Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit: For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

by Kyle Richter

Overview

Beginning iOS Game Center and Game Kit shows you how to use Game Center and Game Kit to create fun and polished games that use advanced features such as social networking and voice over IP (VoIP). Game Kit and Game Center can help you reach new customers through social interaction, so this book shows you how you can quickly add a level of polish to your app that used to take weeks of hard work and late nights.

Implementing a leaderboard and achievement system has never been so simple! Gone are the days of writing your own server. You'll also see how to easily add advanced networking concepts like VoIP support in hours, not days.

Learn how to quickly implement many advanced social networking concepts into your apps. You'll be guided through the process of creating a custom Game Center Manager class that can be rapidly deployed into any of your new or existing projects. Furthermore, learn how to avoid pitfalls commonly encountered by new Game Center developers.

What you’ll learn

• What Game Center and Game Kit are and how you can improve your app by using them
• How to configure your app with iTunes Connect to work with Game Center
• How to set up leaderboard and achievement systems for use within your app
• How to add a custom graphical user interface to Game Center to match the look and feel of your product
• What multiplayer and networking does to your app through Game Kit
• How to write an easy-to-implement and reusable Game Center Manager

Who this book is for

All iOS developers who want to easily bring their current or planned app to the next level. Game Center and Game Kit, despite the name, are not limited only to games—all iOS developers with a basic understanding of Cocoa and UIKit will find something useful in these APIs. They allow even a novice iOS developer to add an amazing level of polish to their apps with a minimal amount of effort.

Table of Contents

1 - Introduction

2 - First Steps

3 - Leaderboards

4 - Achievements

5 - Matchmaking

6 - Peer Picker

7 - Networking Overview

8 - Exchanging Data

9 - Turned Based Gaming 

10 - Voice Chat

11 - In-game Payments 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781430235286
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	11/22/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Kyle Richter started writing code in the early 90's on the Commodore 64, and soon after progressed to a Mac SE. Since then he has been dedicated to working exclusively with Apple products. In 2004 Kyle Richter founded Dragon Forged Software to release a new shareware title. Since that time Dragon Forged has grown into a much larger entity which now provides custom software and training. Dragon Forged was behind the release of the first iOS trivia game, as well as the first game to support true non-local multiplayer. He also worked on other popular iOS titles such as Handshake and Transactions. Kyle has devoted the last couple of years to managing Dragon Forged Software and writing custom software for corporations and startups. He is also a frequent speaker on software development and entrepreneurship at technology conferences and other events across the globe. Kyle is an outspoken supporter of the indie development community and spends a considerable amount of time moderating and contributing to various software development forums. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, nature, and sport shooting. He can be found on twitter @kylerichter. 

Table of Contents

1 - Introduction

2 - First Steps

3 - Leaderboards

4 - Achievements

5 - Matchmaking

6 - Peer Picker

7 - Networking Overview

8 - Exchanging Data

9 - Turned Based Gaming

10 - Voice Chat

11 -In-game Payments