Learning Objective-C by Developing iPhone Games
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
In the last few weeks I have been reading Learning Objective-C by Developing iPhone Games in order to improve my iPhone development skills. A topical subject given this week is the start of Apple’s WWDC.
Learning Objective-C by Developing iPhone Games offers an insight into the iPhone development platform from a games programmers perspective. The book covers the fundamentals of the Objective-C programming language and the development environment.
The early chapters cover the installation of the tools (XCode) and the process of applying for a development certificates along with an insight into the basic language constructs.
The book moves on from the basic environment and gets started with the development of a basic Space Invaders game. The text covers the basic theory of games development including state machines and frame rates putting this into perspective discussing the resource constrained environment of the iPhone.
Later chapters cover the topics of sound and sprite animation and uses three other games (Simon Says, Mini Golf and Galaxy) to cover these topics.
The final chapters gives advice on publishing your game through the Apple store with detailed instructions on the process. I will be reaching for this book when I finally get around to publishing an app through the store.
Conclusion
The title of the book suggests this is suitable for a beginner and I believe that it is suitable for an experienced developer who wants to use this book as an introduction to the iPhone platform. I also think that a new/novice programmer should also invest in a book dedicated to Objective-C and programming theory as the book is a little light in these areas. There are also some inconsistencies which will annoy an experienced developer and risk confusing a novice. Having said this it is still a good introduction to this topic.
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