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iOS Game Development By Example

Chapter 1. An Introduction to Sprite Kit

In this book we will be discussing about iOS game development using Sprite Kit. We will be taking a fun approach and shall make an actual 2D platform game on the iPhone in the process. We are going to develop a 2D (two dimensional) game; a game which relies on only two coordinates. Some famous 2D games include Mario, Hill Climb Racing, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and so on.

A 2D game only deals with two dimensions along x and y axes (left/right and up/down) but not along the z axis (forward/backward). So basically, players cannot rotate or move the camera freely in a 3D space to view objects from other angles and perspectives. Although there are exceptions such as 2.5D games; we will be talking about that in later chapters. So, let's not keep things waiting and dive into the book.

Elements of Sprite Kit

Now we are going to discuss some elements of Sprite Kit, which are essential for game development. A game made in Sprite Kit consists of many scenes which are made of nodes, and the functioning of a node in a scene is determined by actions.

Scenes

A level or environment in a game is termed as a scene. We make scenes as per our requirement, such as menus, levels, and so on. So, there are different scenes for different levels and also for different menus in a game. It's like a canvas where you position your elements.

A scene in Sprite Kit is represented by an SKScene object. A scene holds sprites and other contents to be rendered. To switch scenes, we can use the SKTransition class.

Nodes

Nodes are fundamental building blocks for all content in a scene. The SKScene class is a descendant of the SKNode class, so a scene is a root node. The SKNode class does not draw anything on scene by itself; we can think of it as a base class for other node classes. There are node subclasses as follows:

SKSpriteNode: This can be used for drawing textured sprites, playing video content, and more
SK3DNode: This can be used for rendering a Scene Kit scene as a 2D textured image
SKVideoNode: This can be used for playing video content
SKLabelNode: This can be used for rendering a text string
SKShapeNode: This can be used for rendering shape, based on a core graphics path
SKEmitterNode: This can be used for creating and rendering particles
SKCropNode: This can be used for cropping child nodes using a mask
SKEffectNode: This can be used for applying a core image filter to its child node
SKLightNode: This can be used for applying lighting and shadows to a scene
SKFieldNode: This can be used for applying physics effects to a specific portion of the scene

Actions

An action tells a node what to do and allows you to perform different things, such as:

Moving nodes in any direction
Making any node follow a path
Rotating nodes
Scaling of nodes
Showing or hiding a node
Changing the content of a sprite node
Playing sound
Removing nodes from a scene
Performing action on a child's node, and so on

To create a run action, first, create the action using the particular action class, configure the properties for the created action, and call a run action by passing action object as a parameter. When the scene processes the node, the actions of that particular node will be executed.

Features of Sprite Kit

Sprite Kit provides many features to facilitate the development of a game. These features can be used for enhancing the experience as well as performance of the game. Let's discuss them in brief.

Particle editor

This feature was introduced in iOS 7. Particle editor is used to add special effects in a game, like adding a mist effect in a game scene. Here, we can customize many things, such as:

The number of particles
Limit of particles allowed
The color of particles
The size of a particle
The life of a particle
The location of a particle in a scene, and so on

Texture atlas generator

Texture atlas generator combines all image files into one or more large images, in order to improve performance. We will discuss this in detail in the later chapters. It is recommended to use a lesser number of images to reduce draw calls (number of images rendering on a scene).

Shaders

Shaders were introduced in iOS 8. They are used to produce a variety of special effects; they calculate rendering effects on graphic hardware with a high degree of flexibility, for example, we have seen ripple effects in many apps/games. Wherever a user touches the screen, a ripple effect will be produced.

In Sprite Kit, shaders are represented by the SKShaderNode class object.

Lighting and shadows

Lighting and shadows were introduced in iOS 8. These effects are produced using the SKLightNode class object. The SKLightNode object can:

Spread a lighting effect at any desirable position on the scene
Add lighting in any sprite
Support colors and shadows

It's just a type SKNode, so we can apply any property that we apply to any SKNode.

Physics

Simulating physics in Sprite Kit can be achieved by adding physics bodies to the scenes. A physics engine has the sole purpose of moving objects around in a simulated world. The physics bodies take the properties of objects, such as mass, shape material, current trajectory, and so on, and calculate a new position for all those objects.

Every object on the Sprite Kit game scene will have a physics body. A physics body object is connected to a node on the node tree of a particular scene. The scene will simulate the effect of forces and collisions on those particular physics bodies that are connected to the node tree, whenever the scene computes a new frame of animation. We can apply a particular physics property on those nodes using their particular physics properties such as gravity, mass, force, friction, and so on.

The game loop

Following is a frame life cycle diagram:

At the start, the update function is called to where we set up the logic of the game. After that, the scene evaluates the actions. After the actions are evaluated, we get a callback. After that, we set up physics, if any. When the physics simulation is finished, we get another call with didSimulatePhysics. Then, we apply constraint and get another callback, didApplyConstraints. The last callback method is didFinishUpdate; we get it just before frame is completed and view is ready to render. Finally SKView renders the scene; the frame is complete and it continues 60 times per second.

Key benefits

Learn about the Sprite Kit engine and create games on the iOS platform from the ground up

Acquaint your Sprite Kit knowledge with Swift programming and turn your 2D game conceptualization into reality in no time

An abridged and focused guide to develop an exhaustive mobile game

Description

Game development has always been an exciting subject for game enthusiasts and players and iOS game development takes a big piece of this cake in terms of perpetuating growth and creativity. With the newest version of iOS and Sprite Kit, comes a series of breathtaking features such as Metal rendering support, camera nodes, and a new and improved Scene Editor. Conceptualizing a game is a dream for both young and old. Sprite Kit is an exciting framework supported by Apple within the iOS development environment. With Sprite Kit, creating stunning games has become an easy avenue. Starting with the basics of game development and swift language, this book will guide you to create your own fully functional game. Dive in and learn how to build and deploy a game on your iOS platform using Sprite Kit game engine. Go on a detailed journey of game development on the iOS platform using the Sprite Kit game engine. Learn about various features implemented in iOS 8 that further increase the essence of game development using Sprite Kit. Build an endless runner game and implement features like physics bodies, character animations, scoring and other essential elements in a game. You will successfully conceive a 2D game along with discovering the path to reach the pinnacle of iOS game development. By the end of the book, you will not only have created an endless runner game but also have in-depth knowledge of creating larger games on the iOS platform. Style and approach An easy-to-follow, comprehensive guide that makes your learning experience more intriguing by gradually developing a Sprite Kit game. This book discusses each topic in detail making sure you attain a clear vision of the subject.

Who is this book for?

This book is for beginners who want to start their game development odyssey in the iOS platform. If you are an intermediate or proficient game developer hailing from a different development platform, this book will be a perfect gateway to the Sprite Kit engine. The reader does not need to have any knowledge of Sprite Kit and building games on the iOS platform.

What you will learn

Learn about the Sprite Kit game engine and create indie games in no time

Set sail on the quest of game development career by successfully creating a runner game

Know more about the IDE provided by Apple for game development - Xcode

Get an overview of Apple's latest programming language, Swift

Discover the functionalities of scenes and nodes in a game

Explore how physics bodies work and how to add this feature into your game

Grasp knowledge of particle effect and shaders

Add a scoring system into your game to visualize high scores

What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

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syeda tauseef Sep 07, 2015

the book gives a very clear description of the topic and is very easy to understand

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Anil V. Sep 07, 2015

Very helpful, and good intro into a very complicated programming environment. Must Book for all looking to dive into Sprite Kit Game engine Development.Looking Forward for more awesome Books from the author 😊

E. Murillo Sep 25, 2015

Must say the book helped me gain a deeper understanding of iOS game development. I like a lot that many explanations are included because not only the core subject at hand gets covered, but also the wider range of concepts and classifications that will become handy down the road.Wording is completely clear for newcomers. No assumptions are made on readers being computer theorists or object oriented purists. In fact from this book, not only I improved my Swift coding, but also my overall understanding of object oriented coding. This book is a must for anyone getting into practical swift gaming development.

Avan Sep 13, 2015

I bought this book yesterday and I'm amazed to know that it smartly covers the iOS 9 aspects of Sprite Kit. You cannot find any material for iOS 9 but this book also introduces iOS 9 which helps the reader to make sure about the other versions and also make sure what are new stuff introduced by apple for iOS 9. As of now I have only read the first 6 chapters of the book and so far the code and the explanation is spot on. I could have deducted half star for the late intro of iOS 9 but when I flipped the pages and read about the intro the book had given, it gave me a breeze that the author has smartly taken care of the same. I have recommended the book to all the people around me and will make sure to suggest everyone around. The best thing about the book is that we are making a single game alongside instead of making multiple small games. Making multiple games confuses the reader a lot but this book has taken care of avoiding that issue by just creating a single game in the book. Too good of thought. Don't be worry about iOS 9 compatibility of this book. It covers iOS 9 well :)

Philipp Gurevich Sep 02, 2015

Few days before the release I was provided with reviewer copy by Packt Publishing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, because of its concise manner of guiding through SpriteKit’s components, and diligently revealing their dependencies and interactions with structured approach. The book’s clear and uncluttered presentation helped me to develop strong mental map of Sprite Kit’s internal hierarchy. Coming from OpenGL background, book helped me understand the peculiarities of Sprite-based rendering. The book is invaluable tool for quick familiarization with SpriteKit, Swift and Xcode’s GUI. The book uncovers the framework by creating the example game, but instead of simple “repeat this” instructions, every major concept gets succinct introduction and frequent infographics.If you need a guide to break into SpriteKit, and develop a solid understanding of SpriteKit framework and Swift, this book fulfills these tasks gracefully.

iOS Game Development By Example: Learn how to develop an ace game for your iOS device, using Sprite Kit

What do you get with Print?

iOS Game Development By Example

Chapter 1. An Introduction to Sprite Kit

What's new in iOS 8?

Getting to know Swift

Getting to know Sprite Kit

Advantages of Sprite Kit

Elements of Sprite Kit

Scenes

Nodes

Actions

Features of Sprite Kit

Particle editor

Texture atlas generator

Shaders

Lighting and shadows

Physics

The game loop

Setting up a project

The Hello World project

Result

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iOS Game Development By Example: Learn how to develop an ace game for your iOS device, using Sprite Kit

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What you will learn

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