Used software

For the programmatic development of Tank Rampage, the following software is used:

·      XCode

-Part of Apple’s SDK, XCode is the standard code editor for all iPhone apps. It comes with a hardware simulator and various tools. It’s also free. In order to deploy an app on an actual device, an Apple developer account is needed (more on this later).

·      SpriteHelper                      

           -SpriteHelper is used to make the game’s spritesheets and edit the physics bodies. It’s a tool developed by Bogdan Vladu, and it’s required in order to use Levelhelper, as Levelhelper only uses Sprithelper’s spritesheet format. Both come in a package for around 15 euros. 

·      LevelHelper

-LevelHelper is Bogdan Vladu’s level design app. It allows us to visually design levels, create assets for our game using Box2D joints, and set various things such as sprite tags. It comes with it’s own API (see: LevelHelper API).

·      Particle creator

-Used to make the particle effect in Tank Rampage. We’ve had some crashing issues when using this app. Although it’s very cheap (around 2 euros), we wouldn’t recommend it, as there are some much better alternatives.

            An important note to make is that there are many alternatives to SpriteHelper and Levelhelper. Some of these alternatives are free, one of them –CocosBuilder- is an official part of the Cocos2d family. When the development of Tank Rampage started, these editors either did not exist or were too expensive. If you’re starting a project now, however, you might want to look into the following software:

·      CocosBuilder –Official part of the Cocos2d family; allows for rapid cross-platform development. It’s free.

·      PhysicsEditor –Widely used physics editor with a lot of documentation and tutorials.

·      TexturePacker –Also very popular, from the same company as PhysicsEditor.

·      Zwoptex  -Slightly old, but widely recommended sprite packer tool.