iPhone game programming: Framework for this game?

Question

For something like this app http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=323242790&mt=8, what sort of game framework is needed? It's all 2D and I've read how popular Cocos is. The problem is I'm not a game programmer and there aren't any good Cocos tutorials out there. Would Cocos be able to create a game like the one linked above?

If someone uses CoreAnimation (Quartz 2D), do they have to create the physics from scratch?

I don't see any games with the Unity 3D logo on startup, which must display if you use the Indie license. What is the style of game Unity works best with?

For a beginner, should they start with Cocos or something such as Unity, which has lots of free resources (images, sounds, etc).

Answer 1

I'm no expert in iPhone development but have been studying it, and will try to chip in my 2 cents.

Yes, it seems that Cocos would be very suitable for what you are planning to do, and it would most definitely be able to make something like that Cartoon Wars. Plus it also gives you two choices of integrated physics engines to choose from. Streaming Colour's Owen Goss is developing a game using Cocos and vlogging the experience, he occasionally comments about physics-engine related issues http://www.streamingcolour.com/blog/ .

You can also pick CoreAnimation, but then you are on your own to do the physics. If I'm not mistaken, the NimbleBit http://www.nimblebit.com/ guys developed their games (Scoops, Moon Drop) directly in Quartz.

Unity, despite being a 3D engine, is also suitable for the job. Zombieville USA was developed using it (more details here http://www.thecareergamer.com/?p=513 ) and has a cutout animated feel that resembles the link you shared. I guess all those games that don't display the indie Unity logo simply were made using the full version. It seems that using Unity allowed them to develop Zombieville in a very small amount of time. Also, in Unity you are not stuck with Objective C and allowed to use C# as well.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Don't code it from scatch. Use Unity.

Depending on which version of Unity you buy you can exclude the Unity logo on startup.

http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses

Start with Unity. It's a solution that can target users of all levels since it supports very advanced enhancements.

Answer 3

My impression of the games I've seen with Unity is that they are slow to start. That's OK if there's a big game experience but not for something I want to play within a few seconds.

Based on my research, I've decided to use Cocos for simple 2D games. There are a lot of good postings in the forum, even though there are no explicit tutorials

I also asked a question a while back about 3D engines - Oolong vs SIO2, got some useful answers and when I get time will be trying SIO2, although that won't be until next year at this rate (non-gaming projects in the way and I'm going to walk with 2D before flying in 3D).