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Book on cocos2d?

(16 posts) (10 voices)

Started 8 months ago by Seerex
Latest reply from abitofcode

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Seerex
Member

Hello all,

I have been keeping my eyes on cocos2d for a while now, but haven't really "dared" to dive into it yet. I was scooping around on amazon, and found this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Cocos2D-Hands--Building-Chipmunk/dp/0321735625/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316892916&sr=8-1

I was wondering if anyone have ever read it or knows anything about it, since i am not sure as to my current knowledge is sufficient. I have never really made an app. I have read 1 book on Objective-C, and will say by now i have a decent grasp on the main concepts. I know very little on Cocoa, but a little i do know. So i was wondering, should i read another book on the more "standard" development, like Big Nerd Ranch guide on iOS programming, or do you think i am able to dive into cocos2d right away? if so, which material should i use in order to learn it.

I am sorry if my question makes no sense, or if it is inappropriate to post it here.

Thank you for taking you time to read.
Best Regards
/JBJ

Posted 8 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

It's a good book, it goes through all the basics and more, I think it's pretty good for a beginner and a good reference book for everyone.

Posted 8 months ago #
sirguy
Member

Its a good book. You wont be disappointed, definitely worth the money.

Posted 8 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

I have that book as well as this:
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-iPhone-iPad-cocos2d-Development/dp/1430233036/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316906384&sr=8-2

both are excellent although the one I linked to is a little out of date now (the concepts are still very valid though). They will both get you going quickly, especially if you're already familiar with Obj-C

Posted 8 months ago #
hm50
Member

That is a great book as well as the other one listed. Also check http://www.packtpub.com/cocos2d-iphone-099-beginners-guide/book . I've read each of them.

Posted 8 months ago #
Dragyn
Member

@Seerex: I've been an iOS coder for about a year and a half, and I'm still taking away a lot of good tips and tricks from Rod & Ray's book (the one you linked to - I just picked it up a few days ago). I will definitely second @itlgames comment about it being a good reference book as well as good for beginners. "Learning Cocos2D" should be required reading for all cocos2D devs. And at the price Amazon is currently listing it for, it's a complete steal. You won't be disappointed!

Posted 8 months ago #
Seerex
Member

Thank you for your replies all :)

I am still wondering however, what the book assumes you already know? i can't seem to find any info on that matter. All i know is pretty much objective-c, and i'm not a pro at all but i know my way around the language. I have done very little "real app" programming in the interface builder etc, but i am working on that.

So i was wondering - what are you "required" to know before embarking on this book's journey?

Thanks on advance.
Best Regards,
/JBJ

Posted 8 months ago #
itlgames
Moderator

From the book itself (excuse me authors, I hope you don't mind!):

"The book assumes a basic understanding of Objective-C, Cocoa Touch, and the Xcode tools. You are not expected to know any lower-level APIs (Core Audio, OpenGL ES, etc.), as these are used internally by Cocos2D."

Posted 8 months ago #
phil_me_up
Member

I'd go as far as to say aside from a grasp of Obj-C, you don't really need to know anything about Cocoa Touch or XCode to understand the book. There will be a few points where you need to run to the internet for research but isn't that always the case!

Posted 8 months ago #
fpc
Member

Learning Cocos2D: A Hands-On Guide to Building iOS Games with Cocos2D, Box2D, and Chipmunk
is definitely worth reading; I like how there is a lot of a discussion of how to code the behaviors of characters in the game.

There is a second edition of Learn iPhone and iPad cocos2d Game Development by Steffen Itterheim coming out soon. I read the first edition; it has good advice for writing games, but IMO Learning Cocos2D is a better starter book.

Posted 8 months ago #
Seerex
Member

Thank you all for the answers.

I'm still having a hard time deciding wether i should pick it up now or wait, hard to tell if my skills are good enough. Guess i'll try and see :)

However, i actually stumbled upon this
http://www.iphonegamekit.com/?gclid=CP6Qsv7Uu6sCFUe-zAodd2g3rw

It says to have everything you need, characters and other props as well even + a book. So can anyone tell me or point me in the right direction as if i should read the book i asked about (the one from amazon) or should i start with that link i posted?

I know it's a hard question maybe, but i just wanna make sure i get the best start and smoothest transition into game development.

Posted 8 months ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

The Phone game kit is good but Ray and Rod's book is better, certainly as something to start with. It has the best coverage of Chipmunk and Box2d that I've come across (when you need them).

The book succeeds in explaining the concepts behind the code clearly.

if you want code to look through there's plenty of cocos2d code (including some full games) that can easily be found through google.

The simplest way to become a game developer is to build a game, the books have only been around for about 12 months :)

Posted 8 months ago #
lummis
Member

For cocos2d I personally prefer "Learn iPhone and iPad cocos2d Game Development" by Steffen Itterheim. I have the first edition and I'm eagerly awaiting the 2nd edition (I'm assuming it has additional material in it).

Rod and Ray's book has a lot in it and the writing style is very good (as is Itterheim's) but I don't care for the way it's organized. It's almost entirely based on teaching by example instead of teaching by explaining. It shows and explains the code for a specific game and it does that very well. But if you're not building a game like the one in their book it isn't very useful. With a few exceptions there's little tutorial discussion, general concepts, or reference information that's not couched in the specific language of their game.

I'm working on my first game, which is a somewhat elaborate board game with game pieces like in Go, but I don't use physics and there are no enemies or phasers. When I get stuck (about every other minute) I search through a few books for help and so far I don't think I've ever found anything I wanted to know in Rod and Ray's book.

To me, Itterheim's book seems like a better bet for getting you started with cocos2d. Or get both!

If you do dive into to cocos2d I think you'll find that the lack of good documentation is the biggest hurdle. At least that's my biggest hurdle. The most useful source of explanation is this forum, but there are many other sources and you'll need to use them all.

If you want a book on Objective-C I recommend "Learning Objective-C 2.0" by Robert Clair. It's clearly written and covers a lot more than just the basics. Another book that's helped me a lot, even though it's out of date, is "Cocoa Touch for iPhone OS3" by DeVoe. It has good discussions of some topics that are hard to find elsewhere.

Posted 8 months ago #
Dragyn
Member

@luumis: I'd argue that it's not the lack of documentation (the API docs are fairly complete), it's more the lack of tutorial documentation that is the real hurdle. There's been discussions on and off about more tutorial/documentation as part of the site, but most folks who have written tutorials are using them as core content for their own sites. Not necessarily bad, but it is a struggle for new devs to figure out who has good tutorials on what.

Personally, I love Rod & Ray's book (though admittedly I don't have Steffen's book). It's great for 90% of the game ideas out there that new devs would approach. You're right there's not much dealing explicitly with the nuances of board games, but I would argue that for most devs, this would be considered niche coding. (It would be nice to have a book on board games... there's an idea...) There's also not a lot on making a FPS or RTS game, either.

But both books are cheap enough that it shouldn't be an impediment to buy and study them both for anyone who is serious about learning it. Or just experiment and study the forums like most of us have done (before any books were published).

Posted 8 months ago #
tobytaro
Member

I have read the book "Learning Cocos2D: A Hands-On Guide to Building iOS Games with Cocos2D, Box2D, and Chipmunk". It's easy to understand.
But when I want to start my own game. I still haven't idea where to start.
Should I read more books? Or should I read sample code of other games. Where can I find the sample code?

Posted 8 months ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

If you don't have some reasonably clear idea of what you plan to build, or at least which direction you are heading in, it's going to take a lot longer to get anywhere.

Pick a simple game mechanism e.g the helicopter game or space invaders, and then before you go near a computer break it down on paper first.

Posted 8 months ago #

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