You'll need a Mac to develop for iOS as it currently stands. I haven't heard anything that points to that changing in the near future, but maybe someone else has?
so far there is no "Free" engine to use (some are trial base) for windows.. my honest opinion is to learn the "native" language, and use something like cocos2d... I know its a trouble, but in the long run, you will thank yourself.. but if you want to make games for the short term.. there are readily available "free with branding" type of engine.. but mostly requires a mac..
Another vote for Cocos2D. Takes care of most of the grunt work, but leaves enough flexibility to really do whatever you want.
-1 for Cocos2D and +1 for Unity3D: http://unity3d.com/ Unity 3D is the first "real" engine mentioned in this thread. That means you have a real editor / visual IDE for all your game's assets and you are not limited to a proprietary language (Objective-C) plus you can develop platform independently. If you have no idea how to code then maybe GameSalad is your best choice: http://gamesalad.com/ But if you are looking for a free engine (as you mentioned UDK's costs) then I have to pass...Unity3D iOS basic costs 400$, GameSalad = ???$. The free stuff are mostly collections of opensource frameworks, no real engines. At least not what I would call an engine.
The UDK is free to download and use. If you want to distribute your app you need to pay $99. Then you pay a 25% royalty on any income over $50,000 (you pay nothing on the first $50,000). If your app makes that much, you probably won't mind. I'll probably check it out soon. Looks very powerful.
Then please enlighten me as your comment is ambiguous. Beside the basic stuff I need for my Unity3D projects I never used Objective-C. So is this language avaiable for other platforms beside Apple's? Please note that Whiteplayer asks for an "...iOS engine for windows...". Even Cocos2D is no option then. With Unity 3D I have the choice between C# and Javascript. C#...if I had to choose a language for Windows AND iOS development this would be - or better this is - my favourite. However, Whiteplayer3d is asking for an engine, not for a programming language. Regarding programming languages everyone has his preferences. Assuming the topicstarter does not own a Mac (because he is asking for Windows) GameSalad is the only choice as far as I know. For Unity you still need a Mac to build the binary. I dont know how UDK handles the final steps.
I figured actually quoting the sentence in the last post should be sufficient? Objective-C isn't any more proprietary than what you suggest. While your suggestions might be more suitable for the OP it is pretty pointless to start slamming Objective-C. Unless you want to start a coders war of religion.
Huh? I do not want to slam anyone or anything! Even not Objective-C - why should I? Without it not a single game of mine would run. However, out of interest, what is wong with "proprietary" in combination with Objective-C? Maybe I translated it wrong, but with "proprietary" all I want to say is: "you are limited to Apple's devices with that language". I dont meant to rate that language! Simply because wars based on religion are the worst.
Shiva allows iOS development in Windows. I don't know how good it is though as I am Mac based. It is odd them not supporting Mac for iOS development.
Ah, but you see you are wrong. While not really much used there's nothing stopping you developing in Objective-C for other platforms as well. Cocoa is of course a different matter. But I am probably guilty of being way too defensive about this stuff, I guess I've just read one "Objective-C sucks because..."-post too many. [hatchet setBurried: YES];
Ah, I thought so. No - that was not my intention. Everybody may use whatever language he/she may like to use.
Indeed. Especially those who haven't yet discovered Objective-C is an obviously better language and huge improvement over C# & C++.
unity We love working with unity3d. its a wonderful engine with great resources and a good forum. You can try the free version for PC and if you love it pay 400 dollar for the IOS Version (Mac only). The new Android Version works with PC ( 400 dollar)
GameSalad — the basic version — is free. It currently Mac OS X only. Not just any version of Mac OS either. 10.6 is listed as one of the requirements. If you want things like hyperlinks, iAds and custom loading screens, that's $499 a year. Supposedly, better features are on the way... http://gamesalad.com/corporate/roadmap/ Yeah, heh, Corona is cool option for PC development. I'm not sure if apps can be signed though. I never got that far. HA HA! I was amazed at how Corona works. Basically, you make a new project by making a new folder and a text file called main.lua. Corona has a free trial.
