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Geek Culture / iOS Development -- List Your Useful External APIs / SDKs / Resources

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RUCCUS
20
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Joined: 11th Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Posted: 14th Feb 2012 04:48 Edited at: 14th Feb 2012 05:03


It seems there's quite a few of us developing for iOS nowadays, so I figured why not start a thread devoted to any great finds we've come across or external APIs we're using in our projects.

For my current app I am using two great (free!) external APIs that are saving me a tonne of time:

NinevehGL

Link: http://nineveh.gl/

NinevehGL is a free API for iOS development that handles all of the major OpenGL ES 2.0 aspects. It comes packed with methods for setting up cameras, importing models (in .obj and .collada format!), shaders, materials, and more. Its still under development but Ive been a beta tester for the SDK for a few months now and haven't had any real complaints so far. It doesnt have any support for collision detection or physics as of yet, but Ive managed to program my own class that handles Oriented-Bounding-Box collision using the Separating Axis Theorum (Ill post the source up here if enough people are interested, its a little ugly right now but it gets the job done pretty fast). There are a few issues with the current version in terms of some methods not working and memory leaks with a few methods (specifically the compileCoreMesh method) but all in all its working great. When the SDK is finished they'll be releasing the source for free to the general public, and they don't require any credit when using their app, both in commercial and free apps.

Parse.com

Link: https://parse.com/

Parse.com is a new server / back-end SDK designed specifically for iOS and Android apps. It makes setting up a server to store files or send online game data extremely fast (I implemented the base system for an entire database into my app in a single day). It also comes with security features, facebook / twitter integration, push notification support for iOS, and a lot more. Originally I was going with a much more expensive / heavy-duty solution of using Amazon Web Services for my app, but stumbled across Parse.com and haven't looked back since. They give you a tonne of storage for free and after you max out your free storage the prices are still very cheap. If you sign on as a Beta tester now you're guaranteed to get the current pricing or better when the final SDK is complete. Again, Parse.com requires no credit or royalties for commercial or free apps.

Other obvious ones would be the Ogre engine or the SIO2 engine, however I haven't used these much so Ill leave it up to the others that have used them to comment on them if they wish to add them to the list.

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Travis Gatlin
16
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Joined: 14th May 2009
Location: Oxford, Alabama
Posted: 17th Feb 2012 00:45 Edited at: 17th Feb 2012 00:46
Of course you have things such as:

UDK
As most of you know, UDK has a stunningly fast and good looking rendering engine which can now, due to a recent update, can play games with it's award winning technology on the iOS. Free (Read terms of use for more information)

Then you have

Unity 3D
Multi-Platform game engine that supports Android, iOS, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC development. Of course you have to pay the licensing fee of $500 for the iOS license. Free for PC development.

Well, there's my two cents Good luck to the list and nice job on the logo.

http://awolthehunted.blogspot.com/
For the latest news on my FPS in development, check out my blog!
zeroSlave
15
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Joined: 13th Jun 2009
Location: Springfield
Posted: 17th Feb 2012 01:09
Yes, nice job on the logo. It looks pretty slick. I don't mess with iOS or Apple development, but I utilize AndEngine for some of my Android apps and live wallpapers. It's a really nice API that can speed up the GLES process. It's got quite a few game ready components, as well. It's got a pretty nice following and the creator is still working on improving it, so it can only get better.
Jeku
Moderator
21
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Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Posted: 17th Feb 2012 19:03
I used cocos2d-iphone for WordTrix, and I believe it powers some of the top games on iOS, including Tiny Tower.

http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/


Senior Developer - CBS Interactive Music Group
BiggAdd
Retired Moderator
20
Years of Service
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Joined: 6th Aug 2004
Location: != null
Posted: 18th Feb 2012 08:35
SBJson - JSON parser for iOS, good for when you are gathering data from an external url (If the data is in the JSON format obviously).

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