"First time" developing.

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by henr1kk, Dec 20, 2008.

  1. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
    #1 henr1kk, Dec 20, 2008
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2008
    So, I want to develop games for the iPhone.
    Games have been my main form of entertainment since I was 5 years old (with movies being a close second) and I've had some, IMO, pretty good ideas for games but never got around to learn how to make them.

    Now, with the iPhone, all that changes.
    I can make a pretty cool game without spending a lot of money.
    But I don't know where to start...

    I decided to buy these books (and learn/read them in this order):

    Learn C on the Mac
    http://www.amazon.com/Learn-C-Mac-Dave-Mark/dp/1430218096/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229814964&sr=8-1

    Learn Objective-C on the Mac
    http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Objective-ndash-C-Mac/dp/1430218150/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229814991&sr=8-2

    Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK
    http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-iPhone-Development-Exploring-SDK/dp/1430216263/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229815009&sr=8-3


    Do you think this is a good way to start and will these books (combined with lots of practice and some tutorials) be enough for me to develop a simple game on the iPhone?
     
  2. THEDeliriumTrigger

    THEDeliriumTrigger Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2008
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    It seems like it, but what do i know lol. I mean, if i wanted to start dev'ing, i would give em a read prob.

    Game Suggestion: iJello. Lol, i think that would be so fun, just jiggling it all day..... and since apparently boobs have already been rejected, its the next best thing!
     
  3. jonaswills

    jonaswills Well-Known Member
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    Nov 11, 2008
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    your going to need art too... programming is only 1/2 the process
     
  4. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Yeah! I had some doubts about that too...
    What's the software used for "drawing" game art?

    I'm a total noob at this, sorry...
     
  5. jonaswills

    jonaswills Well-Known Member
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  6. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
  7. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
    Just one more question...
    What software is used to create (draw) 2D game art, like the characters, the environment, etc?
    In what format must it be exported in order to be used on an iPhone game?

    Are there any good and recent books or tutorials dedicated to 2D game art?

    Thanks
     
  8. rootbeersoup

    rootbeersoup Well-Known Member

    Oct 4, 2008
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    New Orleans, LA
    Wear protection
     
  9. drunknbass

    drunknbass Well-Known Member

    Nov 8, 2008
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    usually you refer to this as sprites, and you use any graphic design related app you want. i use photoshop and illustrator, and for animations of explosions or other pre drawn keyframe animation i use after effects or combustion.

    designing good art is a skill of its own, just lik programming good games, apps.. it might be easy for some to learn obj-c or photoshop, but each of these takes time to really get good at.. so just start small if you want to do it and dont give up.. eventually youll start to hone your skills and decide where to focus your creativity
     
  10. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
    Thanks :D
     
  11. TheOZ

    TheOZ Well-Known Member

    Dec 21, 2008
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    If you're ever interested im trying to get into developing and the sorts, and I have been spriting for about 2 years. In the past couple years i've learned quite a bit of stuff in my first year of spriting and in my second year of spriting leaned more torwards perfecting the skill. I've learned things such as shading techniques, angles, etc. and would be happy to provide help(cooperation) with you once you've gotten everything together.

    If you would like you could give me an example of what graphics(sprites) would be incorporated in your game and I could probably give you a little preview. If you consider my offer here's my email adress:

    [email protected]

    We could even discuss this through pms if you'd like. Well hopefully you'll think about my offer, thanks for your time.

    Regards,
    TheOZ
     
  12. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
    Ok!
    Thanks for the offer :)
    I plan on learning C and Obj-C for now but will keep your e-mail address for future contact.
    I have a couple of friends who are good with Fireworks, PShop, Flash and Illustrator but the more, the merrier :D
     
  13. blt3d

    blt3d Well-Known Member

    Dec 22, 2008
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    I would consider Unity3d as well.
     
  14. stevec319

    stevec319 Member

    Aug 12, 2008
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  15. InsolentDreams

    InsolentDreams Well-Known Member

    Seconded...

    I was just going to recommend this book, I'm glad you did steve. I will second this recommendation. This is the book I used to learn Objective-C. It is awesome. Everything it teaches directly relates to practices you should get used to in iPhone development. Its tips for memory management are phenomenal since there are some major quirks to managing your own memory in Objective-C.

    Definitely get this book. I recommend it so very highly. I also slightly recommend not reading those other books first, as this book was recently updated to the third edition (Make sure you get third edition) and it works great on Leopard and the latest XCode.

    All the tutorials and hints and tips of this book are very relevant for the iPhone platform.

    And once you get halfway through this book, you should be confident enough to really start doing something with the iPhone SDK. Maybe not make the next big app, but at least do something cool to show off here. :)

    Cheers and good luck!
     
  16. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal

    Thank you so much for the tips!
    I'm currently starting to learn C.
    Should I go straight to that book after "mastering" C or should I learn ObjC first and then read that book?
    I'm really happy with "Learn C on the Mac". The 4th edition is also updated to match the latest XCode and Dave Mark is a great writer/teacher, IMO.
    I'm thinking about getting his "Learn Objective C on the Mac" book and then buying the one you suggested.
    What are your thoughts?

    P.S.: Thanks to everyone for all the help!
     
  17. InsertWittyName

    InsertWittyName Well-Known Member

    Nov 26, 2008
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    Another recommendation for Hillegass's book.

    You don't need anything else but that, in honesty.
     
  18. Hippieman

    Hippieman Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    Senior Producer, Designer
    San Francisco
    You are missing a crucial part of learning if you want to make games. You need to learn OpenGL ES. Fortunately about any OpenGL resource will work for you. I know Brian Greenstone (the man behind Pangea) wrote a book on OpenGL, and there are many others.

    Also, be sure to download all the sample projects from Apple so you have something to reference.
     
  19. henr1kk

    henr1kk Well-Known Member

    Nov 4, 2008
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    Independent Game Designer and Developer
    Porto, Portugal
    #19 henr1kk, Dec 24, 2008
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2008
    Most people told me to buy the OpenGL "Red Book" and I'm currently looking into it.
    I also have the "Pangea Software’s Ultimate Game Programming Guide for Mac OS X" PDF (which is quite old, IMO - XCode 1.5).
    And I've downloaded every sample project on the Apple dev site.
    I'm really excited about starting to program and develop apps :)


    I want my first game to be a 2D action-platformer. I have everything written down, from the concept, to controls, etc. Do I need OGL knowledge to create 2D graphics?
     
  20. Hippieman

    Hippieman Well-Known Member

    Nov 6, 2008
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    Senior Producer, Designer
    San Francisco
    OpenGL is great for handling 2D graphics and you can do quite a lot with it.

    Definitely rip open the apple projects and build form them. You should be able to get something up and displaying and interacting with touches in a day. Just start simple and build from there.
     

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