Mobile game development and packaging (deployment)

[toga]

Hello,

my dream is to write a little gaming app and deploy it to some app stores (android (main focus), ios, windows phone).

I am a newbie in app developing but i read a lot of stuff in the internet about it and so i decided to go the html5/javascript hybrid app way. For learning purposes i want to write a little game for my kids, where you have to destroy 10-20 sprite bubbles on the screen while you touch them. The player with the shortest time wins the game and there should also be a highscore list with the best 10 scores (times) which will be saved permanently.

Now i am a little bit helpless what (free) tools i should use to develop my little "project". I also had a quick look at the html5 game engines and especially Phaser looks very promising and i would like to use it.

Also the app packaging and deployment process is not 100% clear for me. At the moment the following tools are on my shortlist: Phonegap, Cocoon, Intel XDK (Appmobi)

At the moment i am "lost in space" and it would be great if you could help me. Here are some of my questions:

1. Is it possible to use Phaser with Phonegap, Cocoon or Intel XDK (Appmobi)?

2. As far as i know Phonegap and Intel XDK are free. Is Cocoon also free?

3. What packaging and deployment tool would you recommend?

4. Can you recommend another game engine or canvas library which supports sprites and collision handling and is compatible to Phonegap, Cocoon, Intel XDK (Appmobi)?

 

Thanks in advance for helping.

Tom

[rich]

If you want to make truly native apps I would honestly suggest a piece of software specifically meant for that task like Game Salad, Corona, Game Maker, AGK, etc.

[toga]

Thanks rich for the tip.

My Goal was also to learn web programming (html5/JavaScript). As far as i can see, these tools have their own special  programming language (if any) which is not widely used. Also the pricing tables of these products are a little bit suspicious for me :-)

 

But you are right, for example Corona looks quite interesting. Does anybody has experience with Corona or other tools? Is it really faster than the html5/canvas approach? And does it really work on IOS and Android?

 

Tom

[rich]

Learning JS is definitely a really useful thing to do, and you're right learning Corona instead is a very limited path to go down. But it depends what you want at the end of it. If you want skills you can use in the industry, then forget the 'native app' element for now and focus on browser games and learning JS. Yes there are things that will package those up for you (PhoneGap, etc) but aide from Cocoon they're not that well featured, and even Cocoon has its issues.

 

If you just wanted to make some fun games for your kids, then go with Corona or similar Yes it's definitely faster as it's native on iOS and Android, so takes full advantage of the hardware, unlike browser games.

[Gio]

I think it also depends on which platforms you are expecting your game to work on. If you're only targeting newer devices, the game that you're describing can be ported to mobiles with a simple wrapper - essentially a full-screen browser window that displays your page. In that case, any javascript engine will do the job, and porting it to an app would require minimal effort.

 

On older devices its performance would be unacceptable. But if your goal is to simply learn something and use it for commercial purposes at some point in the future, that may not matter.

[Salvatore]

When you guys will be realese a PhoneGap Friendly verson of Phaser? We want to use your framework to make our games! Please... Don't leave us helpless...

[Mobilepundits]

hello,

i am also a web developer and want to share my personal experiance here that your self leraning is the best practice .You can learn alot only if you are eager to leran and explore your knowladge .