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2011 | Buch

Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit: For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

verfasst von: Kyle Richter

Verlag: Apress

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit shows you how to use Game Center and Game Kit to create fun and polished games that use advanced features such as social networking and voice over IP (VoIP). Game Kit and Game Center can help you reach new customers through social interaction, so this book shows you how you can quickly add a level of polish to your app that used to take weeks of hard work and late nights.

Implementing a leaderboard and achievement system has never been so simple! Gone are the days of writing your own server. You'll also see how to easily add advanced networking concepts like VoIP support in hours, not days.

Learn how to quickly implement many advanced social networking concepts into your apps. You'll be guided through the process of creating a custom Game Center Manager class that can be rapidly deployed into any of your new or existing projects. Furthermore, learn how to avoid pitfalls commonly encountered by new Game Center developers.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Getting Started with Game Kit and Game Center

Abstract

Welcome to Beginning iOS Game Kit and Game Center Development! This book is designed to walk you through the process of adding Game Kit and Game Center functionality into your iOS apps and games. It is centered around a sample game that you will be introduced to later in this chapter. However, if you have an existing app or game that you want to add Game Kit or Game Center functionality to, you may use that project instead. This book is written as a reference and resource tool to aid you in the process of adding social functions into your iOS app. While I recommend you read it from beginning to end to gain the most knowledge of the covered technologies, it is not a requirement. Every chapter stands on its own. You can skip ahead to the chapters that are relevant to your project needs and quickly implement them into your software.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 2. Game Center: Setting Up and Getting Started

Abstract

In the last chapter, we learned how to configure Game Center in iTunes Connect and began working with the sample project, UFOs. In this chapter, we will discuss integrating Game Center into our app, and get our hands dirty with some code.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 3. Leaderboards

Abstract

Leaderboards are older than video games themselves. The leaderboard, as we know it, goes back to the days of the original pinball games of the 1950s. The makers of these pinball games soon realized that adding a high-score list increased competition, which translates to more time played and more money earned.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 4. Achievements

Abstract

The relatively new gaming concept, achievements, came along much later than leaderboards and has gained a dramatic rise in popularity with the release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Achievements offer a level of detail overlooked in leaderboards. Leaderboards show who possesses the leading score; on the other hand, achievements demonstrate a player’s skills and strengths by rewarding the player for completing tasks or levels. When the achievements start to serve in-game purposes, they become more of a power-up over other players. The ability to view the achievements by others gives players a type of “bragging rights.”

Kyle Richter

Chapter 5. Matchmaking and Invitations

Abstract

Beginning with this chapter, and through the next few chapters, we will discuss how to add networking with Game Center, and later Game Kit, into your app or game. Adding networking capability to your app is almost considered essential technology in the modern era. Virtually all modern software has some sort of networking component associated with it today, whether it is talking to an online service to retrieve or post information, or talking directly to a peer device to exchange data.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 6. The Peer Picker

Abstract

In the last chapter, we explored how to find matches using Game Center. In this chapter, we will look at the other provided system for finding peers to connect to. This system is called the Peer Picker and can be used to create a connection between two iOS devices using either Bluetooth or a local Wi-Fi network.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 7. Network Design Overview

Abstract

In previous chapters, we learned how to find and establish connections to peers through a variety of methods using both Game Center and Game Kit. In this chapter, we will look at how to design a networking experience for not just an iOS game but also a game on any platform. This chapter is designed slightly different than the previous chapters you have encountered in this book. Primarily, there will be no associated source code with this chapter and we will only briefly touch on Game Kit networking topics themselves. This chapter will focus on the concepts of network design, as opposed to actually implementing the network itself. In the next chapter, you will discover how to tie everything together and have your peers begin to communicate with each other.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 8. Exchanging Data

Abstract

In the past few chapters, we explored how to connect to peers through a variety of methods. So far, we have not been able to do much with that connection. In this chapter, we will learn all that there is to know about exchanging data between sets of peers using Game Kit and Game Center networking. We have already added the ability to find peers using both Game Center and the Peer Picker (Game Kit) to our UFO game. We will now add the ability to actually play a multiplayer match.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 9. Turned-Based Gaming with Game Center

Abstract

Apple announced iOS 5 at its own World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in 2011. In addition to a number of smaller enhancements that this new SDK brought to Game Center, it included one very important new feature: turned-based gaming is the newest addition to the Game Center platform. With turn-based gaming, you can now provide your users with asynchronous gaming. Turned-based games are simply any game in which players take turns playing, such as in tic-tac-toe, chess, Battleship, and Monopoly.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 10. Voice Chat

Abstract

Voice chat, more than any other service provided as part of Game Kit, is a true testament to Apple engineering. Apple has turned one of the most complicated features on other platforms into one of the easiest to implement on iOS. When working with Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) on other platforms, it is often the most complex and daunting task of an entire project. In this chapter, we will explore how to add voice chat services to UFOs or any iOS app. The shortness of this chapter is evidence of how much work Apple has put into this technology to bring it within the grasp of even the greenest of developers.

Kyle Richter

Chapter 11. In-App Purchase with StoreKit

Abstract

Throughout this book, we have been working with both Game Center and Game Kit to add rich social networking into your apps. However, there is another important feature slowly becoming more popular in modern software: in-app purchases. Allowing your users to purchase upgrades or additional content for your app, from directly within your app, opens up a potentially significant new revenue stream. Over the past few years, a new business model has emerged called Freemium. Freemium is a new type of game or product that is offered to your users for free, but is monetized through selling add-ons.

Kyle Richter

Backmatter

Titel: Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit: For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
verfasst von: Kyle Richter
Verlag: Apress
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4302-3528-6
Print ISBN: 978-1-4302-3527-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4302-3528-6