iPhone Dev Resource

It’s been a while since my last post, but that’s because I’ve been busy on my latest title – Pegs In Space.  You can check it out over at www.jseuss.com. It’s a puzzle/physics game.

Anyhow, what better reason than to share some things I’ve learnt along the way starting with …

Scope

Before writing any application you need to set a goal that is both realistic and achievable.  And this seems to be more important for games than any other genre. For some reason, people who like playing games, think that equates to liking/being good at writing games.  If you’ve never written a game before it’s probably no surprise that you shouldn’t try to write an epic FPS with realistic gameplay and story line.  But a lot of people fall into the trap of underestimating the effort to produce a simple turn based strategy, or even more common, some sort of RPG.  

If you’re completely new to the scene, try something a little easier.  Graphics and artwork will either cost you money or time (or both) so pick a game that’s both easy to draw and easy to write.  Many solitaire games are very simple and will give you an idea of how to process and transition between game states (I’ll talk about this later).  It’ll also allow you to play with visual effects without the need for high responsiveness.

 From there you can create board type games with a computer opponent, introducing AI, then perhaps branch into games with levels where object management comes into play.  The choice is yours really.  But remember to keep adding to your past experiences and release every app you build.  

But to get back to the point, keep your apps simple, with only a few features that are new to you and stick to the plan.  Release your app and start another rather than adding ‘one more thing’ until you have a big messy pile of code.  

Next post I’ll be talking about different ways to approach reuse so each app is much easier than the last.