www.it-ebooks.info iPhone Game Blueprints Develop amazing games, visual charts, plots, and graphics for your iPhone Igor Uduslivii BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI www.it-ebooks.info iPhone Game Blueprints Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews. Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book. Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. First published: December 2013 Production Reference: 1191213 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK. ISBN 978-1-84969-026-3 www.packtpub.com Cover Image by Rogix (info@icoeye.com) www.it-ebooks.info Credits Author Igor Uduslivii Reviewers Robbyn Blumenschein Zbigniew Kominek Clifford Matthew Roche Acquisition Editors David Barnes Joanne Fitzpatrick Lead Technical Editor Anila Vincent Technical Editors Pragnesh Bilimoria Veena Pagare Ankita Thakur Proofreaders Ameesha Green Paul Hindle Stephen Swaney Copy Editors Alisha Aranha Brandt D'Mello Tanvi Gaitonde Gladson Monteiro Karuna Narayanan Kirti Pai Shambhavi Pai Alda Paiva Project Coordinator Shiksha Chaturvedi Indexer Mehreen Deshmukh Production Coordinator Manu Joseph Cover Work Manu Joseph www.it-ebooks.info About the Author Igor Uduslivii is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer with more than a decade's experience in this domain. He specializes in artwork for mobile games and UI graphics such as icons and buttons. Currently, he cooperates with Spooky House Studios UG (haftungsbeschränkt), a game development company that has created popular puzzle titles such as Bubble Explode and Rail Maze. Right from his early years, he was passionate about drawing, computers, and video games. As a child, he liked to create illustrations by traditional painting methods as well as designing simple 8-bit games. After completing his studies from the Republican Colegiul de Informatica in Chisinau, Moldova, he began his career as an editor at Electronic Ofce publishing house, writing articles about new technologies and particularly, computer graphics. In parallel, he started studying Flash technology and animation. After that, he began actively working as a media designer, creating promo animations and Flash games. Igor also worked on the graphical look of software products, designing visual identities and UI elements. Among his clients were Kaspersky Lab, Reasoft, LemonStand, and many others. By now, most of his time is taken up by games. He is working on a full bunch of graphics, such as the application icon, characters, background art, props, textures, and animations. He is fond of design as an art form and pursues it as a hobby, developing various concepts in the domain of print and simple industrial design elements. In fact, all the images (except the screenshots for games and the photos) that appear in this book are designed by him. He also worked as the main graphic artist for mobile games such as Blueprint3D, Rail Maze, and Bubble Explode. One of his projects called Jackets and Bookmarks was showcased at the Kleinefabriek exhibition at Amsterdam in 2010. I would like to thank my family for their patience and endorsements during the process of creating this book. I would also like to thank Andrei Gradinari, Pavel Carpov, and Kostya Stankevych for their help and support. www.it-ebooks.info About the Reviewers Robbyn Blumenschein has a Bachelor of Science degree in Game Art and Design. She has done an internship at IPlay, a mobile game company, and has worked as a freelancer since graduation. She is recently working on a project (developing and designing) that is a cross platform for funding startup companies She received second place for the rst competition for Z-place Technologies Inc. Zbigniew Kominek is an experienced software developer who loves pure and tested code. He started his professional experience with client/server applications. After a few years, he made his dream come true and started working as an iOS game developer. One of the titles he worked on is the award-winning Bridgy Jones game. Now, he continues to pursue his passion for game development with Unity. Dawid Szczepaniak (Executive Creative Director and Partner at VML Poland) says, "Zbigniew is one of the best iOS developers I've ever met. He is highly skilled and most of all, a mature and reliable person." Gogula Gupta (Principal Software Engineer at Sabre) says "Zbyszek is a very talented and passionate developer. He has extremely good technical knowledge and ability to learn quickly. He delivers work with amazing speed and excellent quality. He has very good personal skills too. It is very valuable to have him in the team." Artur Staszczyk (Programmer at CD Projekt Red) says "Zbigniew is a very skilled developer. Despite that his knowledge about design patterns and iOS programming is enormous, he is always willing to learn new techniques. It was a pleasure working with such experienced developer; he was a valuable member of our team." I would like to thank my wife Ola. Her patience and support during tough moments gave me the strength to work hard and accomplish everything I wanted to do. www.it-ebooks.info Clifford Matthew Roche is a self-taught game programmer who has been working on AAA projects since 2008, focusing on engine development, performance, and animation. He is credited on several games including NHL 09, FIFA 10, and MotionSports: Adrenaline. Recently, he started his own game development company, Firestarter Games, where he works to bring high-quality games to mobile devices and consoles with Unity 3D. The company's rst project, Globulous, was nominated for Best Audio (Casual/Indie) at the Audio Network Guild Music Awards. www.it-ebooks.info www.PacktPub.com Support les, eBooks, discount offers and more You might want to visit www.PacktPub.com for support les and downloads related to your book. Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub les available? 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Simply use your login credentials for immediate access. www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter 1: Starting the Game 7 Telling a story 7 Characters 13 Levels 15 Naming 16 Working with graphic assets 19 Sprites and tiles 21 Preparing animation 25 Background 27 Application icon 30 Achievements 37 Trophies 39 Banners 40 Screenshots 40 Gameplay videos 41 Summary 44 Chapter 2: Ergonomics 45 Portraying the player 45 Ergonomic aspects 46 Simple rules 47 Distance to the game 47 The Pause button 48 Autosaving 49 The Continue button 50 Visibility of the control elements 50 Direct control 50 Introducing functionalities 50 www.it-ebooks.info [...]... 93 Game blueprints 94 Summary 97 The ornament of life 99 Powerful objects 102 Traditional board games 106 Planning your digital board game 108 The Plot 110 Game elements and goals 110 Game start 111 The game board 111 Decks 113 Robots 114 Doors 117 Tools and bonuses 117 Monsters 118 [ ii ] www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents The game table Robo-golem Robo-zombie Alternative ideas Player's identity Game. .. game Creating the identity for the game Blueprints of the game Summary [v] www.it-ebooks.info 251 251 254 254 255 255 255 256 257 257 258 259 259 261 262 263 264 266 267 270 271 274 278 280 281 283 285 288 290 291 292 293 Table of Contents Chapter 9: Games with Reality Seeing real unreal Learning augmented reality methods Understanding fiducial markers Working with graphics in AR games Meeting AR games... the help of good graphic ornamentation and a good game idea, the gameplay can be very interesting There are several vivid design ideas in the chapter Chapter 4, Card and Board Games, explores the world of digital interpretations of traditional board games It introduces some general elements of games that humans have played for centuries: a gameboard, gamepieces symbolizing various objects or characters,... parts: • Synopsis: This is the game idea It conveys the essence of the game • Plot: It is the description of the protagonist, their goals, conflicts, weapons, prizes, enemies, game settings, and many other things • Storyline: It decides the game levels A game is not a novel or a play, so the story is not the most important part of it But the game idea or synopsis is Your game should have clear and obvious... the dialogue window Alternative ideas Identity for the game Blueprints Summary 236 238 241 244 246 247 248 250 Chapter 8: Action Games Introducing action games Classifying the types of shooters Fixed shooters Scrolling shooter Rail shooter First-person shooter Third-person shooter Mixed shooters Generating the game idea Writing the plot Planning game modes Developing the protagonist Designing enemies... Accessible games Color blindness Photosensitive epilepsy Handedness Other accessibility issues Summary 51 51 51 52 52 53 55 58 62 66 71 73 73 76 Chapter 3: Gesture Games 77 Chapter 4: Card and Board Games 99 Introducing the game idea 79 Imagining the device orientation 85 Introducing game modes 86 Gestures 87 Intuition 87 Lights 88 Thinking about the plot and decorations 89 Alternative ideas 92 Creating a game' s... exceptions are unique titles with revolutionary new principles of gameplay, but such games appear once in a blue moon as it is very hard to think a new type of reliable and addictive gameplay) To stand out from the crowd, the game needs a plot (or semantic ornamentation) The volume of information it conveys can differ; games with a complex gameplay (packed with adventure and RPG components) feature screenplays... the games are longer, but also because they are non-linear At the same time, simple games, which are reasonable to begin a game developer career with, may have very short plots, barely longer than the synopsis For instance, it can describe a game setting and some minor notations: an underwater bubble match-three game with a few unique bonus elements Such type of plot is perfect for small puzzle games... critically acclaimed indie game, Braid (http://braid -game. com/), designed by Jonathan Blow It features an interesting plot, gameplay and story-driven design as a platformer game with puzzle elements It is good to demonstrate the evolution of narrative species in the game The very first level must start with the synopsis, that is, it should demonstrate the keystone rule of the game: the player should make... Meeting AR games Using real landmarks Planning an AR game The concept of an AR game Planning game controls Controlling real objects Gamificating reality Summary 295 295 297 300 305 307 309 311 318 320 322 325 329 Index 331 [ vi ] www.it-ebooks.info Preface The main objective of this book is to inspire the audience to begin creating more interesting games Game development is a magical process, but the magic . www.it-ebooks.info iPhone Game Blueprints Develop amazing games, visual charts, plots, and graphics for your iPhone Igor Uduslivii BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI www.it-ebooks.info iPhone Game Blueprints Copyright. Board Games 99 The ornament of life 99 Powerful objects 102 Traditional board games 106 Planning your digital board game 108 The Plot 110 Game elements and goals 110 Game start 111 The game board. 288 Alternative ideas for the game 290 Creating the identity for the game 291 Blueprints of the game 292 Summary 293 www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents [ vi ] Chapter 9: Games with Reality 295 Seeing