropolis, Up There, all "simple" games content wise, but i play them all the time! Those are the kind of games that make me want to dev, because they're so polished and fun and yet they're not super duper complex like a game such as Zen Bound or Sway.
Although being able to be a developer on a game up to par with Zen Bound or Sway would be awesome too.
I've been working on getting into development since early last September. I finally got a Mac last month and am working toward learning Objective-C and the iPhone SDK. It wasn't anything to do with this place (I didn't even know this place existed last year), I was frankly just inspired by the iPhone and the innovative business model of the App Store. I've been a programmer before, wrote some of my own stuff years ago on other platforms, but I haven't picked up a compiler in a good 12 years, so I've got a lot of re-learning to do.
Not only do you need a Mac, but you need OS 10.5. I just signed up as an iPhone Dev yesterday and could not download the SDK because I'm on OS 10.4. I just wanted to check out the development environment. You can download and use the SDK for free. (I am a Windows application developer by profression, so I am already familiar with software development.)
