Introduction - Learn SpriteBuilder for iOS Game Development - page 4

The Absolute Beginner
First, assuming you've never ever programmed a mobile app before, if you have no exper-
ience with Xcode and Cocoa touch whatsoever, and you don't know any Objective-C
either, I would strongly recommend picking up an introductory topic that goes along with
this topic. Any recent topic or tutorial that teaches iOS app development with Objective-C
and Xcode from the ground up will be helpful. This topic assumes you have a working
knowledge of Objective-C and Xcode, so a guide or reference on Objective-C and Xcode
would come in handy. Fortunately, there are plenty of tutorials and topics to choose from.
But start by consulting the Apple Developer Library first.
As a beginner, you can do a lot within SpriteBuilder and reduce the amount of code quite
significantly. You may even be able to create simple games with very little programming.
However, I'm cautious about spelling this out because it may create false expectations.
You may need to tone down your initial expectations for your first SpriteBuilder game, es-
pecially considering that at this point it may be almost impossible for you to judge what is
and is not possible with SpriteBuilder in the first place.
But if you go ahead with a motivation to learn, and perhaps do not try to implement your
grandest design as your first game, I'm sure you'll get along just fine. Expect to invest a
lot of time into any and all technology, since this isn't just a single program you set out to
learn—it's a whole, seemingly overwhelming conglomerate of terms and technologies
when you venture into game app development. As long as you stay patient and eager to
learn, it won't be unpleasant. Plus there's a friendly and helpful community that embraces
newcomers like you.
The Experienced App Developer
My second assumption is that you may be a seasoned iOS app developer but haven't tried
making games yet, perhaps because you would not want to miss out on graphical design
tools like Interface Builder. For you, it should be fairly simple to pick up how the Co-
cos2D framework works, after all there's plenty of documentation available. You may
want to learn specifically how games are designed and how this is different from using In-
terface Builder. You'll be able to pick up a lot of these concepts by reading the topic.
You may need to change some habits and expectations, but besides that I do not see any
reason why you wouldn't benefit from reading this topic if your goal is to make games
with SpriteBuilder. I suppose the same could be said if you have prior mobile game devel-
opment experience, just not with Cocos2D or SpriteBuilder.