Hey there! So I'm on the stage of studying thing and planning where to go next...
Here are some news:
At firs I thought that I need to concentrate on learning iOS SDK perfectly, but pretty soon, after having some studies I understood it's much better to learn a cross-platform tool of creating a mobile game. AppStore is good and I love it, but making what u've created cross-platform means greater number of consumers and as a result more profit. Taking into consideration that number of Android devices is growing and even Woz thinks that it will be the main stream platform in the world it would be stupid to invest in iOS only. Although I just have this feeling that it limits your possibilities, when you create something that works on multiple platforms, I have to admit that it didn't stop any software developer so far.
So here is what I found cross-platform.
AirplaySDK
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Currently it supports almost any portable platform: iOS, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and others. And u can create not only games using it, but almost any kind of an app. It has everything you might ever need to develop an app for a portable device. And the most exciting part is that you can sign your apps even if you use it on a Windows PC!!!
AirplaySDK is free if your anual turnover is less then 100K$! And even after that it stays pretty cheap.
UDK (Unreal Development Kit)
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If u've been checking iOS news lately and/or watch every Apple keynote as I do, u might know that UDK added iOS support a few months ago... It's a great event! UDK brought an unseen graphics to iOS devices! I actually couldn't imagine that something of this level was possible on today's portable devices (although PSP's is impressive too). As u might know UDK came from Unreal Engine 3 which is as well as I know one of the most advanced game engines nowadays. And it's not only about what impressive lightning and shading u can achieve with it, using tools that are very familiar to any CG artist! It's even about programming the game. What I've learned about it is that you use node based system to program the interactivity! It's also very familiar to us, guys working in CG! In 3Ds MAX (and I believe in other software of this kind) particle system control works in the same way. It's very comfortable and visual! And it doesn't need coding skills. I'm not sure if this way of programing limits your possibilities, but I believe there must be an old school way of doing it in there if so.
As to the pricing... Well, you have to pay 100$ for, what they call, Royalty Bearing License. Then after you make the first 5000$ from the product you've developed using UDK, you're gonna have to pay them... wait for it.... 25% of all the subsequent revenues!!!!!!! With all due respect, this is a robbery... And just have a look at this!!! "UDK related revenue includes, but is not limited to, monies earned from: sales, services, training, advertisements, sponsorships, endorsements, memberships, subscription fees, rentals and pay-to-play."
It's the first time I see that kind of software license and it shocks me!
Unity 3D
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This one is my choice and choice of lots of 3D game developers for iOS nowadays. It has all the needed features to create a game of any level of difficulty. U can use different languages for coding, like C#, Python, Java and even XML. The system is pretty similar to the one seen in ActionScript 2.0 (I don't know if there is a special name for it) which is assigning a script to an object. I'm not sure if it's good or if it's bad way of organizing your code, but that's how it is Unity.
And it also has a free version which even though is limited, still is pretty powerful and good enough for a start. But if you plan to publish your game on AppStore then you need UnityPro and Unity iOS at least, which will cost you 1499$+399$.
So here they are! Three of the bests! Which one to chose is up to you!
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