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iOS Game Development By Example
iOS Game Development By Example

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

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iOS Game Development By Example

Chapter 2. Scenes in Sprite Kit

The Hello World game, made in the previous chapter. was the first step to Sprite Kit. We also made acquaintance with the Swift programming language, which we are going to use for iOS game development using Sprite Kit.

In this chapter, we will dive deep into various fundamentals of the Sprite Kit project and also discuss in depth about scenes in a game. We are further going to continue the development of the game, Platformer, and use it as a tool to learn Sprite Kit. We will be learning about different auto generated files in an Xcode project and about their importance. Only then will we be able to understand what scenes are, and their importance in game development. Further we will also learn how nodes play an important part in Sprite Kit and help us to improve optimization and control of our game. In this chapter, we will also learn how to add more than one scene in our game and successfully transit from one scene to another along with animating...

Device orientation in Sprite Kit

There are two types of modes, namely portrait and landscape; you can select the desired orientation for your game while setting up your project. Any time during the development of your game, you can change the orientation under the properties section of your Sprite Kit project. There are four types of orientations available:

  • Portrait
  • Upside Down
  • Landscape Left
  • Landscape Right

You can select any of the orientations depending on your game. If you want to make your game scene in portrait mode, you can select either Portrait or Upside Down options. If want to make your game in landscape mode, you can select the Landscape Left or Landscape Right option. If you want to make your game in both portrait and landscape, then you can select both the options too. Caution, if you want to make your game in both portrait and landscape mode, make sure that you have to handle the positions of sprites in your game during runtime.

Orientation in our project

As we are making a Platformer game, it's better to opt for landscape mode. Although you can select both Landscape Left and Landscape Right, it is better to opt for one orientation for easier programming. Following are the steps to do the same:

  1. Launch the Platformer project that we made in the last chapter, either by double-clicking Platformer.xcodeproj from the directory of project, or from your Xcode.
  2. Click on the Project Navigator and then click Platformer, which is just under it, on the left panel.
  3. Untick the Portrait checkbox and tick Landscape Left under the Device Orientation section:
    Orientation in our project

Revisiting project elements

Now we are going to discuss about some auto-generated files in your Sprite Kit project. They can be found on the left panel in your Xcode.

AppDelegate.swift

This file is an entry point file to our game. Its existence is crucial when the game goes from an active state to inactive state (or background state), in simple terms, when there are some sorts of temporary interruptions (such as incoming phone calls or SMS messages), or when the user force quits the application. The essence of this file in a project comes when you have to perform any specific task between the transition of active and inactive states, such as saving game data when the game is moving into a background state due to a phone call.

GameScene.sks

This file is a static archive of your scene's content. This file presents a view in your editor, it is used to save static content of a game such as spawning the position of a player, level ending position, and so on. The main essence and importance...

Adjusting the project

We are going to make some adjustments in the already-created project called Platformer. Please follow the steps listed, in order to customize the project according to our needs:

  1. Delete the GameScene.swift and GameScene.sks files present in your project. We will be recreating these files as per our need. Don't worry about the error, we are going to fix it in the next step. GameScene.swift is the default scene given by Xcode; we are deleting the default ones as we are going to create the menu Scene before the game scene. Take a look at the next screenshot:
    Adjusting the project
  2. Open GameViewController.swift and delete the code, as shown in the following screenshot:
    Adjusting the project
  3. Delete the Spaceship image from Images.xcassets. Spaceship images are not required in this project.

Now you will not see an error in your Xcode, and if you run Platformer, you will see nothing. Well, that is not what we desire. Now, before getting your feet wet in code, we need to know what we have done (almost nothing but deleting...

What is a scene?

A scene is basically a collection of different elements such as sprites, sounds, and so on, in a logical way. Suppose we want to make a menu, we'll have to put some buttons, background, and sounds in a manner that is positioned according to our needs.

A Scene object is a collection of nodes, but a scene itself acts as a node. Imagine a tree of nodes having scene objects as its root. As all nodes in the scene are positioned in defined coordinates, their linkage can be shown as:

Node (Content) → Descendant Node

This linkage of a node with its descendant(s) is very useful. Say, if you rotate a node on the top of the tree, all the nodes will be subsequently rotated.

In technical terms, Scene is an SKScene object, which holds an SKNode object (such as SKSpriteNode objects for sprites) inside a view (SKView object), so that we can render and use them. Scene is itself an SKNode object, which acts as a root node and attaches in an SKView object. Other objects required...

Device orientation in Sprite Kit


There are two types of modes, namely portrait and landscape; you can select the desired orientation for your game while setting up your project. Any time during the development of your game, you can change the orientation under the properties section of your Sprite Kit project. There are four types of orientations available:

  • Portrait

  • Upside Down

  • Landscape Left

  • Landscape Right

You can select any of the orientations depending on your game. If you want to make your game scene in portrait mode, you can select either Portrait or Upside Down options. If want to make your game in landscape mode, you can select the Landscape Left or Landscape Right option. If you want to make your game in both portrait and landscape, then you can select both the options too. Caution, if you want to make your game in both portrait and landscape mode, make sure that you have to handle the positions of sprites in your game during runtime.

Orientation in our project


As we are making a Platformer game, it's better to opt for landscape mode. Although you can select both Landscape Left and Landscape Right, it is better to opt for one orientation for easier programming. Following are the steps to do the same:

  1. Launch the Platformer project that we made in the last chapter, either by double-clicking Platformer.xcodeproj from the directory of project, or from your Xcode.

  2. Click on the Project Navigator and then click Platformer, which is just under it, on the left panel.

  3. Untick the Portrait checkbox and tick Landscape Left under the Device Orientation section:

Revisiting project elements


Now we are going to discuss about some auto-generated files in your Sprite Kit project. They can be found on the left panel in your Xcode.

AppDelegate.swift

This file is an entry point file to our game. Its existence is crucial when the game goes from an active state to inactive state (or background state), in simple terms, when there are some sorts of temporary interruptions (such as incoming phone calls or SMS messages), or when the user force quits the application. The essence of this file in a project comes when you have to perform any specific task between the transition of active and inactive states, such as saving game data when the game is moving into a background state due to a phone call.

GameScene.sks

This file is a static archive of your scene's content. This file presents a view in your editor, it is used to save static content of a game such as spawning the position of a player, level ending position, and so on. The main essence and importance of this...

Adjusting the project


We are going to make some adjustments in the already-created project called Platformer. Please follow the steps listed, in order to customize the project according to our needs:

  1. Delete the GameScene.swift and GameScene.sks files present in your project. We will be recreating these files as per our need. Don't worry about the error, we are going to fix it in the next step. GameScene.swift is the default scene given by Xcode; we are deleting the default ones as we are going to create the menu Scene before the game scene. Take a look at the next screenshot:

  2. Open GameViewController.swift and delete the code, as shown in the following screenshot:

  3. Delete the Spaceship image from Images.xcassets. Spaceship images are not required in this project.

Now you will not see an error in your Xcode, and if you run Platformer, you will see nothing. Well, that is not what we desire. Now, before getting your feet wet in code, we need to know what we have done (almost nothing but deleting...

What is a scene?


A scene is basically a collection of different elements such as sprites, sounds, and so on, in a logical way. Suppose we want to make a menu, we'll have to put some buttons, background, and sounds in a manner that is positioned according to our needs.

A Scene object is a collection of nodes, but a scene itself acts as a node. Imagine a tree of nodes having scene objects as its root. As all nodes in the scene are positioned in defined coordinates, their linkage can be shown as:

Node (Content) → Descendant Node

This linkage of a node with its descendant(s) is very useful. Say, if you rotate a node on the top of the tree, all the nodes will be subsequently rotated.

In technical terms, Scene is an SKScene object, which holds an SKNode object (such as SKSpriteNode objects for sprites) inside a view (SKView object), so that we can render and use them. Scene is itself an SKNode object, which acts as a root node and attaches in an SKView object. Other objects required for that scene...

Coordinate system


Everything in a game built in Sprite Kit is related to nodes, and it follows a node tree structure where a scene is a root node and other nodes are child nodes of it. When we put a node in the node tree, it uses its position property to place it within the coordinate system provided by its parent.

As a scene is also a node, it is placed inside the view provided by the SKView object. The code part which we deleted in viewDidLoad, GameScene, was added as a child in the SKView object. A scene uses its parent SKView object coordination system to render itself and the content within it. The coordinate system is the same as we learned in basic mathematics.

As the preceding diagram shows, if we move right from (0,0), then x will be positive, and negative if we move left from (0,0). If we move up from (0,0), then y will be positive, and negative if we move down from (0,0). Coordinate values are measured in points and when the scene is rendered, it will be converted to pixels.

All...

Creating a scene


When we create a scene, we can define many of its properties such as size, origin, and so on. as we require in our game. A scene size defines the visible area in the SKView object. Of course, we can put nodes outside this area, but they will be totally ignored by the renderer.

However, if we try to change the position property of a scene, it will be ignored by Sprite Kit because a scene is a root node in a node tree, its default value is CGPointZero. But we can move scene origin by the anchorPoint property. Default value for anchorPoint is (0.5,0.5), which indicates the center point of the screen. By reassigning a new anchorPoint property, we can change the coordinate system for its child. For example, if we set anchorPoint to (0,0), the child node of the scene will start from the bottom left of the scene.

If we make the anchorPoint (0.5, 0.5) or the middle of the screen, the child node of the scene will start from the middle of the screen. It totally depends on us and what...

Creating a node tree


A node tree for a scene is created as a parent child relation. As a scene acts similar to a root node, another node acts as a child to it. Following are some common methods used to make a node tree:

  • addChild: It adds a node to the end of the receiver's list of child nodes

  • insertChild:atIndex: It inserts a child at a specific position in the receiver's list of child nodes

If you want to remove a node from a node tree, you can use the following method:

  • removeFromParent: It removes the receiving node from its parent

Drawing order for a node tree


When a node tree renders, all its children also render. First, the parent is rendered, and then, its children, in the order they are added to parent. If you have many nodes to render in a scene, it is a difficult task to maintain them in order. For this, Sprite Kit provides a solution using the z position. You can set nodes to the z position by using the zPosition property.

When you take the z position into account, the node tree will be rendered as follows:

  • First of all, each node's global z position is calculated

  • Then, nodes are drawn in order from smallest z value to largest z value

  • If two nodes share the same z value, ancestors are rendered first, and siblings are rendered in child order

As you've just seen, Sprite Kit uses a deterministic rendering order, based on the height nodes and their positions in the node tree. But, because the rendering order is so deterministic, Sprite Kit may be unable to apply some rendering optimizations that it might otherwise apply...

Adding the first scene in our game


Now it is time to add a menu scene to our game. For this, select the Platformer folder and right-click on this folder, select New File. Select iOS | Source | Swift File and then Next. Inside Save As, give it the name MenuScene, and click on Create.

Click on your MenuScene.swift file. Now it's time to do some code stuff:

import SpriteKit
class MenuScene: SKScene
{
  //#1
  let PlayButton: SKSpriteNode
  let Background: SKSpriteNode
  //#2
  init(size:CGSize, playbutton:String, background:String)
  {
    PlayButton = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: playbutton)
    Background = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: background)
    super.init(size:size)
  }
  //#3
  required init?(coder aDecoder: NSCoder)
  {
    fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented")
  }
  //#4
  override func didMoveToView(view: SKView)
  {
    addChildToScene();

  }
  //#5
  func addChildToScene()
  {
    PlayButton.zPosition = 1
    Background.zPosition = 0
    Background.size = CGSize(width:self...

Adding another scene to our game


Create the GameScene file as we did for MenuScene:

import SpriteKit

class GameScene: SKScene
{

  let backgroundNode = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "BG")


  override func didMoveToView(view: SKView) {
  addBackGround()
}

  func addBackGround()
  {
    backgroundNode.zPosition = 0
    backgroundNode.size = CGSize(width:self.size.width, height:self.size.height)
    addChild(backgroundNode)
  }

  override func update(currentTime: NSTimeInterval) {

  }

}

The code is self-explanatory, we added only a background to the GameScene, the same as what we did for the MenuScene.

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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
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Table of Contents

11 Chapters
1. An Introduction to Sprite Kit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Scenes in Sprite Kit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Sprites Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Nodes in Sprite Kit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Physics in Sprite Kit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Animating Sprites, Controls, and SceneKit Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Particle Effects and Shaders Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Handling Multiple Scenes and Levels Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Performance Enhancement and Extras Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Revisiting Our Game and More on iOS 9 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
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5 star 81.8%
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1 star 18.2%
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syeda tauseef Sep 07, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
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
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
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 😊
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E. Murillo Sep 25, 2015
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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.
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Avan Sep 13, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
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 :)
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Philipp Gurevich Sep 02, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
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.
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  3. You will have a choice of replacement or refund of the problem items.(damaged, defective or incorrect)
  4. Once Customer Care Team confirms that you will be refunded, you should receive the refund within 10 to 12 working days.
  5. If you are only requesting a refund of one book from a multiple order, then we will refund you the appropriate single item.
  6. Where the items were shipped under a free shipping offer, there will be no shipping costs to refund.

On the off chance your printed book arrives damaged, with book material defect, contact our Customer Relation Team on customercare@packt.com within 14 days of receipt of the book with appropriate evidence of damage and we will work with you to secure a replacement copy, if necessary. Please note that each printed book you order from us is individually made by Packt's professional book-printing partner which is on a print-on-demand basis.

What tax is charged? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Currently, no tax is charged on the purchase of any print book (subject to change based on the laws and regulations). A localized VAT fee is charged only to our European and UK customers on eBooks, Video and subscriptions that they buy. GST is charged to Indian customers for eBooks and video purchases.

What payment methods can I use? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

You can pay with the following card types:

  1. Visa Debit
  2. Visa Credit
  3. MasterCard
  4. PayPal
What is the delivery time and cost of print books? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela