iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [25]
FIGURE 2.26
The application icon for Hello World on the iPhone Simulator
Summary
Now that you have completed your first application, we can officially welcome you to the exciting world of iPhone programming! We have only begun to scratch the surface of all of the possibilities that are open to you. By now you have the skills you need to begin exploring many of those possibilities. You are ready to create your own iPhone applications from scratch. You have the knowledge to display text and graphics. And you know how to make the application respond to timers repeatedly. It's time for you to begin thinking of ideas for your next iPhone application; to take what you know and push it a little further.
You have covered a lot of material in this chapter. Now you should take a moment and review the most important topics. First you learned about setting up your environment. This included information on registering, downloading, and installing the iPhone SDK. Then you learned how to run an iPhone SDK sample application both in the iPhone Simulator and on a real device. After learning how to run a sample application, you then learned how to program a new application on your own. You should now understand the process of defining your goals, examining your options, and coding the application. And by now you should be familiar with the basic tools of Xcode, including the Xcode Project Explorer, Interface Builder, and the Library and Inspector tools. Finally, you should have an understanding of the different kinds of files Xcode uses to make your application, especially code and image files. There is still a lot more to learn, but you should feel that you could write a simple iPhone application on your own now. And we highly encourage you to do so, because that way you will learn even more.
Part II: Creating Simple iPhone Applications
Chapter 3
Constructing Puzzle Apps
Chapter 4
Building Novelty Apps
Chapter 3: Constructing Puzzle Apps
In This Chapter
Reviewing famous examples
Understanding game design: Presenting challenges
Embracing Multi-Touch
Envisioning animations
Programming: AmuckSlider
Analyzing business aspects
Now that you've gotten your feet wet, we are going to examine our first game. The games developed in this chapter can be found on the App Store and the source code downloaded from our Web site, http://appsamuckcom. Puzzle apps can be the least complex type of game to build, so they are a great place to start. However, do not underestimate the popularity of your app just because it is easy to build. A good puzzle app can have a longer life span than just about any other type of game. Puzzle apps can be fun, challenging, and addictive. Just think for a minute how many platforms you have seen Tetris ported to. Tetris has a staying power like no other application. Even in its simplest form, Tetris is still a fun game to play to pass the time.
In this chapter we'll review some of the classic examples of puzzle games, and hopefully they will inspire you to invent the next great puzzle app for the iPhone.
Reviewing Famous Examples
Successful games all share a few key features: They need to be easy to learn, increasingly challenging, and downright addictive. It is fairly straightforward to code a game that is easy to learn or one that challenges the players. However, creating a game that is fun and addictive is not so black and white. To accomplish this you have to mix the ingredients in such a way that they synergize into an exciting and addictive game.
As we've mentioned, Tetris is one of the most celebrated puzzle applications ever written. It is difficult to find any gaming platform that it is not available on. Tetris meets our requirements of being easy to learn and increasingly challenging. Most importantly, Tetris is addictive!
What are some other puzzle applications we can think of? Here are a few that come to mind. All meet the requirements of being easy to