Roaming Gamer

Early last week, I finished the prototype of my first ‘iphone-hopeful’ game, using TGB on Windows.  The game is at a point where I have to make choices based on the interaction one finds on an iPhone. i.e. I need to start testing it on the target hardware.  So, I dived in and picked up a copy of “iTorque 2D” (iT2D).

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be blogging about my progress with my game andiT2D.

Currently, I’ve done the following:

• Installed iT2D kit on my MBP. – Worked, no prob.
• Ran demo game. – Worked, no prob.
• Ran demo game in iPhone Simulator. – Worked, no prob.
• Tried to run demo game on my provisioned iPod. – Stop!  What’s will all these error messages in the compile.

Currently, I’m stuck behind 126 errors (and uncounted warnings), when I try to compile the demo using my (previously) provisioned iPod Touch as the build target.  (Note: I’ve built several non-Torque apps for my iPod and loaded them on the hardware, so I know the provisioning is fine.)  Right now, I think the problem is that my Xcode SDK may be hosed.  The errors are all coming out of SDK files, which tells we I might have  a install problem.

The main error was something about being unable to find a header file: “<CoreServices/CoreServices.h>”, which is complete bunk.  The file exists, but for some reason isn’t found during the compile.

So, where am I at now?  I’m re-installing my dev tools from scratch and trying afresh.

These are my current specs:

• Platform – MacBook Pro 17″; Intel Core 2 Duo; 4GB
• OS X –  Version 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
• iTGB Kit – T2D for iPhone rev 1.3.1 + Apple API Fix
• iPhone SDK – Version 3.1.3 with Xcode version 3.2.1

If anyone sees a problem with the above specs or has any hints on things to avoid, please let me know.

Cheers and best of luck in your own coding endeavors,

-edo

Note: For anyone who wants to know, you can uninstall your XCode dev tools simply, easily, and completely by opening a Terminal window and typing this:

sudo /Developer/Library/uninstall-devtools –mode=all

I spent a little time this weekend doing some experimental work using Cocos2D to work on an iPhone/iPod game and have come to a similar conclusion to the one I did many years ago when I first started using Torque.  Basically, I re-affirmed the idea that, “when you need to get work done fast (and easily), stick with a full-featured solution (that you know) and don’t try to make features on your own.”  OK, maybe that wasn’t the same conclusion (“you can write an engine or a game, but not both”), but the heart of it is the same.  ”Work on the game, not on engine stuff.”

As one would expect, as soon as I switched back to TGB I started to make superior progress.  In just a few hours I put together the first ‘mock’ level, player and enemy prototypes, as well as one of three (initial) bots that will be part of the game.  As I get further along, I’ll begin to elaborate on the details of the game, but at this time I’m still in the early prototyping and testing phase.  I don’t mind sharing, but I also don’t want to say something early that turns out to be totally different later.

Meanwhile, if you’re an iPhone developer using iTGB and if you have any tips you’d like to bestow upon me, please do.  I don’t currently own a  license, but when I get the TGB version further along I’ll be picking up a license and taking the dev and testing to my Mac + iPod.

- edo out

PS – I should note.  Cocos2D was fun to work with, but I realized I needed to focus on bottom-line first (i.e. getting the game done).  I haven’t abandoned the idea of doing something with it and I’m studying Objective-C.

This post is really more about giving props to Ray Wenderlich and his recent tutorial “How To Make A Simple iPhone Game with Cocos2D”.  I just finished following this tutorial and I have to say it worked perfectly.  I literally had a simple game up and running on my iPod Touch in about 20 minutes.

With regards to iPhone ownership and development, I’m a bit behind the curve.  I only just recently (last week) got an iPod Touch.  Regardless, as soon as I received this shiny new device of wondrous possibilities, I wanted to do was wade in and start making games.  However, before I could  start, I had to resolve some issues and answer some questions:

• Question #1: Use TGB + iTGB or start at a lower level? – I struggled for about a week trying to decide whether to try making my first game using TGB + iTGB, or to write my app on the bare metal starting from an OpenGL ES framework, or to instead use some free SDK/Framework. Typically, I would have chosen the TGB+iTGB route, but I was faced with an underlying issue (#4 below).  I don’t know Objective-C and it seemed wise that I invest some time learning it.  That said, I figured starting closer to the metal would be best.  So, the question remained, “how close to the metal should I get?”  After some deliberation I decided that I would not start at the lowest level (OpenGL ES framework in Xcode), but rather a little higher.  I chose instead to start by using the Cocos2D iPhone framework.
• Issue #1:  Register as an app developer – This is hardly and issue today.  Simply go to the iPhone Dev Center, create an account, and follow the steps to register for as an iPhone Developer.
• Issue #2: Installing SDK – Yet another minor issue (more of a step).  Once you’re registered, go download either the 3.1.3 SDK or the 3.2 SDK (for iPhone and iPad devlopers; This requires Snow  Leopard to install.)
• Issue #3:  Provisioning your iPhone/iPod – This is the first real issue I ran into.  Call me stupid, but I had some trouble figuring out the right steps to provision my iPod so that I could run test apps directly on it from Xcode.  (Yes, there is a simulator, but nothing compares to testing the app in your hand on a real device.)  Fortunately for me (and for you if $5 is not a barrier), the folks over at Mobile Orchard have a screencast one can buy for $5 which shows the steps for provisioning a device (and iPod in my case).  I bought this, followed the steps, viola ready to go!  (On another note, these guys have some podcasts worth listening to also.)
• Issue #4: I don’t know Objective-C – This is another true issue for me.  I’m a C/C++ programmer of many years (> 20) experience with tertiary experience in a variety of other languages (COBOL, Fortran, LISP, BASIC, Pascal, Ada, …), but I have never programmed in Objective-C.  This is clearly an impediment and a requirement for any serious OS X and/or iPhone coding.   Fortunately, Apple provides a wonderful online library.  Additionally, I tracked down a very useful document for C++ programmers like myself: From C++ to Objective-C.
• Issue #5: iPhone SDK has a lot of features! – This is actually a great “issue” to have.  Yes, it means I have a lot to learn, but that’s awesome because when I do learn it, I’ll have lots of ready-made and otherwise useful content available to me.

…

I could probably go on, but I’ve been typing for a bit now and I want to get back into coding.  So, wish me luck.  I’ll be back later with more details and maybe a few screenshots of my first “on my own” iPhone development excursions.

-edo out