Temped to Dev?

Yes, me!!

My brother will be the coder and I have already gotten the main gameplay down, although it will probably alter as soon as the actual coding and development begins (we are stalled do to a few complications). If you want to help, check out "Developing Puzzle Game . . . Open for suggestions" thread in the dev. section. Your opinions are valued and will hopefully make this game a truly great title.

 

If you read the tech review of iDracula, you'll see that it was done by a 2 man team. Not everything requires giant development teams. Proper planning, and execution is critical to a solid release.

 

Yea im on the same boat as pretty much everyone else, ever since around Novemeber when I first found out about these forums I got this urge to want to create iPhone applications and hopefully that urge will soon be satisfied. My friend has always wanted to make a game and he had already been thinking of ideas since middle school and once I introduced him to the iPhone and how it was practical enough for almost anybody to make it he was more ready then ever. We already have tutorials online and a book he got from christmas so all we need is a mac and the SDK and since our families are pretty supportive and we are going to be saving up money with jobs and what not we should be able to scrounge up about $1000(Mac(600)SDK(200)Unity(only because it would make it easier the first time we develop. 200 or 300). It may be harder then I am making it, but still it's a plan nonetheless.

 

It's actually not as hard as you think. If you know c then you can pick up objective c in an afternoon and cocoa in about that same time frame. I started to learn objective c awhile back and picked it up fast. Then real life kicked in and, well I had no time to continue with cocoa.

Anyway it's really not that hard. I started with TRS-80 basic way back when and from there moved onto c-circa 1984ish-was about 11 years old.

IMO you should learn c then c++ or you'll have to unlearn quite a few things.

 

I have a question.

IF I learn anything in .NET will ir carry over?? (I know the syntax wont)

But like this:

Code:

MessageBox1.Show = ("X_____X")

Will a code like that carry over or not?

For C.C++, etc.....

 

yep, same thing happened to me... I'm selling my powermac G4 and buying a new 15' MBP...

 

Before I started iPhone development, I didn't even have an iPhone, or a Mac. I decided to spent the ~$800 to buy a Mini and a Touch. I had zero Obj-C experience.

I do have a CS degree, and experience with C++, Java, ActionScript 3, etc... It took me about 2 weeks to get together a Pong demo. After that, everything has been really easy. Obviously I don't know all the tricks for memory management, performance, etc... but I know enough to pretty much do anything I could do in one of the other languages in Obj-C. Honestly, there's not THAT much difference. The syntax in a little weird at times and there are other little nuances. But all the concepts you expect are probably there (including but not limited to loops, conditionals, functions, classes, collections, etc... ). If you know any of the languages I mentioned above, you'll feel at home after a few weeks.

If it's your first game, I highly recommend using an engine to get you started too. I've said it before, but cocos2d is fantastic. Basically, it abstracts away all the OpenGL and setup you would need to do, and helps you get started in putting together a game ASAP.

I don't have a game released yet, but I've been working on one for awhile now and don't regret shelling out the $$$ at all.

 

I highly encourage anyone interested in game development to give it a shot. I started out learning Flash many many years ago, and it was a great way to ease into proper programming and interactive design.

Also everyone should know starting out that 99% of iPhone devs probably aren't making much of anything off the App Store.

 

Sorry to offend you but think you took statement wrong way from my intent and my statment may have been misunderstood. Was trying to say suggestions from gamers has helped games become better. Unless you disput this?

 

YES!! Omg... me and my friend had it all planned out... had a few ideas.... even had a company name and motto.. XD
But 1) we didnt have the money to get a Mac (at first i just wanted a mac for this not i really love them and want one eventually even if i dont program)
And 2) the programming language just seems way to hard to learn.... if only there were some super "For Dummies" way where you could drag and drop. HA!
or if only someone could somehow port over the SDK to windows (so i could try some out until i can finally get a Mac) I know that its almost impossible because it runs off Xcode and all but anyone with half a brain knows that technology has proven us that NOTHING is impossible on the software side with enough work. I think it would be awesome if someone like ported it over and then sold everything to apple and then they cleaned it all up and added their stamp of approval and released a windows version....

*sigh*
....if only....

 

same problem.
my friend and i have been thinking about this, we're learning java so we have some programming experience. neither of us has a mac so we can't try anything out

during a lab in class my physics teacher saw me using the ihandly level on my ipod to measure the angle of an inclined plane. he was amazed. bought one for himself and said he'd speak to the school principal about it cuz he liked the graphing calculator and periodic table apps. he was telling our whole class about it and how developing an app could be a nice project, some of my classmates have macs so they have an advantage over me

 

How is the best way to get started (learning wise)?

Where should we begin, what kind of books should we read?

 

Technically you don't need a Mac so much as need OS X 10.5. And the operating system can work on Intel based IBM compatible PCs. So I believe that you could use your current PC to develop games if and only if you figure out a way to get Mac OS X 10.5 running.

But, then again, running Apple's OS on anything that is NOT a Mac is a violation of the software license, so...do so at your own risk.

And getting it running on non-Apple hardware is headache inducing anyway. Some bugs and such.

So best bet is to get a Mac Mini if you don't want to invest too much money. The new Mini's are pretty nicely powered, and you can actually configure one to act as a sort of beefed up Apple TV box if you want to do so (Apple really needs to update Apple TV...I'm tellin' ya, if they actually opened up an Apple TV SDK as they did with the iTouch/Phone, Apple TV would take off in sales). Or you can get an Apple factory refurbished last gen Mini for quite a bit less.

 

I'd start with two books;

Progamming Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen Kochan. This books assumes no prior programming knowledge whatsoever and takes you step-by-step through the process of loading XCode and starting to work in it. It covers many different topics about utilizing many of the iPhone's features, choosing the right views for the right application, and so on, holding your hand and explaining everything that's going on it pretty plain English and code samples. Really good for the beginner.

Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK by Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche. Much like the above book, this is a very good hand-holding book. It takes you from downloading and installing the SDK and covers an even wider range of topics than Kochan's book, including Core Graphics and OpenGL, which Kochan's book doesn't touch on. This one is best for those who want to start writing games.

Both books are excellent and worth buying. I bought both of them and am currently going through them. They use plain English, give plenty of code samples, diagrams, and explanations of each line of code to get you comfortable even if you're starting with zero experience in programming.

Also read this Wikipedia article on game programming to get a kind of generalized theory on how games are designed from a development perspective.

 

iPhone SDK Application Development

O'Reilly books are solid.



I've always learned best through doing and experimenting first-hand though, but that varies from person to person.

 

I know 3D modelling very well but i'm still a code novice, if you wish to make your own game no goal is too big

To keep things realistic, I know that my first app will not come out until near the end of the year, and I also know a lot of quick made app's tend to only do well for the first week or two at a low price, so plenty to think about as I learn.

 

BTW, to answer the original question, I'm investigating my options right now. I've got a last gen Macbook Pro, so I'm good to go for development. But there's that little issue of having little to no development know how. I've developed things on my own using gamemaker on Windows, and tinkered with BASIC way back in the day...but stuff like C, C++, or Objective C (the latter is used directly for iTouch/Phone development)...no. Hell...I don't even know Java (but, what the hell...I'll learn that too I guess).

I'll probably do something "simple" first time out. Like a memory match game or something. I've got a film and photo and writing background, so it might come in handy for stuff like memory match and/or "spot the difference" type games, especially if tied with some sort of narrative. Plus, stuff like Alternate Endings shows me that FMV driven titles might do moderately well, so...y'know...I can go that route. And I would love to try my hand at an audio adventure game like Soul Trapper.

Basically, I would be looking to do something relatively simple that also taps into the strengths I already have, and perhaps fills an under served niche in the marketplace. I'm not looking to make tons of money because I know that niche titles wouldn't do as well as titles that appeal to broad audiences, and also I'm not even a novice but a complete n00b in terms of development on this platform. But by serving a niche I won't be in competition with a bunch of other like titles. Match 3, I think, is a tough segment to crack as there are so many match 3 games out there.

I do have an idea for a shmup, because I'm a shmup fan...but small steps first. Same deal with the "big" game idea I have that, looking around the app store, has not been satisfied at all. I won't get into detail, as it most likely won't come to be, but it's one of my top 3 favorite genres behind adventure games and shmups (though shmups is technically a subgenre).

 

So I should buy this and read this before starting the iPhone books?

 

me too