So, you're ready to become an iPhone developer? This chapter will show you how to create a very simple prototype level. Once you get into GameSalad you will truly enjoy it, the interface is so simple, and you never have to do any programming.
Many people dream of creating games, but unfortunately not many people possess the knowledge to find a suitable game engine (or create their own), to learn the language and start developing. Take for example, something as simple as moving your character around. When writing for the iPhone using Xcode, you would write something similar to the following:
-(void)walk_left {
character.center = CGPointMake (character.center.x - 10, character.center.y);
}
That is just for moving the character, then you have to set up timers for the game, and an NSMutableArray for the character animation. Even when this is done, merely moving the character to the left with an animation will require more than 10 lines of code. Very few people have the time, or the patience to deal with coding (and of course the bugs). Thankfully, GameSalad has removed all these headaches; they have removed all coding, which means there's no chance of mistyping code, or forgetting a semicolon. If you do mistype something within the behaviors, it simply won't work, instead of throwing up a SIGABRT error or something nobody can understand. In order to make your character move, there is one simple drag-and-drop behavior. You are going to love GameSalad for its simplicity and power of use.
So, here is what we will discuss in this chapter. We are going to start slow and then we will get into the meatier stuff.
- System requirements for developing
- Registering with GameSalad and downloading it
- Tour through GameSalad's user interface
- How to create a GameSalad project
- How to add moveable characters, platform collisions, win and death points
- Add controls to your characters
- Preview your game on your computer
Let's get to it shall we?
In order for you to run GameSalad and create amazingly awesome games, you must meet the minimum system requirements, which are as follows:
- Intel Mac (Any Mac from 2006 and above)
- Mac OS X 10.6 or higher
- At least 1GB RAM
- A device running iOS (iPad, iPhone 3G and up, or iPod Touch)
If your computer exceeds these requirements, perfect! If not, you will need to upgrade your computer. Keep in mind, these are the minimum requirements; having a computer with better specs is recommended.