Editor’s note: John Shea is a two-time Big Nerd Ranch alum and is the creator of Kondrian, an action game for iPhone and iPad.

Alumni: If you’d like to share your success stories with us, please leave a note in the comments.

In my last post, I wrote about the process that lead me to create my first game, Kondrian. During that process, I learned a lot about creating iOS games. In fact, I’d almost call it a recipe. Here are the key steps:

• Create a story. You don’t have to share it with the player, but it helps you mold the game.

• Make five simple 2D prototype games. This will help you develop your process and thinking.

• Reduce your ambition for your first shipping game. Keep it small and focused.

• Choose an engine. Your main choices are:a.) rolling your own for full control and to reuse your UIKit skills,
  b.) Unity if you want to release on other platforms, or
  c.) Cocos2D, which abstracts OpenGL but in 2D only.

• Integrating with UIKit can save you a lot of time. If it’s applicable, integrating can save you time, not only by allowing you to reuse your UIKit knowledge and your UIKit code, but also by letting you advantage of the growing number of iOS libraries out there. In my case, I used a lot of UIBezierPath tech from one of my previous apps and used MagicalRecord to help with Core Data.

• Be careful: developing a good particle engine can be a time sink. Unity and Cocos2D provide particle engines, which might save you a lot of time if your game has a lot of effects.

• Find a good artist. You can’t avoid this step; it’s essential. However, innovative sound for this first game is not as important.

• Iterate. Iterate everything, and experiment with everything, including controls and game play.

• Vectors are very important for AI. Use GLKVector2 from GLKit and get your head around them.

• Think of your game as a work of art. Think of it as a part of you, and have fun doing it, because most indie game developers don’t make any money!

Making a game is a huge investment in time, energy and resources, much like many other non-game development projects. The rewards are huge, though. You’ll add to your development skillset and create something new. And you never know—it might help you achieve Nerdvana!

The post A recipe for creating iOS games appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

Editor’s note: John Shea is a two-time Big Nerd Ranch alum and is the creator of Kondrian, an action game for iPhone and iPad. For more details about the development of Kondrian, check out John’s blog.

Alumni: If you’d like to share your success stories with us, please leave a note in the comments.

Taking Sides

If there’s one thing that the dev community is good at, it’s picking sides and choosing a dogma to follow. We love finding some new development philosophy to adopt and proselytize.

On the one hand, that passion helps drive us to continually adapt and learn—and on the other hand, it creates barriers and disfunction.

The Big Nerd Ranch Way

I’ve taken two courses at Big Nerd Ranch, bought seven of their books and watched many a screencast. For me, the Big Nerd Ranch way is refreshing because its not dogmatic or divisive. Instead, it pushes a love of building and creation, no matter the tools or methodologies.

My decision to make a game was validated by the open-mindedness and curiosity encouraged by Big Nerd Ranch.

The Big Nerd Ranch teachers and students would say, “You are making a game! Fantastic!” whereas others might say, “Is that going to look good on your CV?” or “Is that a serious thing to do?”

Or, from the other side of the divide: “You aren’t one of us! You aren’t a game programmer or a even a hardcore gamer!”

The Big Nerd Ranch way takes no sides, and just says, “Go forth and create.”

So that’s what I did. I created Kondrian, an action game for iPhone and iPad.

Kondrian

In Kondrian, we are being attacked by a villain from another dimension called Lord Kondrian, who is stealing energy from our world. Your job is to track Kondrian down and stop him from stealing our stuff.

Kondrian is the first game I’ve made from start to finish. It took a lot of work to finish the game, but in the end, it was so worth it. When I play my game, I look at it and say, “Wow! I made this!” I feel like I created a work of art. It’s definitely one of the most fun and rewarding development projects I’ve worked on, and I wouldn’t have begun without the encouragement from Big Nerd Ranch.

The post The Big Nerd Ranch Way appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.