iPhone Games Projects

One look at the App Store will show you just how hot iPhone games have become. Games make up more than 25 percent of all apps, and more than 70 percent of the apps in the App Store's Most Popular category. Surprised? Of course not! We've all filled our iPhones with games, and many of us hope to develop the next bestseller.

This book is a collection of must-know information from master independent iPhone game developers. In it, you'll discover how some of the most innovative and creative game developers have made it to the pinnacle of game design and profitability. This book is loaded with practical tips for efficient development, and for creating compelling, addictive gaming experiences. And it's not all talk! It's supported with code examples that you can download and use to realize your own great ideas.

This book's authors are responsible for some of the all-time most popular and talked-about games:

• Brian Greenstone developed Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally.
• Aaron Fothergill developed Flick Fishing.
• Mike Lee developed Tap Tap Revolution, the most downloaded game in App Store history.
• Mike Kasprzak's Smiles was a finalist in the IGF 2009 Best Mobile Game competition.
• PJ Cabrera, Richard Zito, and Matthew Aitken (Quick Draw, Pole2Pole); Joachim Bondo (Deep Green); and Olivier Hennessy and Clayton Kane (Apache Lander) have received glowing reviews and accolades for their games.

Pair iPhone Games Projects with Apress's best-selling Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK, and you'll have everything you need to create the next game to top the sales charts.

What you’ll learn

• How to optimize games using iPhone SDK tools such as Instruments and Shark, and how to optimize your graphics and sound files for the best performance
• Insight into the art and craft of game design
• How to implement social networking in your game with RESTful web services
• Tips on rapid game development with C on iPhone
• How to increase your market by developing games that run on iPhone, Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows
• How to create multi-player iPhone games

All iPhone game developers, and anyone with an iPhone who wants to learn how games are made.

Table of Contents

1. Simplify the User Interface for Complex Games: Chess, the Deep Green Way
2. Responsive Social Gaming with RESTful Web Services
3. Rapid Game Development Using (Mostly) Standard C
4. Brian Greenstone’s Jedi Master List for Game Optimization
5. Starting with a Game Design Document: A Methodology for Success
6. Multiplatform Game Development: iPhone Games for Linux and Windows
7. Code Optimization with Mike Lee, the “World’s Toughest Programmer”
8. Networked Games: Choosing the Right Option

iPhone Games Projects is the first book specifically about developing games on the iPhone, the most popular application category on Apple’s App Store. The iPhone has quickly become the hottest new game platform and all the major game developers are entering the market. Not only is the money to be made for developers selling games, but it’s just a hell of a lot of fun for everyone involved

Mike Lee, the world’s toughest programmer, is the founder and CEO of United Lemur, a philanthropic revolution disguised as a software company. Mike has had a role in creating many popular iPhone applications, including Obama ‘08, Tap Tap Revenge, Twinkle, and Jott.

Prior to iPhone, Mike cut his teeth — and won an Apple Design Award — at Seattle–based Delicious Monster Software. Mike is originally from Honolulu, is a popular blogger and occasional pundit, and has been seen on Twitter as @bmf.

Mike and his wife are originally from Honolulu, but currently live in Silicon Valley where they are raising two cats. Mike’s hobbies include weightlifting, single malts, and fire.

Mike can be contacted at [email protected].

PJ Cabrera is a software engineer with more than 12 years of experience developing information systems in various industries, programming in C, C++, Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby. But his real passion for many years has been hacking gadgets (i.e., turning a Sega Dreamcast into a NetBSD router, or running Android and Debian GNU/Linux on a Palm TX) and making home-brewed games for consoles such as Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance, and PSP. He is very excited that he can finally share his creative side on iPhone and XBox 360 with the general public through the App Store and XNA Community Games.