iPhone Game Development: Developing 2D & 3D games in Objective-C (Animal Guide),   ISBN:9780596159856

Customer Rating: 

I'm a pretty experienced developer (5 years web development in ruby, python, js & java), but new to objective-c. I got through "Programming in Objective-c 2.0" relatively easily. I'm new to drag and drop, gui driven programming so I was hoping the primer in interface builder would help out in that area. Turns out it didn't. In fact, I found it extremely frustrating. You really need a decent amount of experience with interface builder to follow the examples because the example steps are incomplete. There's a lot of "...and now, add this line to your code"... well, I've got 3 view controllers... which one exactly?

I understand the author expects the reader to use their brain, but I'd rather experiment after I get the example working. It's not good that after only 25 pages into the book, I was extremely frustrated. There wasn't a single moment when reading "Programming in Objective-c 2.0" where I didn't completely understand the concepts discussed. The author clearly states: "To get the most out of this book, you will need to have some programming knowledge." That's complete BS, you need a decent amount of xcode specific experience for this book.

I may come back to the book after I get some iphone specific experience. Right now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone starting off on this platform. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to invest any more time in this book.

Customer Rating: 

It's a paradoxical book that will probably only make sense to people that already understand the material. Sure, many of us can download the code, analyze it, put it in the context of the book, but that's what the $35 is, at least to some extent, supposed to prevent. A book IS about handholding, because it's efficient to have detailed narrative instruction. Moreover, good books HAVE been made for people just starting out. Don't build a castle on sand. Get something like "Beginning iPhone Development" by Mark and LaMarche and get a solid step-by-step foundation on the iPhone. Get any reasonable book on game design, for example "Learning XNA 3.0" by Reed, to learn in meticulous detail and code about game states, 3D, etc. [this last is a different platform, language, etc. - but it's a good book]. From there, delve into OpenGl ES. You'll probably get there quicker in the long run.

Customer Rating: 

I don't quite understand the one star reviews of this book, I'm also an iPhone Developer (or attempting to be one) and not a great coder but this book delivers, it sets up a solid framework for games that can be re-used time and again and it actually deals with things in a stage by stage manner. Some iPhone Game Books never even mention sprites or show how to run animations and surely this is necessary in a book about how to create games for the iPhone, this book does both. The book also deals with both 2D and 3D games and both sections are packed with info. The downloadable source code has been updated to reflect what is now available in the SDK 3.0 there is also a 'read me' text giving errata from the book so I don't even understand this complaint unless the other reviewers read 'Read me' as 'don't read me'.

The book lays a solid foundation and the framework they set up does work, it took me 2 days of reading the book and using the code to set up the beginnings of a game. Obviously every game is different so much of the code is useless as one would expect but if you can't write your own game code and are relying on other people to do it for you surely you are in the wrong business.

I have virtually every iPhone Programming book there is (like many rubbish programmers I'm convinced a wealth of books makes up for a lack of insight), including all the Game Programming books and this is the ONLY game programming book worth buying. Highly recommended.

Customer Rating: 

As the other reviews state - this book is so full of errors it is completely useless. Do not waste your time! Two evenings of frustration are enough for me... I'm looking for something else to learn from now...

Customer Rating: 

First, I'm a newbie to iPhone game development, so I can't speak to the accuracy or completeness of the code that is contained in the book. But in looking through the book, it appears that the book is written to provide a general overview and philosophy of game development on the iPhone, not to be a code-complete reference. As in most iPhone books, they first introduce the device, then describe the capabilities of the device, then go into more detail talking about the hardware and software framework in which game development and play will take place.

In reading the book, I got a general idea of the capabilities and potential of the iPhone as a gaming platform, with some suggestions of ways to go to implement your ideas for a game, both in 2D and 3D. There is a short but pertinent summary chapter giving further information and development tips for using open source gaming engines, as well as ways to tap into the expertise of the iPhone gaming community.

For anyone willing to climb the steep mountain of iPhone gaming, this book should be part of your library.

Recommended.