Learning iOS Game Programming : A Hands-On Guide to Building Your First iPhone Game

Since the launch of the App Store, games have been the hottest category of apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. That means your best chance of tapping into the iPhone/iPad "Gold Rush" is to put out a killer game that everyone wants to play [and talk about]. While many people think games are hard to build, they can actually be quite easy, and Learning iOS Game Programming is your perfect beginner's guide. Michael Daley walks you through every step as you build a killer 2D game for the iPhone.

In Learning iOS Game Programming, you'll learn how to build a 2D tile map game, Sir Lamorak's Quest: The Spell of Release [which is free in the App Store]. You can download and play the game you're going to build while you learn about the code and everything behind the scenes. Daley identifies the key characteristics of a successful iPhone game and introduces the technologies, terminology, and tools you will use. Then, he carefully guides you through the whole development process: from planning storylines and game play all the way through testing and tuning.

Coverage Includes:

-Planning high-level game design, components, and difficulty levels

-Using game loops to make sure the right events happen at the right time

-Rendering images, creating sprite sheets, and building basic animations

-Using tile maps to build large game worlds from small reusable images

-Creating fire, explosions, smoke, sparks, and other organic effects

-Delivering great souna via OpenAL and the iPhone's media player

-Providing game control via iPhone's touch and accelerometer features

-Crafting an effective, intuitive game interface

-Building game objects and entities and making them work property

-Detecting collisions and ensuring the right response to them

-Polishing, testing, debugging, and performance-tuning your game

Learning iOS Game Programming focuses on the features, concepts, and techniques you'll use most oftenùand helps you master them in a real-world context. This book is 100% useful and 100% practical; there's never been an iPhone game development book like it!

Michael Daley currently works for the largest enterprise software company in the world. He has been programming games since getting his first Sinclair Spectrum 48k computer in 1983. He cohosts the popular iPhone development tutorial site 71squared.com.

Michael Daley is co-founder of 71Squared.com and author of Learning iOS Game Programming. 71Squared.com is an indie development shop that produces OS X-based tools for game developers namely Particle Designer and Glyph Designer. Mike also produces video tutorials through the 71Squared.com blog, which cover the basics of game engine design using a relaxed easy to follow approach. Mike is a strong believer in delivering resources that help new entrants into game programming get up and running by breaking things down and introducing simple approaches first. This allows people to see results and not get too bogged down before they even get started. In what time he has left he flies light aircraft, plays games and tries to introduce his children into the world of all things Apple.