Beginning Swift Games Development for iOS

Sprite Kit is Apple’s exciting 2D game framework released in September 2013 with iOS 7. It is a graphics rendering and animation framework that gives you the power to easily animate textured images, play video, render text, and add particle effects. It also includes an integrated physics library. Sprite Kit is the first-ever game engine formally built into the iOS SDK.

In the previous chapter I talked about what Sprite Kit was and how you can use it to create 2D games. I then jumped right in and showed how to start working with the SKSpriteNode to create a background and player sprite and then showed how to add them to a game scene.

In the previous chapter I covered quite a bit of information including what SKScene objects are and how they are built. I also talked about the SKScene rendering loop and how the order that the scene’s node tree is constructed in can affect the look and interactivity of the nodes. I closed the chapter with a look at a scene’s coordinate system and node anchor points.

In the previous chapter I discussed Sprite Kit’s physics engine and collision detection. I started with a discussion of SKPhysicsBody. You then turned on the game world’s gravity and added a touch responder to propel the playerNode up into space. Finally, I closed out the chapter with a discussion of how to handle collisions.

In the previous chapter, you started to add some real functionality to your game. You began by making some small restructuring changes to the beginning of the game. After that, you added additional orbNode objects to collide with. After adding the new orbNode objects, you added scrolling to your game scene to make it look like the player was flying through space collecting orbs. Finally, you closed out the chapter using the phone’s accelerometer to move the player along the x-axis.

In the previous chapter, you refactored the orb node’s layout and saw how you could use SKActions to move an SKSpriteNode back and forth across the scene while making that same node rotate forever. At the end of the chapter, you looked at how you can add colorizing effects to an SKSpriteNode using a colorize action.

In the previous chapter, I briefly introduced you to particle emitters, including a quick look at some of Xcode’s template emitters. After that, I showed you how to add a particle emitter to the playerNode so that you could emulate engine exhaust whenever an impulse is applied to the physicsBody.

In the previous chapter, you saw how to use SKLabelNodes to add labels to your Sprite Kit games. Specifically, you saw how to display the remaining number of impulses and how to add scoring to the game to keep up with the number of orbs the SuperSpaceMan has collected. At the end of the chapter, you got a chance to revisit SKActions when you added sound to the game.

In the previous chapter, you learned how to implement scene transitions using Sprite Kit’s SKTransition class. You got a look at some of the different types of built-in transitions Sprite Kit makes available to you. You also saw how to control each scene’s animation during a transition. At the end of the chapter, you took your new knowledge and added a menu scene to your SuperSpaceMan game.

In this chapter, you will dive right in and create your own game. For this game you will continue with the SuperSpaceMan theme and create a hide-and-seek style of game. You will start with some basic 3D code for a portrait-only game. By the end of the chapter, you will have a complete landscape-only 3D game with your hero in the middle of the scene.

In the previous chapter, you learned some of the basics of Scene Kit. I covered how a scene is created using SCNNodes and showed a basic tree structure of those nodes.

In the previous chapter, you gained an understanding of how Scene Kit uses the scene graph to render the objects for the user. You also now have an Xcode project that is just waiting to have more done to it.

In the previous chapter, you set up your objects with lighting and materials. You also found out how the camera interacts within the scene. In this chapter, you will see how Scene Kit and your objects are able to move around using animation.

So far in the game you have not moved the hero, and now you need to get him up on his feet and moving around. You are going to keep this simple and use a one-finger touch to move forward and two fingers to move back. To move left and right, you will use the accelerometer.

In the previous chapters, you worked within the Scene Kit paradigm; however, Apple has created a way for you to add a 2D scene to overlay on your 3D scenes. In this chapter, you will add a 2D scene that will be used for your timer so it can track how long it will take you and your friends to find and capture the enemy.

3D graphic programming is sometimes difficult to do. Scene Kit allows you to easily create an immersive world for your imagination to explore. So far, you have used Scene Kit and 3D graphics in a basic way because this is a beginner-level book. As you explore deeper into the Scene Kit world, you might want to learn more, so this chapter covers some advanced topics for you to get started in the right direction. You will also gain some tips on Xcode that I hope help you in your programming experience.

Swift is Apple’s new programming language intended to be the future replacement of Objective-C for Mac and iOS development. Some people are referring to it as a functional programming language, but it is actually an object-oriented programming language with a healthy dose of generic programming.