HaliGameStudios

This blog post was originally published on www.haligamestudios.com.

Rating: 4/5

Learning Objective-C by Developing iPhones Games, authored by Amy M. Booker and Joseph D. Walters, is a great read for anyone looking to create apps for iOS devices, whether you are a programmer new to the Objective-C language or if you are completely new to programming in general. Booker and Walters do a very good job of explaining in a step-by-step format how to register as an Apple developer and how to get started with Objective-C in Xcode, Apple’s Integrated Development Environment.

Over the course of this book, the authors will take you through the process of creating five different games.

1. The Matching Game – a simple matching game, where you start off by learning programming basics, object-oriented programming, and how scenes and views work.
2. Space Invaders – you begin to add graphics programmatically, to understand the game logic and state machines, and learn how collisions are detected.
3. The Simon Memory Game – a memory game similar to “Simon Says”. You receive an introduction to working with audio, including a breakdown of the different file and data formats and the best ones to use.
4. Mini Golf – you will create a straightforward hole for this miniature golf game while learning how to program the touch controls.
5. The Galaxy Game – you take everything you have learned so far and put it together in this final project.

All five of these projects are very simplistic and provide you with a base to work from. However, the authors do not provide any guidance on how to create additional levels.After you have completed the five games, Booker and Walters show you how to release your app and give you tips on avoiding rejection from the App Store.

At the conclusion, the authors discuss very briefly other topics related to iPhone game development, including Apple’s Game Center, in-app purchasing, iAds and game engines. This is where I was expecting a little more information. Although this is an introduction to the Objective-C language, I wish they would have gone a little further in-depth with the social aspect of iPhone games and how to integrate the Game Center into your games. If they are not going to go more in-depth in these topics, there should be a reference to where you can find more information on these topics.

Overall, I would recommend reading this book. It is a springboard to programming iPhone games. If you are looking for more information on Apple’s Game Center, in-app purchasing and iAds, it would be best to check out the documentation provided through Apple’s website for developers or search on Google for tutorials.Although Apple recently introduced Swift as their new programming language, Objective-C will still be around for quite some time. Once iOS 8 and Xcode 6 are available in the fall, you will be able to choose if you want to program in Objective-C, Swift or integrate both languages into your project. Therefore, there is no need to ponder if you should purchase this book solely based on the Swift announcement as Objective-C is still useful and this book is worth buying!