I know this isn't the iphone developers forums but I prefer working with people involved with AGS.
I'm interested in finding someone who can help make an iphone app, all it would need to do is record your location and when you hit an update button it would alert any other users in your general vacinity. The phones also have all those funky things that can tell which way it's facing, etc, do you know how to utilize those? I assume it's possible after hearing about that application that lets you find other gay guys in your area, heh, but have no idea how difficult it would be to make. What are the possibilities/problems?
So on a side-note, I guess I'm just interested to know how can program for iPhone (or Facebook apps I suppose :)) - I saw Domithan has made an iPhone game. I've also tinkered with Unity 3D which has the ability to export a 3D game to the iphone, but I suck at it.
If you can make my app, please get in touch. If you know how to sell these apps, there is a potential to earn.
Thanks.
PS. We can also discuss our favourite iPhone apps here, why not :) Um. I like the one that shows you the stars you're facing.
Quote from: Mods on Sat 13/11/2010 14:23:19
So on a side-note, I guess I'm just interested to know how can program for iPhone (or Facebook apps I suppose :)) - I saw Domithan has made an iPhone game. I've also tinkered with Unity 3D which has the ability to export a 3D game to the iphone, but I suck at it.
I would highly recommend Unity3D. The Indie version is awesome and it's completely free. I'm not sure how well suited it would be to an an iPhone
app though since it's first and foremost a game development tool, but I could be wrong. Unity's version of Javascript, UnityScript, is straightforward to learn, and there's extensive documentation and helpful forums like UnityAnswers. DarkBasic > Director MX 2004 > Unity is my background;-)
On the iPhone side, however, you have to consider the cost: assuming you have a Mac, to go the Unity route you need to be a paid up Apple developer ($99 for a year) before you can buy the Unity iPhone add-on, itself $400. Not very economical unless you're going to make a series of apps in my opinion. Whereas if you go the Apple route, all the development tools are completely free and already on your Mac OS X disc. The development environment, XCode, comes with a simulation iPhone so you can test your app during development. You only have to pay the $99 Developer licence when you're ready to test on a real iPhone.
That's the route i've taken as i'm currently working on my first iPhone game with a friend. For games, Cocos2D for iPhone (http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/) is probably the most well-known framework, but i'm actually using a new one called Sparrow (http://www.sparrow-framework.org/). Although there are a lot of Cocos2D tutorials out there, I just didn't get into it, whereas i've actually found Sparrow much easier to grasp. Also the support is hands-down fantastic and they're very patient with me!;-) The hardest part of development for me has been the Objective-C side since i've never used it before and haven't really learned true object-oriented programming before, but Sparrow itself is quite straightforward. In some respects it may be similar to AGS (so may Obj-C for that matter) but I haven't yet gotten mucky with AGS code myself.
While you can combine Sparrow (or Cocos2D I would imagine) with Apple's frameworks, there might be no need if you're not making a game. You'll want to make full use of Apple's Interface Builder though which comes with the development tools and, as far as I understand it, is a somewhat drag and drop approach to creating applications. I haven't had reason to use it yet myself though.
You still have to write the code which can be an uphill struggle if you haven't done Objective-C before like me. Apple provides tonnes of free documentation and code examples for Mac/iPhone development, but I haven't found it very approachable to be honest. Also a lot of the books on iPhone development require you to know C first. However, one that doesn't is Stephen Kochan's Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Objective-C-2-0-Developers-Library/dp/0321711394/ref=dp_ob_title_bk) (link is to the newer, soon-to-be-released version). I have a pdf of the older version and, although I haven't read beyond the first few chapters, I found it a really good reference book to bring me up to speed on Objective-C. There's also an active online support forum.
Another book i've got, which would probably be ideal for you, is SAMS Teach Yourself iPhone Application Development in 24 Hours. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-IPhone-Application-Development-Yourself/dp/0672332205/ref=dp_ob_title_bk/275-5723760-2916135) Again, I haven't used it much since it's applications-oriented, but it covers a lot of the common development scenarios for application development. I believe it also covers the stuff you'll be interested in, which is location services (maps and gps etc) and using the accelerometer (device orientation). It's presented as 24 hour-long projects with a real focus on seeing the results on the screen fast, rather than fumbling around in code for hours. It's also an easy read and has gorgeous pictures to look at, which always helps;-) If I find it, i'll have a look at what it has and send you some scans.
I think Apple's backtracked on their policy against non-native compiled apps so I wouldn't be surprised if there are other applications out there that you can use to generate iPhone apps, but I haven't done any more research in that area, and last time I looked the development options on Windows were a murky underworld of scams. In any case, I think editors such as Unity use Apple's XCode to generate the app anyway so you need a Mac.
Quote from: Mods on Sat 13/11/2010 14:23:19
If you can make my app, please get in touch. If you know how to sell these apps, there is a potential to earn.
If I had more experience I would gladly help you out, and for free since I just enjoy the challenge/am so gullible, but I really can't take anything else on at the moment and i'm sure there are more qualified iPhone developers around. I'm flying by the seat of my pants here=S Applications are something I would like to tray in the future though, but don't wait for me!
As for selling, can't help you there, but there's some fierce competition in the App Store so I think you'll need to do something extra special to make your millions. Applications you can get away with charging more, but the games are very cheap, and Apple takes their cut of 30%.
Hope this was some help.
Thanks for the informative and detailed reply straydogstrut! I'll edit this with my thoughts when I have some time. Thanks though!