New indie developers [Archive]

blt3d

12-22-2008, 12:48 PM

whats up guys. im a new developer whose getting started with iphone games. i bought Unity 3d and basically jumped in. I've been learning as I go, reading forums about programming and the best way to use the iPhone's resources. My first got game approved in 2 days, and its been selling pretty good considering its my first game ever!
Anyways, I just wanted to start a thread for new devs or for people who are interested in learning this stuff. It's not that bad :)

DanM

12-22-2008, 02:20 PM

Cool, I saw your app in UK store. Did you have any previous programming experience before using Unity 3d? How long did it take from wanting to make an ipod game to havin made it?

blt3d

12-22-2008, 03:05 PM

I did alil HTML before but no not really. I just read the Unity forums and fooled around with the scripting language until I came up with stuff I liked lol. I toyed around with the iPhone input methods and user interface stuff for a few weeks before I got Trash it running well enough to be playable.

field5

12-22-2008, 06:04 PM

just curious...how many have you sold?

blt3d

12-22-2008, 07:23 PM

so far in the US, 47 units sold. not too bad for a first game I'd say:)

field5

12-22-2008, 08:53 PM

nice job with the app so where can I learn how to make an app??
thanks

blt3d

12-23-2008, 12:57 AM

I developed my whole game with Unity 3d, worked out pretty well.

field5

12-23-2008, 01:51 AM

nice...how much did u pay for unity3d?

blt3d

12-24-2008, 08:50 AM

Unity3d was $200, the iPhone basic license was $400, plus the $99 Apple developer fee

Homasterflexx

12-24-2008, 01:47 PM

yeah i'm a little disappointed that it costs so much to start developing. i want to do it for fun and its goign to cost quite a bit, especially i need to buy a macbook to start!

blt3d

12-24-2008, 04:14 PM

If you don't mind working in Windows, there 's an engine called Shiva thats alot cheaper. Its €169,00 so if I'm not mistaken thats around $200.
http://www.stonetrip.com/index.php

arkanigon

12-28-2008, 06:18 AM

Hi blt3d. I was wondering, does Unity3d include tools for wifi and multiplayer development? Thanks.

blt3d

12-28-2008, 11:23 AM

i think only the Advanced (http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses#iphone) ($1499) license inlcudes support for multiplayer. The basic license only has support for high scores.

arkanigon

12-28-2008, 11:55 AM

i think only the Advanced (http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses#iphone) ($1499) license inlcudes support for multiplayer. The basic license only has support for high scores.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

gillygize

12-29-2008, 01:35 PM

If you don't have a Mac, this might not be possible, but I just used XCode to build my game. $100 to put it on the iTunes Store, but the development package was free.

You can download all kinds of samples from Apple to teach yourself how to program.

byteclub

12-30-2008, 08:58 AM

I'm with gillygize on this one - XCode and the documentation that comes with the SDK should be enough to get started. Knowing C/C++ beforehand helps immensely. Apple makes pretty good tutorials and there is a ton of sample code.
___________
Developer of the multiplayer online game Scramboni (http://byteclub.com/scramboni)

DavidLeblond

12-30-2008, 01:40 PM

brewstermax

12-30-2008, 03:01 PM

Made my game with XCode, did the graphics mainly with Gimp, did the music with Garageband, and the title with Blender... free tools are great! (well technically Garageband isn't free, but it comes with the Mac.)

Sure you need to learn a bit more to write in XCode, but you can carry that knowledge over to other programming languages and perhaps your career if game programming isn't it.

I'm not a dev, but still, I don't see the need to get some expensive engine. You can make a great game without one. Ohh, and David, how in the world did you figure out how to use GIMP. That program is impossible.

DavidLeblond

12-30-2008, 03:26 PM

I'm not a dev, but still, I don't see the need to get some expensive engine. You can make a great game without one. Ohh, and David, how in the world did you figure out how to use GIMP. That program is impossible.

The program isn't quite impossible, it can be kind of annoying though. If you get use to the quirks that come with a GTK GUI in an X11 environment you can get by. The sticking point for me is the lack of shape tools.

Eric5h5

12-30-2008, 08:58 PM

I'm not a dev, but still, I don't see the need to get some expensive engine.

It depends on what you're doing...if you're making another simple match-3 game (sigh) then you probably don't need an engine. If you're making a 3D game with character animation and particles and so on, an engine can save you a huge amount of time and pay for itself in a matter of hours.

--Eric

blt3d

12-30-2008, 09:57 PM

It depends on what you're doing...if you're making another simple match-3 game (sigh) then you probably don't need an engine. If you're making a 3D game with character animation and particles and so on, an engine can save you a huge amount of time and pay for itself in a matter of hours.

--Eric
exactly. im still learning the ins and outs of programming myself, so having a dedicated engine has helped me out alot. Learning a scripting language is much easier then learning Obj-C imo

henr1kk

12-31-2008, 11:18 AM

blt3d, just out of curiosity, how much money have you made from your games up until now?

P.S: And how much did the whole Unity package cost you?

Chillingo

12-31-2008, 01:17 PM

Publish your final app through Chillingo and you could be eligible for a FREE iphone license of EDGELIB -- the superb 2D/3D game engine ! A saving of 350 USD.

More info : EDGELIB for iPhone (http://edgelib.com/index.php?node=license)

Games made using EDGELIB (http://edgelib.com/index.php?node=showcase)

Features of EDGELIB (http://edgelib.com/index.php?node=features)

gillygize

12-31-2008, 02:27 PM

I definitely think an engine is a good idea if you are going to do something 3D. I know that expensive packages can same development time.

But I still think there's no substitute for learning Objective C for iPhone dev. It really isn't that hard. I was a web developer (three years ago, not recently) and all I used was Java and PHP, but stepping into Objective C and Open GL just took a long weekend.