Introduction to the iPhone

The iPhone is one of the most distinctive game platforms currently available. The touch screen, integration with iTunes, programming in Objective-C, low development cost, and ease of publishing all make for a very strange but promising new development opportunity. As the newest kid on the block, the iPhone instantly captured a noticeable portion of the mobile phone market and inspired a wave of copycat devices by makers such as Motorola, Samsung, and LG.

As a programmer, you might not be impressed with sales figures and market shares, but you should be interested in the viability of the iPhone as a whole. If no one owns an iPhone, no one will buy the games you make for it. The good news is that even in the face of the 2009 economic downturn, iPhones continued to sell. To get started with the iPhone, you’ll need to get a free Apple developer account. Next you’ll download the iPhone SDK on your Mac, which also contains the Xcode IDE and Interface Builder tool for laying out screens. (Apple doesn’t provide a toolkit for Windows or any other non-Mac platform.) And because the iPhone API requires you to write in Objective-C, you will need to read a primer on the language if you do not already understand it. This chapter takes you step by step through all of these tasks.

Apple Developer Account and Downloading the SDK

The first step in setting up your iPhone development environment is to register an Apple developer account. Signing up for an account is free and gives you access to Apple’s online documentation, tutorial videos, and the SDK download:

1. Go to http://developer.apple.com/iphone/.

2. Click the Register link, and then click Start Now. Choose the option to create a new Apple ID, or to log in using an Apple ID from an iTunes or App Store account.

3. Once you have registered, you can log in to the iPhone Dev Center.

4. Apple may already have emailed you a link to download the free SDK, or you may choose to download the SDK using the link from the website. Note that you should not download Xcode separately because it is included within the SDK download package (and the version of Xcode that comes with the SDK may be newer than what is otherwise available).

5. Once downloaded, install the SDK, which will make Xcode and Interface Builder accessible to you in the /Developer/Applications folder on your hard drive (you can also activate Spotlight and search for Xcode and Interface Builder to launch either application quickly).

The free developer account will allow you to build applications and run them in a simulator on your Mac. However, to load your application onto a phone, you will also need to sign up for the paid developer program. This requires a small annual fee, so even if you are a private developer, it won’t hurt your wallet too much:

1. Go to http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/apply.html.

2. You will have two options: Standard Program and Enterprise Program. If you are writing games for the general public, you probably do not want the Enterprise Program. If you read closely, you will notice the Enterprise Program is actually for creating applications that only you and your company will use internally. If you plan to create games that will be sold via the App Store, rest assured that the Standard Program is the correct choice for you.

3. Select Enroll Now and log in if necessary.

4. You now have another choice: enroll as an individual or as a company. If you choose Individual, you will not be able to add other programmers or quality assurance members to your account, which is necessary to distribute your application to others during the development and testing process. However, if you select Company, you will be required to provide detailed information about your company.

5. Continue through the website, selecting the appropriate information, until you arrive at a screen that says “Thank you for submitting your enrollment.” Now you must wait for an email from Apple (which may take on the order of a month to arrive).

It is good to get your paid developer account enrollment going as soon as possible so that it will be available when you actually need it.