iOS 9 Game Development Essentials

Chuck Gaffney

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781784391430
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Open Source Programming
• Index: Computer Science

Design, build, and publish an iOS game from scratch using the stunning features of iOS 9

About This Book

• Create storyboards in Xcode from concept to code and design
• Chalk out your game's overall navigation and structure
• Work with 2D and 3D game development tools

Who This Book Is For

This book is intended for game developers who wish to develop 2D and 3D games for iPhone and iPad. If you are a developer from another platform, or game engine such as Android or Unity, a current iOS developer wishing to learn more about Swift and the latest features of iOS 9, or even if you are new to game development, then this book is for you. Some prior programming knowledge is recommended, but not required.

What You Will Learn

• Familiarise yourself with both basic and advanced Swift game development code
• Understand the structure and flow of a typical iOS app
• Work with the SpriteKit framework to make 2D games, sprites, and overlays
• Discover 3D game development with SceneKit
• Visually design levels and game assets with XCode 7's latest features
• Explore the concept of component-based structuring with iOS 9's Gameplaykit
• Beta test and publish your game with iTunes Connect

In Detail

Game development has always been a combination of programming and art, and mobile game development is no exception to this rule. The iOS platform has been both a staple in the ever-growing mobile game market, as well as a launching point for many game developers (hobby and career-wise). The features and frameworks available in iOS 9 continue to cater to the synergy of design and computer engineering, using tools that allow developers to take a game idea from concept to application in record time.

Whether you are new to iOS and game development as a whole, or are an experienced programmer wanting to learn the latest features of the platform, iOS 9 Game Development Essentials will provide you with crucial insight into this widely used platform.

Starting with the Swift programming language, this book gets the ball rolling with code concepts and game-centric code samples right from the get-go, giving you get a solid understanding of Apple's cutting-edge programming language. The book takes you through iOS game development concepts and introduces the various frameworks that allow you to develop robust, reusable, and intelligent game components in both 2D and 3D game environments.

Style and approach

This book is a step-by-step guide into the code and concepts of iOS apps. Each chapter contains diagrams that showcase the features of the platform, along with code samples from Apple and code samples exclusive to this book.

iOS 9 Game Development Essentials

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Table of Contents

iOS 9 Game Development Essentials

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. The Swift Programming Language

Hello World!

No more semicolons

Variables, constants, and primitive data types

Variables

Constants

More about constants…

Arrays, matrices, sets, and dictionaries

Arrays

2D arrays / matrices

Sets

Dictionaries

Mutable/immutable collections

Editing/accessing collection data

Iterating through collection types

Objective-C and Swift comparison

Objective-C

Swift

Characters and strings

String Interpolation

Mutating strings

String indices

Commenting in Swift

Boolean

Ints, UInts, floats, and doubles

Integers and unsigned integers

Floats and doubles

Objects in Swift

Type safety and type inference

Optionals

Unwrapping optionals

Optional binding and chaining

Control flow in Swift

If statements

For loops

Do-while loops

Switch statements

Functions and classes

Functions

Tuples

Classes

Summary

2. Structuring and Planning a Game Using iOS 9 Storyboards and Segues

Model-View-Controller

An iOS app's lifecycle

The main() function

The UIApplication class/object

The AppDelegate class

View controllers

View controller types

Storyboards and segues

Segues

Storyboards versus coding

Summary

3. SpriteKit and 2D Game Design

A brief history of iOS game development engines

The game loop

Tile game – SwiftSweeper

What is SwiftSweeper?

Creating our SpriteKit game

An overview of the SpriteKit structure and objects

Scene transitions and the choice of code, storyboards, and/or SKS files

An SKTransition example

A SKScene/storyboard example

SKScene transitions with SKS files

Assets, sprites, and icons

Sprite atlases and animating sprites

Creating our game logic

GameBoard

Putting it all together in GameScene.swift

DemoBots

Summary

4. SceneKit and 3D Game Design

SceneKit basics and working with nodes

SpriteKit / SceneKit interactivity

The issue with inheritance-based structuring and game design

Our first SceneKit scene – the Xcode template

SceneKit project flow and structure

SceneKit Debugging Options

Handling user input in SceneKit

SceneKit features introduced in iOS 9 / Xcode 7

Audio nodes and 3D sound

Ambience and music

SpriteKit scene transitions in SceneKit

Fox demo

Particle systems

Placing particles into our pioscene

SpriteKit

SceneKit

Introducing SceneKit and SpriteKit physics

Visually composed game scenescgs

Summary

5. GameplayKit

Entities and components

Using GKEntity and GKComponent objects in our games

State machines

Agents, goals, and behaviors

Pathfinding

MinMaxAI

Random sources

Rule systems

Summary

6. Exhibit the Metal in Your Game

The Apple Metal API and the graphics pipeline

CPU/GPU framework levels

Graphics pipeline overview

What are shaders?

Types of shaders

Why is Metal faster than OpenGL ES?

The basic Metal object/code structure

Summary

7. Publishing Our iOS Game

The ever changing process of app submission

Before submitting your app

Preparing our apps for iTunes Connect

Submitting your app in the testing/beta phase

Creating an iTunes Connect app record

Updating the build string

Archive and validate your app

Upload your app to iTunes Connect

Beta test your game with the TestFlight service

External tester invites

Analyzing crash reports and feedback from testers

Submitting your game for review

Updating your game

Summary

8. The Future of iOS Game Development

A greater focus on functional programming

The Apple Watch

Component-based structuring

The rise of VR

Summary

Index

iOS 9 Game Development Essentials

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: October 2015

Production reference: 1261015

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78439-143-0

www.packtpub.com

Cover image by Chuck Gaffney

Credits

Author

Chuck Gaffney

Reviewers

Mohit Athwani

Rahul Borawar

Chady Kassouf

Joni Mikkola

Commissioning Editor

Julian Ursell

Acquisition Editors

Vinay Argekar

Sonali Vernekar

Content Development Editor

Parita Khedekar

Technical Editor

Edwin Moses

Copy Editor

Dipti Mankame

Project Coordinator

Judie Jose

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Hemangini Bari

Graphics

Abhinash Sahu

Production Coordinator

Nitesh Thakur

Cover Work

Nitesh Thakur

About the Author

Chuck Gaffney is a programmer, voice actor, and game developer. He owns a company, Chuck's Anime Shrine, and has worked for some studios in New York. Some of Chuck's recent projects include VR and Unity projects for major studios and business firms, in addition to iOS and Swift programming.

I would like to thank my family for giving me my first video game system in 1985 at the young age of two. The wonder and mystery of controlling what's on the screen has stuck with me ever since. Most importantly, I would like to thank my fiancée, Danielle, for keeping me on my toes with this book and understanding the time it took to craft it. Thank you for being there through the ups and downs that come from pursuing steady and worthwhile work in the field of software development; particularly during this summer, when things finally changed after years of doing nothing but seemingly staring at closed doors and calling out to deaf ears.

About the Reviewers

Mohit Athwani is a self-taught iOS developer and has been developing apps since the early days of iOS 3. He has worked with several clients all around the world, and has carried out intense research in the field of facial detection and recognition on iOS. His app, iRajanee, became the number one app on the Indian app store, and has fetched him tremendous success.

Mohit started his company Geeks (http://www.geeksincorporated.net) with a friend in 2010, and has since also involved himself in conducting training sessions on iOS for students and corporates. His website, http://indianios.guru/, hosts a lot of introductory videos and tutorials on developing for iOS with Swift.

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