What are people using mostly to build iPhone games with? I'm learning iPhone programming. Currently I'm watching all the stanford vidcast, doing the assigments and going through the beginning iphone development apress book. I want to get into building games and want to know if developers are buidling everything with opengl es or are they using pre-existing game engines?
Depends how graphic-intensive the app is.
If it needs a lot of graphics, go with a pre-existing engine.
If not, many use OpenGL ES
I believe most people are simply using Apple's APIs. Other than that, I think cocos2d is pretty popular.
You can find a bunch of suggestions here:
learning iphone game development
Which technologies/concepts do you suggest I learn before creating an iPhone game?
I used Unity. There's been a lot of great games (even in the top 10) that used it. You don't even need to know objective-C. The code is written in scripting languages using C#, Javascript or boo and then compiled. It is expensive. It will cost you a minimum $600 for an indie license to do iPhone apps. unity3d.com
It's tough to get up to speed writing a game with all the APIs to learn and few good game examples (especially if you are new to Objective-C). I ended up tracking down the old crashlander source, which is notoriously hard to find since Apple pulled it.
There are probably half a dozen iPhone game programming books in the pipeline. Until then, the learning curve is pretty steep.
I'd suggest starting with an OpenGL 2D sprite-based game. Start by learning OpenGL ES, the touch system, then the audio system.
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I just started C++ lessons not so long ago because I am interested in game development. Obviously I am nowhere near creating my own game yet but I was reading some guides on game development and it was talking about Unity and how it makes game development a lot easier than having to code 100% of the game.
However, I also watched some tutorials on youtube regarding SFML which can also be used for game developing, what are the differences? and can you use both at the same time?
I have already started learning about SFML but Unity seems so much simpler to use.
Thanks in advance.
In theory yes, but it's not practical, so the real answer is no.
SFML provides access to basic APIs (OpenGL, OpenAL, OS APIs, FreeType 2, etc) which can be used to build complex applications on top, for example like an engine more in the direction of Unity (e.g. xygine, Nero Game Engine).
But since Unity already provides access to all the things SFML would provide, there's really no reason in trying to integrate SFML into Unity. Similar to how it wouldn't make sense to integrate the Unreal Engine into Unity.
If you really want to do it, you'd approach it similar to how #Programmer described it in the comments.
I have good experience with the iPhone development tools and making apps with window based applications and stuff. I am now trying to make an awesome 3D game, which is an area I have never tried out.
I am very interested in learning about the development of "INFINITY BLADE" and I am very curious to know how it was developed and how they were able to develop it with so much detail.
I had already looked at links like iPhone 3D Engines, but it seems outdated.
Where is a good place to start for learning HIGH Performance 3D games for iPhone / iPad ?
Could you share any tips on the development life cycle for the 3D Games ??
Tools used for making high quality 3D images for the creative side of iPhone Development ? And resources on the creative side ?
Could you share the game development life cycle for a particular app , or perhaps your comments on the development of Infinity Blade ?
This isn't a full answer, but I decided to post it anyways.
Infinity blade was written using unreal engine 3, which recently (or not so recently) got an export to iPhone option. Unreal engine is the same engine used for games such as gears of war. I'm assuming that the actual difficulty of getting high quality graphics to run well on the iPhone was handled by unreal engine. As for making the graphics, I'm sure they hired a (bunch of) 3D artists. You can get the UDK for unreal off of their website, which allows you to start learning with it. The only caveat is the cost of the engine when you actually want to release a game.
I've never actually used it so I can't give too much information on it, but you could try looking at cocos2d's lesser known sibling, cocos3d. That would probably be the most cost effective way to learn how to do some 3d game programming in obj-c.
http://brenwill.com/cocos3d/
But if you're looking to bang a game out quickly and learn a good amount about game development, Unity3D might be the best option. They have a few really good hands on tutorials.
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/
I might be wrong, but I think Unity might require the use of C# under mono, in which case I'm not sure if that would be something you're looking for.
Can anyone tell me what should i use to make games for iPhone...
Actually i am a simple application programmer ...but never made complicated high graphics games...
i have made some games but only simple one...
Which tool is good for me to start....
i am aware of OPenGL...is it good to start with this ??
I'd say if you're reasonably competent with iOS & Objective-C, then it might be worth taking a peek at the likes of Cocos2D. There's also the iOS port of Flixel (which you can grab with the source to Canabalt which is sitting on Github), but compared to Cocos2D - it's a little less polished due to it only being recently out there.
Unity's great if you're familiar with C# or JavaScript and interested in wanting to do 3D games - and if you're not as interested in going the full-hog with learning OpenGL ES.
Corona is the best thing for you start looking into.
I'd suggest a trip to the bookstore, to find a book which speaks to you, regarding iPhone Game Dev. A quick look at Amazon reveals quite a number.
There's a lot to consider when making games, it's a huge topic.
You should check out Unity 3D.
For someone new to iPhone development and game dev in general, I'd say start with Cocoa Touch as it is simpler than OpenGL and you can create simple games (for example words games) with it. And even if you decide to develop an OpenGL app for the iOs you still need to work with Cocoa so there is no escape from learning it.
Once you get your head around objective-c/cocoa/xcode and iphone development in general, then start looking at OpenGL.
What are people's opinions and/or experiences with game engines such as Unity or Torque Engine? If one were new to iPhone game dev is it worth it to learn one of the engines? What is the performance difference between apps generated by those engines vs a natively built App using the sdk?
Both will equal the performance of what most people could write themselves (i.e. if you're not an experienced game engine developer).
Whether it's worth learning (and buying since both Unity and Torque cost for iPhone development) you'll have to ask yourself two questions:
Is my game idea suited the engine?
Is my passion for programming or game design?
Looking at the range of games made with Unity, it seems very flexible because although it is a 3d engine, lots of 2d games have been made with it. The downside of using Unity for something very simple (say, a match-3 tile game) is that it's a bit over the top in terms of download size.
On the passion issue, some people like programming a lot and will always feel it's better to write the engine themselves. And that's OK. But if you have a great idea for a game and just want to 'bring it to market' as soon as possible, and it requires 3d rendering, character animation, that sort of thing, using Torque or Unity is going to get you there a lot faster.
If you want to do 2d development you should have a look at cocos2d iphone it is implemented in cocoa free open source and very easy to pick up
I think time to market is important to consider - if your going to burn out after a short time and of the engines mentioned above will allow you to build and launch a game quickly compared to writing the engine & game from scratch.
Like U62 said, where is your passion?
Currently I'm building a framework/engine and a game. Its a great learning experience, but we had to understand that it would take a long time (we have day jobs) and that we have to just keep chipping away at it. So far, the experience has been an eye opener and I've learned a great deal ... however, would I do it again? Probably not - I think I prefer designing the game and coding game specific logic - not engine specific.
I've done a lot of research on the platforms and I personally really like Unity. You can email them and request the iphone trial license.
Anyways, good luck!
I know Java pretty well. I know now most of the Basics in Objective-C.
I know nothing about Photoshop. I know how to use TurboCAD 10 Professional, so I do have some experience in 3D object modelling. Although not much.
What do I have to learn step-by-step, to come to 3D game Development for iPhone? What Tools do I need? Which Books help out? How long did you learn?
Learning the basic ins-and-outs of OpenGL ES on the iPhone took me about 3 weeks. I post some of my observations on the subject here. The source code to my Molecules iPhone application, which uses OpenGL ES, is available here. Maybe you'll be able to find something useful in that example. However, there's nothing in there that deals with textures, which you'll probably need for your game. Bill Dudney has posted source code for a Wavefront OBJ modeler on the iPhone that may help in that regard. For a good text on OpenGL ES, I'd recommend "Mobile 3D Graphics: with OpenGL ES and M3G".
When it comes to Cocoa development in general, it will take you a little while to get up to speed. For me, it was about 6 months before I felt comfortable with it, although that was in the more complex Mac desktop environment. I post some resources for learning Cocoa here, although that's by no means an exhaustive list.
I agree with diciu, this is a bit much for someone just starting out on the platform. I'd find a simpler application or series of targeted applications (that you may never even release) to help you learn the core concepts before you leap into 3-D game design.
Your goal is very ambitious - I think it's a very hard project to tackle as the first project on the iPhone and you'd be better off starting out with a couple of simple Cocoa touch applications to get a feel for the platform.
For a simulation game I would start with experimenting with some physics engine such as bullet. Bullet is C++ and you can use it from Objective-C++.
For rendering 3D you probably want to use OpenGL ES.
I guess that OpenGL is worth a look.