iPhone Game Development. GameSalad vs Hard Coding vs other?..

condra

Hi everyone.

I recently decided to get into iPhone game development.

My main goal is to create a puzzle game, and later, a small 2D RPG game. I'm hoping to achieve this within a year.

I have a background in graphic/web design (front end), and have some basic java, as well as experience with pro audio.

I had started learning Objective C, and bits and pieces of Xcode, but then I discovered GameSalad, which seems to be a very handy way to make games for the iPhone, without having to learn Objective C.

Can someone please advise me, are there any caveats to taking the GameSalad route and putting Obj-C and Xcode on the "backburner"?

Also, is there perhaps another environment which specifically caters for iPhone game development?

Thanks for any advice.

condra

I was also looking at Corona, but apparently the $350 price tag is per year, not for an outright purchase :mad:

Cocos2d I guess.

Anima

Well I've no experience with any of those things you mentioned. However in general, when there is a framework that abstracts the coding away from the designer / user, you usually give up some amount of customisation and optimistation. Basically you'll only be able to do what the engine can do.

I'd say its probably a good thing, seeing as you're unfamiliar with Obj-C. It makes much more sense to just learn GameSalad and make the game that way.

Rabble Rabble

yeah, try gamesalad for now. Learning Objective C to program a game ( never a trivial task) is going to take a long time.

Gabbro

Cocos2d is great and for your RPG game that is probably the answer. For the puzzle game, depending on the functionality you can use JavaScript with some framework like Sencha Touch or HTML5.

Genghiz Cohen

What previous experience do you have?
Java?
C/++?

condra

Hey. Thanks for all your replies.

Genghiz Cohen, I've experience with HTML/CSS and some basic Java and Javascript.

I've decided to knock GameSalad on the head for starters. Apparently the software has a lot of limitations, and the games are not very well optimized.

I was really interested in Corona until I discovered the $350 dollar price tag was PER YEAR. Very interesting product though.

I've started learning XCode and Objective C, and I plan on getting stuck into Cocos 2D in a month or two.

Right now, I'm reading these 2 books:





It will definitely take a while, but Im really enjoying learning something new.

Genghiz Cohen

Apress is fantastic. I read "Beginning iPhone Development" to get me started. See if there is a iPhone 4 version.

Also if something doesn't make sense sometime the book has an error that will be corrected on the Apress forums.

Obj-C is heavy on the pointers, so make sure you fully understand them.
It is also very heavy on Object Orientation, so get yer fill of OO too.