Time to add another project to my github repository. This time I’m answering the frequently asked question (in some form or another) how to zoom in on a particular node. For example zooming in on the player when he dies.
That’s not as trivial as it sounds, but you can make it easy if you follow some guidelines.
First, you want to put all nodes that should be affected by the zoom in the same layer. Then you should avoid changing the position or anchorpoint of the layer – if you still want to change the position of the layer I suggest to add this layer into another, toplevel layer and then only change the position of the toplevel layer. Use the cocos2d node hierarchy to your advantage. And don’t use the CCCamera.
The behavior of this example project is best observed with your own eyes. You can get the ZoomInOnMe project on github.
I frequently see questions like Should I use game engine A or game engine B? Sometimes the question is slightly more specific like Is game engine A right for this game?
These questions are not unlike giving a list of features or requirements and then asking Is potential partner A better for me than potential partner B? And some are closer to asking the general public a very subjective question that requires intimate knowledge about the person who is asking: With whom will I have better sex, A or B?
Well … while there’s a checklist of features that A and B may or may not have that might have some influence on the decision, more often than not your choice depends a whole lot more on whether it just feels right.
You may feel attracted to A because A is so reasonable and the support is responsive and helpful, or you may simply find yourself attracted to how B is open to everything and free of charge. You may also find that despite A or B lacking a specific feature you crave, other aspects that you didn’t even think of more than make up for it. Features aren’t everything, more important is the spirit and ease of use.
Not uncommonly a fully featured game engine (or partner) with all bells and whistles may turn out to have a really steep learning curve, many restrictions, limitations, policies, quirks while “free” may cost you a lot more than you bargained for.
Following is my game engine dating advice that you can take to places like MobileGameEngines.com to make your pick. These are the things that I consider the most important when choosing a game engine for small projects, and that is irregardless of the type of game I might want to develop.
Enabling ARC in a Cocos2D project isn’t as straightforward as it should be. I already explained all the necessary steps and precautions in the Enable ARC in a Cocos2D Project guide.
For this post I wanted to actually show you what’s needed to enable ARC in a cocos2d project as a video. Because it may not be as complex as you think. And because I wanted to experiment making tutorial videos. If you like the video (please let me know in the comments), there will be more video tutorials in the future!
I understand the introduction is a bit lengthy, I should have gotten to the point quicker. Feel free to skip forward to 02:20 where I begin with the instructions.
Easter surprise: Learn Cocos2D (the Book) is going to have a 3rd edition! To be released around August 2012 it will be updated to cocos2d 2.0, compatible with Kobold2D and the source code uses ARC throughout.
I apologize for this episode being 50% shorter due to Easter holidays.
• Learn Cocos2D (the Book) v3
o cocos2d v2.0
o Kobold2D compatible
o 100% ARC and Blocks explained
• iDevBlogADay: Enable ARC in a Cocos2D Project
o Coming Soon: Cocos2D with ARC Video Tutorial
• NameChanger, free renaming tool
While Cocos2D is compatible with ARC, simply enabling ARC in the project’s Build Setting will throw several hundreds of errors in your face. Cocos2D doesn’t provide ARC-enabled project templates. Thus this tutorial about how to enable ARC in a newly created Cocos2D Xcode Project.
While none of these steps are overly difficult, you’ll notice there’s plenty of steps to perform. Unavoidably, and on the off chance you don’t already know, I’d like to recommend Kobold2D to you if you want to write ARC enabled Cocos2D apps. Because none of the steps below, really zero, zilch, nada, niente, keine are necessary to enable ARC in Kobold2D. That’s because it ships with 15 template projects all of which have ARC enabled out of the box. And Kobold2D 2.0 with cocos2d-iphone 2.0 is just around the corner.
Self-advertisment aside, these steps are tested with cocos2d-iphone v2.0 but should also work with cocos2d-iphone v1.1 – but admittedly I haven’t tested the process with the v1.1 version. If you find anything that’s not quite working with v1.1 please leave a comment. Preferably with the solution, that’ll be awesome!
UPDATE: I released a video version of this tutorial: Continue reading »
I bought a Korg Kaossilator (more info on Wikipedia) and show what the device can do for you, music- and/or noise-wise.
I also explain the Q1 2012 iOS Device Sales statistics, the newly released Kobold2D v1.1 and v2.0 progress, and finally I got a surprise present: Mountain Lion. Not what you think, though.
• Korg Kaossilator
o Examples
• Kobold2D 1.1 released
o Kobold2D 2.0: orientation issues delaying release
• iDevBlogADay: iOS Device Sales Statistics Q1 2012
• 10 Golden Rules for Donate Buttons
o Mountain Lion gift
I was very surprised when I found a yellow bubble-wrap envelope on my doorstep this morning. I did not expect a delivery, and particularly not one that was posted in Plattsburgh, NY.
Neither size and shape seemed familiar to anything that I might be expecting. Although I was hoping for a second that it would be my iPad 3, Apple certainly wouldn’t send a high-valued electronic device in an envelope.
I dismissed those thoughts and took a peek inside. This is the item that I unwrapped:
With Apple’s blazing Q1 2012 quarterly results, which sees iPhone sales double (!) that of the previous Q4 2011 and last year’s Q1 quarter, it’s time to update my iOS Device sales statistics from July 2011.
Apple’s Quarterly Results Reports have one big flaw for those interested in per-device numbers: Apple only mentions how many iPhones, iPods and iPads they have sold in each quarter, but this includes all models. So you have to exclude the discontinued models as well as somehow determine (if only by guesstimating) how many iPod touch vs regular iPods, or how many iPhone 3G vs iPhone 3GS have been sold in that quarter.
I took the publicly available numbers and then used a reasonable guesstimate to split the device sales of two combined models in order to get a reasonably accurate estimate. I mainly wanted to determine how the gap is widening between the OpenGL ES 1.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0 models. This is particularly interesting for Cocos2D developers who may be wondering if it’s save to upgrade to Cocos2D 2.x or whether it’s still worthwhile to stick with Cocos2D v1.x to be able to deploy even to 1st and 2nd generation iOS devices. Continue reading »
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