Though the number of gaming apps is increasing at a great speed, very few gaming apps graduate from being ordinary to extraordinary in a short span of time and become addictively popular amongst players. Some of the most popular ones have been Clash of Titans, Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, Pokemon go, to name a few. These games have made history, and their makers took the whole world by surprise. A genuine iPhone game development company understands developing an iPhone game app that not only exhibits creativity but helps generate enormous revenue is certainly not a child’s play. Here we provide in-depth knowledge and insight about developing an iOS game app from scratch.
Be innovative and come up with a fresh vision and original idea An innovative mind is a pre-requisite for creating a successful iOS game app. You need to develop a fresh vision and nurture an original idea to create a magnificent game. A lot of contemplation needs to be done about the ability, usability, and viability of the game. A concoction of strong vision, fresh ideas, app market research, and an analysis of some game apps having a theme similar to yours is needed to build a strategy. The whole process may involve a few days or weeks or months.
At the very beginning of the process you need to be clear about the type of gameplay, the sound affects you are going to use, your unique background theme with unparalleled characters, graphics, art styles, music, winning actions, and score system. Thus, the game app idea needs to be highly worked upon to push it forward and develop an original iOS game app.
Have all the prerequisite skills handy Many people having wide skillsets work together in an iPhone game development company on the same projects. These include project managers, programmers, graphic designers, and marketers. The programmer needs to have a proper understanding of core computer science concepts in order to code for the game app. These include having knowledge of Objective-C, Swift, Xcode and interface builder, MVC, UIKit, git, subversion, core data, unit testing, table views, push notifications, clean coding principles, in-app purchase, threading and concurrency. When combined, all these skills can make it easy for you to build a superior iOS game app. The graphic designers also need to be creative and focus on its design aspects as an iOS game app is almost all about graphics and no text. So, the in-depth knowledge of game design principle is just to make you a real winner.
Choose the right tools By using the precise graphics tools, it is possible to define and control the visuals of any iOS game. Here are some of the important graphics tools with their pros and cons listed and you need to choose among these for your iOS game app.
- Cocos2D: This is the third-party open-source framework used by many developers to create iPhone games that make the coding process of the game fast, efficient, and easy as it is compatible with both Objective-C and Swift.
- GameSalad: Novice iOS game app developers who do not have a thorough game app designing experience find the handy game creation library GameSalad useful as it allows them to use the drag and drop option to develop games fast.
- Flash games: Games can also be written in Flash and then converted to run on iOS later.
- SDL: For developing small, low-level iOS games with a fast, multi-platform graphics library that helps create 2D graphics, it is the tool of choice. It is not mature, however, and does not support 3D graphics much.
- OpenGL ES: It is the versatile, more mature, and cross-platform alternative for building graphic-rich delightful iOS game apps. It is constantly updated and works on almost every platform.
- Metal: iOS developers can produce high-quality game visuals that defy the hardware limitations of the iOS devices and also consume less power than other tools. However, the game apps developed using it are small, less sophisticated, and support only new iPhone devices. Also, the iPhone exclusivity of the tool makes it insurmountable to build an Android version of the game.
Make correct choices for programming and coding You have many options for programming and coding of the iOS game app and you need to choose them after thorough analysis.
- Objective C: IOS game developers have long used it and the pros and cons are now well known. Many tutorials are also easily available for guiding instructions using it.
- Swift: This is a relatively new programming language for iOS developers that is quite flexible, light, and powerful. Fast-running apps can be developed using it without having to write intricate and lengthy codes as in Objective C and C++.
- Xcode: iOS game apps on Mac using this free IDE. The languages generally compatible with Xcode games include C++, Objective-C, and Swift.
- Third-party frameworks: These include Python, Xamarin, RubyMotion, etc. and can be used without learning any new aspects.
- Corona and PhoneGap: You can use your web app development skills (JavaScript, CSS, HTML) and convert them into native iOS gaming mobile apps using Corona and PhoneGap.
Be precise in choosing the sound effects and music Sound effects and music play an epic role in enriching the game, bringing motions alive, and creating an immersive experience. These sound effects may be created using certain household equipment; downloaded from public sound libraries like freesound.org., soundjay, pdsounds, audacity, freesound, etc., or they can also be outsourced from creative and experienced voice actors available on online marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork.
Test your game app thoroughly The iOS game app development environment is easy and organised but still you need to test your iOS game app for performance and bug issues. This may be done either yourself or by hiring an app-testing company that tests your app in different environments and conditions.
Release the app after checking for Apple guideline compatibility Apple has a rigorous and straightforward set of strict guidelines that insists the developers to enrol in the iOS Developer Program that charges a fixed yearly fee. Your iOS game app should comply with the Apple’s guidelines and be improvised before launch so that it is clean, original, and harmless for getting published in the Apple app store. You can also collaborate with a reputed app publisher and polish your app to incorporate iOS-specific features.
Wrapping up Developing a successful iOS game app depends on your creativity and the choices you make. You need to understand and conceive the process completely before starting so that you are prepared to meet the challenges of the process. Hopefully, the steps explained above can guide you and augment your confidence in developing your iOS game app.