SpriteKit Racing top down Game - ios

I want to write a simple top down racing game for iOS. I want to use Sprite Kit instead Cocos2D , I'm new to game development and I have a question:
How can I create the race tracks? What I think is: One single big background image for each track and a car that moves over it and remains inside the track by interaction with a path. The path is inserted by a coordinate system in the level code and represents the "borders" of the road.
Is this a good way to start a top down racing game? Or are there better ways? How can I "draw" the path over my background image?

You can use "Tiled Map Editor" http://www.mapeditor.org/ to create your maps. I'm thinking you'll only need a few unique tiles, one for straight track, one for grass, one for curved track, maybe some trees, etc.
As for the path, you can try to use an polygonal edge physics body? And then move the car to where the user touches on the screen. if the user tries to move the car outside, the car will bump against the physics body of the edge.

Related

Ideas on how to manage movement of SKNode related to other, moving down but maintaining the same alignment with the other SKNode

i'm new in the development of swift ios game using spirtekit and i need help. I want to develop a vertical 2d endless run, where with a swipe you are able to move the player in direction and if there is an obstacle, it is created in a position calculate with the position of the player. Once create the obstacle i would like to make it falling down but alway with the same relation with the player (this means that it has to move only on y axis).
Can you suggest me some ideas on how to manage this?
This book teaches you exactly how to make what you are looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-SpriteKit-Jorge-Jordan-ebook/dp/B01891X7TM
This is the end product:
https://itunes.apple.com/lr/app/inside-the-hat/id1076967804?mt=8
You can get it for free here (with trial):
https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/getting-started-spritekit
The source code for this is around somewhere on the web, but I forgot where :( I bought the book a year ago and can't find it now.
Basically, you have a long background that is .moveTo .. in .update you check the position of the background, then reset it based on its XY position (it basically just goes all the way down, warps to the top position, then falls)
Also in .update you check for score, or a timer, or just a random check, then spawn an enemy, obstacle, etc. You give the enemy / obstacle SKActions to move towards the player, and let .didBegin(contact:) handle scoring, sound effects, death, etc.

how to implement gear joint in sprite kit?

The gear joint in Box2d is great, but I don't know how to implement that in Sprite Kit. Is there any solutions to implement the gear joint in Sprite Kit?
Thanks.
Here are the available Sprite-Kit joints :https://developer.apple.com/reference/spritekit/skphysicsjoint
As far as I can understand, there does not appear to be a direct correlation to Box2D's gear joint, which seems to make one body rotate when another body is rotated.
In that case, you might want to investigate overriding the didSimulatePhysics or didFinishUpdate methods to manually set the rotation of one object based upon the rotation of another object:
https://developer.apple.com/reference/spritekit/skscene/1519965-didsimulatephysics
https://developer.apple.com/reference/spritekit/skscene/1520269-didfinishupdate
It might be as simple as:
wheel2.zRotation = wheel1.zRotation
but if the gears have different numbers of teeth (thus different ratios), you'll have to do some calculations.

Draw circle and drag touch around SKSpriteNode

I am making a Sprite Kit game where the player (basically a stickman) has a running animation and a parallax scrolling background.
Now I have enemies that come near my player. To destroy these enemies sometimes I have to touch the enemies node to launch a rocket or attack them with an attack button or just jump over them.
Everything is working fine, but I want to add some extra moves to destroy them. I want some enemies that you can just destroy if you have drawn a whole circle around them. So imagine they come and you make a circle and then my player launch a laser or something. The problem is I have no idea where to start.
I haven't found anything on the internet. If it's too complicated or almost impossible how about touching my player node and dragging to the enemy?
EDIT: I think I have to create a custom GestureRecognizer that recognizes if a circle is drawn around a sprite and then runs the code. I don't know how this works ?
Yes, it's too complex. Not just from a coding point of view, but also from that of the player's experience.
Anything that requires complex gestures over a large amount of glass is annoying for the player because they're never going to have the same experience. Their finger's moisture and oil content always changes, as does the ambient temperature and cleanliness of their screen.
So big gestures required to be performed quickly (a gaming input like this) will sometimes be fun and smooth, and other times degrade as an experience based on the nature of the above properties.
Best to avoid them for a game's best possible experience.
If you must do it, there's two ways to research how.
Seek out "custom gesture" creation and utilisation through documentation and google, etc.
Think about using some kind of array to store all the points where the player's finger moves through during that circle gesture and attempt to discern if an enemy is within that space and then act accordingly.
--- probably other ways, too. But these jump to mind.

Moving around the planet in sprite kit

I'm currently making a game where driving a moon lander across the terrain of alien planets. The lander is free moving so you can turn any direction you like.
I've got a camera centred on the player's vehicle and navigation is working well, however...
As the player approaches the horisontal sides (x) of the map I'd like the map to display continuously.
I've used a couple of different approaches so far; I've added an identical sprite as the map to the left of the map and created a method that moves the extended map to the right side if you approach that side instead, and I've also tested with two different extended maps, one for left and one for right. I've then setup physics for the extended maps and changed the landers position from one side of the map to the other as it collides with the extended maps.
My issue is that I'd like to have my enemies spawning and walking around the main map and as you approach the side you will of course not see the enemies on the other side of the map - you'd only see the extended map with no contents.
My preference would be for the world to "bend" so that as you approach the left edge you'd automatically see the right edge and vice versa. I have no idea whether this is even feasible so any suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure I understand your question. Maybe this will further discussion, anyhow.
If you are looking for a scrolling behavior then I would have two backgrounds (or more if you want a wider scrolling field) and your method for swapping the tiles around to make the background feel continuous, use the "camera" tracking technique and shown in Apple's sprite kit demo to follow your player (which it sounds like you are doing). Then when aliens move offscreen in either direction relocate them in the same way that you would swap out your background tile(s) with something like position.x += widthOfBackgroundTile.

(Follow-up question) How to make a 2D camera that follows a sprite? [for XNA-game]

I was looking for tutorials on the net for a 2d camera that follows a sprite and I found a reply from this site:
(XNA 2D Camera Engine That Follows Sprite)
I made a simple game where in the sprite is loaded at the center of the game screen and it moves according to the direction I press from my directional key pad.
I tried implementing this code and added the Spritebatch instruction to my game. There seem to be no syntax error, but once I run the game, I only see the blue screen. Also, the sprite I used didn't appear.
(I'd like to imitate the player control of Tasty Planet where in the goo is controlled by the mouse and the screen follows it around. - trailer of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az4VgetA_n0
Game development is sometimes best accomplished step by step. Especially when one is first learning :-)
What you want to do is first get some basics onto the screen 1) the player's avatar, and b) some static component like a wall, or floor.
With those in place and rendering on the screen, then you implement your camera component. This will be a class that takes the player's position in the world and offsets any "world" item by that much.
For example, if the player is at 10,10 in the world, and there is a tree at 5,5 ... the tree should be drawn at -5,-5, and the player drawn at 0,0 (assuming your coordinate grid's 0,0 is in the middle of the screen). And as the player's position moves, just subtract that from static world object that you draw.

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