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zaca

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2009
4
0
Im new to the development scene. Only just got accepted and I want to start on some new app ideas. Only problem is that I have had no programming experience. Im willing to spent time on it (about 12 hours a week)

So how long will it take me to develop apps like: minesweeper or an excel like app or a simple 2d game? How long did it take you to develop your games/apps? How much experience did you have?

THANKS!
 

iphonedevelop18

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2009
50
0
I have just started making a basic tic tac toe game and I feel I have a fairly good knowledge of objective - c and I have only been programmking about a month for around 12-hours a week.
 

mccannmarc

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2008
270
0
Manchester, UK
Im new to the development scene. Only just got accepted and I want to start on some new app ideas. Only problem is that I have had no programming experience. Im willing to spent time on it (about 12 hours a week)

So how long will it take me to develop apps like: minesweeper or an excel like app or a simple 2d game? How long did it take you to develop your games/apps? How much experience did you have?

THANKS!

Minesweeper and a simple 2d game not too long at all especially if you use a 3rd party library such as cocos, an app like excel is a monster of a program and you will have to have a VERY deep understanding of programming to even come close
 

zaca

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2009
4
0
@iphonedevelop18 - good to know, thx

About the whole library thing...what libraries are good (for 2d game development) and how do I use them...any guide or tutorials or anything?

When I said excel, I was really talking about creating a table based on user inputs (they select # of rows/cols and they input static data). Sort of like those timetable apps.

Would it be better to build a few very simple apps first that I wont release, or throw myself in the deep end and try to create my 2d game off the bat (with a high chance that i will end up recoding it a few times)??
 

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,141
1,384
Silicon Valley
Learn to program first.

Most successful app developers have months or years of prior software development experience under their belt before tackling Objective-C, UIKit and the SDK.

imho.
 

zaca

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2009
4
0
Thats what I was thinking. I have a bunch of utility apps that are very simple that I will work on while i am learning.

Do you think that I will be able to code simple games by the end of this year? What about a super mario platformer type game? (thats 40 weeks....~450 hours of coding)
 

Jeremy1026

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2007
2,215
1,029
Thats what I was thinking. I have a bunch of utility apps that are very simple that I will work on while i am learning.

Do you think that I will be able to code simple games by the end of this year? What about a super mario platformer type game? (thats 40 weeks....~450 hours of coding)

To make a Mario type platformer it would probably take 450 hours to write. (If written correctly with the amount of depth as a typical platformer.) Writing apps takes a good bit of time. A simple application (I wrote a simple app that interacts with http://www.moodyornot.com) can take a week or two from start to polished finish.
 

yayaba

macrumors 6502
Apr 24, 2007
297
0
San Francisco Bay Area
My app is approaching the 2 month mark now in terms of development time. This was after a month long learning process reading tutorials and books.

I hope to finish it within the next month but I have a full time job too at a start up so I have very little time to work on it (1 to 2 hours a day).
 

mccannmarc

macrumors 6502
Aug 15, 2008
270
0
Manchester, UK
To make a Mario type platformer it would probably take 450 hours to write. (If written correctly with the amount of depth as a typical platformer.) Writing apps takes a good bit of time. A simple application (I wrote a simple app that interacts with http://www.moodyornot.com) can take a week or two from start to polished finish.

Not to be argumentative, just a basic question really but I take it by development taking 450 hours you mean everything from start to finish including drawing graphics and producing sound etc? If so, thats a reasonable timeframe I suppose. However I would seriously feel the need to whack myself around the head with a mallet and relearn everything I know about programming if just writing the code for a mario type game took even a quarter of that time! Now the code for a sonic type platformer with complex physics and an object based engine as opposed to a tile based engine would probably be around the 450 hour mark to write from scratch. Not that I prefer Sonic over Mario or anything.....lol
 

Jeremy1026

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2007
2,215
1,029
Not to be argumentative, just a basic question really but I take it by development taking 450 hours you mean everything from start to finish including drawing graphics and producing sound etc? If so, thats a reasonable timeframe I suppose. However I would seriously feel the need to whack myself around the head with a mallet and relearn everything I know about programming if just writing the code for a mario type game took even a quarter of that time! Now the code for a sonic type platformer with complex physics and an object based engine as opposed to a tile based engine would probably be around the 450 hour mark to write from scratch. Not that I prefer Sonic over Mario or anything.....lol

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