iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [77]
Then you rolled up your sleeves and got into some of the more technically challenging aspects of writing iPhone applications. You saw the value of using info screens for an application. You learned how to remove the iPhone Status Bar. You learned some of the basics of collision detection and collision calculations. You used the concept of a game loop to update and draw both the player's character and the player's game world. After reviewing the details of creating random numbers, you created realistic game motion with only minimum effort. You implemented a very clever method of scrolling the road using image tiling. You reviewed the business of iPhone software development, including marketing and return on investment. And to wrap it all up, you tracked the player's score so he would have something to brag about to his friends. We hope you are beginning to see the power and possibilities of iPhone programming. Don't stop now; we are just getting warmed up!
Chapter 6: Building Community with Facebook
In This Chapter
Getting to know Facebook
Connecting to Facebook accounts
Creating a Facebook application
Using the Facebook Platform API
Analyzing business aspects
It's not enough to have the best graphics, the best sounds, and the best game play. Today's gamers expect the total package. They want it all. They expect high scores, badges, and achievement systems. They want to be able to compete against their friends and share their game experiences wherever they are. Building community is becoming an important part of making a successful top-notch iPhone game.
Today people are more connected than ever. While you can still use the iPhone to keep in touch with friends through phone calls, there are many new and exciting ways to stay in touch. The iPhone allows developers to take advantage of these technologies. With everything from e-mail to text messaging and instant messaging, it is almost like you are carrying your friends with you wherever you go.
How could you be any closer? What about if you could pull all of your friends in from Facebook and interact with them in apps on your iPhone? With Facebook Connect, you can do just that. In this chapter we'll show you how.
Getting to Know Facebook
Facebook (www.facebookcom) is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study, and live around them. In other words, Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. Considering Facebook has over 200 million active users, or users who have returned to the site in the last 30 days, it is very likely you are already familiar with Facebook. If you are not already a member of Facebook, now is the time to join. The more you learn about Facebook today, the more you will be able to use it tomorrow—and Facebook is not going anywhere anytime soon.
We have even created a Facebook fan page ourselves for this book (Figure 6.1).
FIGURE 6.1
iPhone Game Programming Facebook fan page
Facebook is made up of pages, and some of the most popular pages for users on Facebook are their Profile, Friends, Networks, and Inbox pages. While a Facebook page can contain user stories, it can also contain Facebook applications. Some of the most popular built-in Facebook applications are Photos, Notes, Groups, Events, and Posted Items.
Note
Facebook is one of the most popular Web sites on the Internet today; it is currently the fourth-most popular Web site in the world. It is also one of the most popular development platforms on the Web. According to Facebook, there are more than 52,000 applications currently available in the Facebook