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Part I: Getting Started
✓ Tracking multiple screen touches: Because people use their fingers,
rather than a mouse, to select and manipulate objects on the iPhone
screen, take advantage of the fact that people have more than one
finger! The iPhone can detect up to five individual fingers on the screen
at any one time and lets you determine when people perform gestures
with their fingers on the screen. The iPad can detect up to 11 individual
touches on the screen simultaneously. (That’s ten fingers plus your
nose! We checked, using Jon’s nose.)
In games, gestures allow your players to have a very fluid and natural
source of input to your game world. Flicking, pinching, and scrolling are
very natural-feeling things to do in the iOS. If your game takes advantage
of them, your users will notice, and they’ll already know how to perform
the most basic inputs to your game without needing a tutorial.
✓ Playing audio and video: The iOS makes playing and including audio
and video in your application easy. You can play sound effects or take
advantage of the multichannel audio and mixing capabilities available.
You can also play back many standard movie file formats, configure the
aspect ratio, and specify whether the controls are displayed.
Of course, no game would be complete without a solid set of sound
effects and a catchy theme tune! The iOS makes it easy to add these
things as well as tweak the more complex and optional aspects of them,
should the need arise.
✓ Accessing the user’s music library: The iOS also makes gaining access
to your user’s songs, audio books, and audio podcasts very simple. You
don’t have to restrict your users to your game’s theme music, but can
allow them to pick and choose a custom playlist from their own library
(or even assemble an entirely new playlist on the fly). This deceptively
simple offering can help make your users feel more at home while play-
ing your game and often entices them back to play more.
✓ Accessing simple, ad hoc, location-based networking: Specifically
designed with games in mind, Apple’s Game Kit allows you to create ad
hoc Bluetooth networks among multiple iOS devices without the need
for relatively complex Bluetooth pairing. This means your games can
provide users with a very simple-to-activate multiplayer functionality,
with the only requirement that they must be in proximity to another
iPhone or iPad user running your game.
Incorporating the fun
Games need to be fun. When developing any game, examine several core prin-
ciples of making the playing experience fun. There isn’t a secret formula for
games, but instilling and maximizing fun makes a better game for your users:
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