On my recent iOS puzzler Wordz, I decided not to reinvent the wheel, and instead use an off-the-shelf 2d game framework. I settled on Cocos2d. It makes it very easy to put together sprite-based games or apps by providing all the basic pieces like a scene graph, animations and integration with a couple of physics engines. It’s built on OpenGL but, happily, hides all that away from you – unless you need it.
No sooner had I released it, than Apple came out and announced a new framework for 2d games: SpriteKit. And it’s remarkably similar to Cocos2d. Here I’ll take a look at a few places where they differ, so you know what to look out for if you’re considering migrating to SpriteKit. Continue reading SpriteKit for Cocos2D developers→
Pegs vs TriadsI’ve had two very different iPhone gaming experiences over the last few weeks: Peggle and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. It’s safe to say I got completely addicted to Peggle, but when it arrived I couldn’t resist the temptation of having the GTA universe in my pocket too. After shelling out the almighty sum of £5.99 on the sandbox triad-’em-up, I discovered that there were many aspects of playing/using Peggle that make it a better fit on the iPhone than GTA. Let’s break down how these very different experiences manage the transition to a hand-held, “casual” gaming platform. What exactly does “usability” mean in this context? Continue reading Why the Peggle mobile experience beats GTA→
On my recent iOS puzzler Wordz, I decided not to reinvent the wheel, and instead use an off-the-shelf 2d game framework. I settled on Cocos2d. It makes it very easy to put together sprite-based games or apps by providing all the basic pieces like a scene graph, animations and integration with a couple of physics engines. It’s built on OpenGL but, happily, hides all that away from you – unless you need it. 
