iPhone® Game Development

Chapter 5. Producing Action Games

In This Chapter

Reviewing famous examples

Understanding game design: Excitement and achievement

Programming: AmuckRacer

The road ahead

What's next?

Analyzing business aspects

You should now be ready to create your first action game. Remember, the games developed in this chapter can be found on the App Store and the source code can be downloaded from our Web site, http://appsamuck.com.

Action games are extremely popular in the game marketplace today. They are challenging and exciting, and most are some kind of test of skill, usually with a time limit. Many people enjoy beating this implied dare. Some players will try to beat a well-done action game almost religiously, playing hours on end and even through the night.

Consider one of the most famous action games ever produced, Pac-Man. Guinness World Records officially named Pac-Man as the most successful coin-operated game in history, with nearly 300,000 units of the arcade machine sold from 1980 to 1987. This is just one of many famous examples of great action games. Let's review some of the best. Maybe they will motivate you into creating the next chart-topping action game for the iPhone.

Reviewing Famous Examples

Even though action games come in all shapes and sizes, there are a few common features. Action games tend to involve some type of test of skill; for example, hand-eye coordination or reaction time. Players are usually given a time limit in which to complete a challenge. The challenge might be to ...