band = girlfriend.get();
programming = girlfriend.getLost();I am a noooooob who comes in peace
(105 posts) (23 voices)-
actinism
Memberhooking up to main topic where the OP started ... (excuse my english grammar, not my first language)
@jakers
Start simple if you have no programming experience, learn basics of object orientated programming, try different approaches.As for myself, I developed in JAVA, and later mobile games with J2ME years ago ... on the other side PHP and other server side languages like Python and Perl. So as I came to Cocoa/iOS two years ago I started doing tutorials like "my first calculator" and such things, just to get know with the programming syntax.
One other thing you need to be aware of: You need to know how to set up your workspace and your IDE's (integrated development environment) - in this case XCode and all other utilities you need. You will spent time doing configurations, compiling tries etc. etc. If you get frustated, stop for some time, get a tea/coffee, and start again.
...
back to my cocos2d story. The next approach (beginning this year) was cocos2d and developing my own game(s). I have a lot of experience making sprite sheets and optimizing gfx and such things. Did you know that back in 2003 J2ME games for mobile phones were limited to 40kb (later up to 60kb,128kb depending on the model)? That was like coding for a 80'st computer, e.g. the compiled java byte code was around 30kb (=.jar) and that left around 10kb for level data and graphics, pretty limited isnt it?
Well nowadays it is a lot more easier... A friend from that old glory J2ME days (*cough) started converting an old game to iOS - wrote his own isometric engine from scratch (non cocos2d). I started converting graphics and level editor stuff ... After around a year we decided to abandon the whole game architecture, just to make a simple "isometric pac man like game".. well i think 90% is done and will be soon released.
You may experience the same if you design a game, half the road down you may get stuck with pushbacks (code/design) or things will be ugly. So you may re-think your whole game idea and do it again - simply better, because you have a lot of graphics and code/methods you can rely on.As for my ideas, I have currently 3 branches of my initital game in the pipeline (never released J2ME game from anno 2004/2005), based on little framework hooked up to cocos2d and Box2d - like a levelmanager, soundmanager, character/profile controllers and such stuff.
After 6 months I've learned a lot about new techniques etc. But the sidenote: Do not spent time in trying to implement feature x and z to your game if you havent the code already done. Leave it simple ... The first approach to keep it like 2005 was too heavy, so I downgraded the idea to a simple one and may use the first try as the 2nd release of the game (if ever).
I dont have any own released App in the AppStore for now - and my game ideas are still under progress. So I decided a next sidestep to release an even simplier "game" with cocos2d - I used some classes and methods I developed during the last months for a simple children game to learn the ABC ... simple touch a button, doing some animation and sound effects, graphics are prototyped but once the illustrator/designer has done his work, it would be ready within 2 weeks. The whole setup of the game and roughly coding took me around 8-10 days - using my skill and code I've done from the beginning of my cocos2d learning days. There are more steps for a release, like testing, re-testing and code reviews, finding bugs. This takes time, I expect 10 more days doing that.. not in a row (even coding), I mean 10 days spreaded over 1-2 months period.
I'll guess somewhere in september it is ready to be released, I expect to have it finally released at the beginning of october. You know, polish it (finetuning). :-)
You see there a lot of ways coming to your first app ready for the store.
Posted 9 months ago # -
@jakers - There is thinking ahead, asking things like, what software can I use, what books can I read, which you have done. But then there is a difference asking us how to set up a company and sell your services.
Get started and then you can start searching for a steady stream of information, you are never going to be able to know everything up front, because you don't have any experience of what you are going to come up against, I have been programming for over 3 years and still find things that stump me.
If you haven't starting reading The Art of Game Design yet here is a picture that explains some of the things you are going to have to think about in detail to try and design a hit game:
Posted 9 months ago # -
There's definitely a trade-off between adding "cool features" and simplifying so you can just ship something. It's easy to get sucked into the bottomless pit of feature creep. Users don't always care about the same features that developers do, and you have to be careful about getting away from the simplicity that most users expect in mobile apps.
@jakers, @varedis and @actinism are spot on. Start with the learning to write apps--that will be a big enough obstacle for now. Using a tutorial-type book is probably the best approach since you're staring out. When you actually get to the point where you're ready to start your App Store game, you're going to want to put a lot of thought into the code design as well. That's something you won't be able to do until you've got more experience.
As someone mentioned pages ago, you also need to decide if cocos2d is even the right match for your project. I wish there was a solid path to Android for Cocos2d. I know there are a few options, but it seems like they're not being very actively developed. (I'd love to hear otherwise.) That's a big consideration, especially with Corona around. One of the apps I'm planning will probably get developed in Corona or possibly Unity because of that, but I'd rather stick with Cocos2d and be able to hit iOS, Mac and Android with it. If anyone has any experience with cocos2d on Android, it would be great to hear about it.
Posted 9 months ago # -
lap.felix
MemberAnd another thing that could be useful to you is @bluckalex's codebox: http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/16276
But this is useful only if you already know how to code !
Posted 9 months ago # -
I'll echo the "Start reading", there have been lots of good suggestions of books and tutorial websites already.
Don't get too far ahead of yourself :) Who'll make the icon? The same person who does the rest of the graphics. Start learning and making something. Find out if programming is even something you like to do. An idea for a game is one thing. The commitment and effort spending hundreds or thousands of hours working on it, every night and weekend inside programming, is another.
As most of us can confirm, even after all the hard work, not every game is going to make you rich. Some might not even make you enough for lunch. If you're lucky all the hard work pays off.
Your game is competing with games made by people here who were like you in high school, with the same interests and dreams; but in my case, ~30 years later with that much extra experience. Not to mention, no homework and doing this full time makes a big difference!
Posted 9 months ago # -
vogueestylee
Membernice thread :)
it is not unreal, for example I started programming in February, in April I got working game in box2d with cocos2d and bluetooth multiplayer - still having some problems with bluetooth implementation and "smoothness" of the game but.. it is running.. it feels great, and many thanks to guys on THIS forum.. (my first post was about global and local variables, I didn't have a clue at that time :)
now I have two apps in appstore, but I can tell you 4 things:
1. having know-how about programming is about 40 percent
2. 10 percent is to learn how to submitt app, (skip install NO, certificates, and other "cakes")
3. having app in appstore - hmm.. ok.. now what :) = 50 percent is marketing.. knowing people to download it.. I am stuck at point 3 right now
4. you can "skip" programming staff and pay somebody, you get the pro app and you save time, if you really believe in your idea - money cant be the problem.but still.. the most important is to have an idea.. appstore is full of "angry".. "cut".. and "flight".. and idea is nothing without luck or marketing, I have "earned" about 15$ so far.. not happy.. noot happy... :)
Posted 9 months ago # -
There was a girl who married Sonic too...
@Clarus: As Felix said, it's only for iPhone. And no Android version either, I just don't have the time to get into developing for Android, since I also work as a freelance writer and have a 2 year old we haven't sent to preschool yet (and my wife works full time). Maybe sometime in the future, but probably not. iPad version would be awesome, but just haven't thought it worth my time. The one I have works with retina graphics in iPad's zoom mode so at least it looks good, even if it doesn't have an iPad-ized UI. Also, my code is a mess so fixing it for iPad would be a lot of work. When I start making a new game that would be nice to have on iPad I'll make sure to include it from the beginning. The game I'm working on now is really not an iPad kind of game.
Posted 9 months ago # -
Watch these end to end http://bobueland.com/cocos2d/?page_id=31 should take a couple of hours.
Now write a basic game, e,g the helicopter game using the forum and cocos2d documentation as a resource.
When you've finished buy Rod and Rays book and work through the tutorials over at http://www.raywenderlich.com
Avoid procrastination
Posted 9 months ago #
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