iPhone Game Design Starter Kit

This course is for designers and developers who want to learn how to design an iPhone game that looks great, plays well and has a viral appeal. In this course you will learn what goes into a successful game, and learn how to apply those techniques to your own design.

Learn to design (and sell) fun and addictive iOS games.

In this course, I’ll bring you an easy to follow iOS game design class that will give you a, step by step process for:

improving the “addict-ability” of your existing games
helping newbie app developers go from “game idea” to reality
using the tools supplied (Photoshop templates) to actually create your game design
marketing your game using a professionally designed WordPress theme
finding the right developer to bring your app design to life!

iPhone and iPad design Templates

Having a base template to start with is a huge help when getting started in any kind of app design. This kit includes templates for:

iPhone Design Template (1st Gen)
iPhone 4 Design Template (Retina)
iPad Design Template (portrait and landscape)
Set of 6 Icon Templates
Screen Specifications for iPhone, iPad and iOS icons

A step-by-step, game design planning worksheet.

How many of us can watch training, remember the content and then execute on it? Right. That’s why Jen created a step-by-step worksheet that walks you through the entire process you need to follow to get your game design started and most importantly – completed!

2 hours of detailed, HD video design training.

All videos are shot in HD quality video, which means you can blow them up on your TV if you want to, and the image quality is not degraded. You can see the specific details being referenced in the videos, without having to strain or wonder what you’re looking at. Jen also uses a high quality microphone so the audio quality is top notch. Her accent is certified Southern Belle, that she can’t change. :)

Lessons

Lesson 1 - How to Design Games vs. Utility Apps

Many developers who have “an idea for a game” may be technically able to code a game, but unaware of the multitude of differences that you must be aware of with visual design and user experience. This lesson will dig into exactly what those differences are, and how to avoid wasting time developing a game the same way you develop a utility-style app.

Lesson 2 - Who is the Target Audience for your Game?

You think you know the audience for your game, right? Maybe not! This lesson will help you examine the various target audiences in the Games category, and how to refine your idea to fit a Games subcategory that has the best chance of succeeding.

Lesson 3 - How to Make a Profitable App

Not many developers are creating apps to lose money. This lesson outlines the multitude of ways that games can make money, and how to create a “plan” for how your app will be profitable.

Lesson 4 - Defining the Story in your Game

Games tell a story, and most often the player is your hero. This lesson will help you to define the over-arching “story” of your game, which will set he stage for so many other details like characters, friends, foes and general gameplay.

Lesson 5 - What is the Look and Feel of your Game?

From your target audience definition and “story” of your game, the look and feel will start to evolve. In this lesson I’ll talk about how to think about your target audience and how to define what look and feel will both resonate with them, and also tell the “story”.

Lesson 6 - Storyboarding your iPhone or iPad Game

Once you’ve pulled together your story, target audience and general look and feel, it is time to start doing some preliminary storyboarding. In this lesson I’ll talk about how to create this first iteration of storyboards, and what details you must include.

Lesson 7 - Designing the Details of your Game

You have a story, storyboards, some characters and hopefully conflict! Next it is time to define the details of your game, the flow, what happens when the character does this or goes here etc.

Lesson 8 - What makes a game fun and addictive?

At this point in the training is the appropriate time to talk about what makes certain games both fun and addictive. You have your idea, and so you will have a frame of reference for deciding “is my game fun and addictive?” If your game isn’t meeting the criteria, you still have plenty of time to work in the details that will make your game hard to put down!

Lesson 9 - User experience Design – Storyboarding your App

The first set of storyboards you create will not be the final flow for your app. Now is the time to create this final set of storyboards, after you have refined the gameplay, the story, the characters and details of the game. In this lesson I’ll talk about the things you need to include in this set of storyboards.

Lesson 10 - The differences in Designing iPhone vs. iPad Games

Designing for iPhone is different than designing for iPad, whether it is a utility or a game. In this lesson I’ll touch on the differences between the two and how to plan for both.

Lesson 11 - Illustrating your characters and props

Now it’s time for the fun part! In this lesson I’ll talk about how you can (if you have basic Photoshop or Illustrator skills) create your own characters, or how to talk to an artist that can help create your characters for you.

Lesson 12 - Illustrating your Menus and Instructions

It’s easy to get excited about illustrating characters, props etc an totally forget about the navigational elements of your game! In this lesson I’ll talk about how to create menus and other nav elements.

Lesson 13 - Setting up your Photoshop file

Once you have the graphical elements of your game drawn or created, it is time to prepare them for your developer. In this lesson I’ll show you how to easily set up those graphics in Photoshop.

Lesson 14 - Creating Sprites for your iPhone and iPad Game

If you aren’t already familiar, in the game design world, the images in your game are called “sprites”. In this lesson I’ll teach you how to create animated sprites for your game!

Lesson 15 - Preparing Final Graphics for your Developer

Once you have all of the graphics finished and storyboards drawn you’re done right? Almost! The last piece is to appropriately prepare your game files for your developer. In this lesson I’ll show you how.

Answers to Your Questions

How long will it take to get through the course?
All of the course videos total a legnth of around 2.5 hours

Other Resources for Game Developers

Gamasutra
iPhone Game Tutorials
Sprite Animation
Game Art Tutorial

FOR DEVELOPERS AND DESIGNERS

iPhone Game Design Course

Have you ever wondered how to become a game designer? If you have basic Photoshop skills, this course will teach you how to take those skills and create a killer design for your iPhone app game.

Learn to design (and sell) fun and addictive iOS games.

iPhone and iPad design Templates

A step-by-step, game design planning worksheet.

2 hours of detailed, HD video design training.

Lessons

Answers to Your Questions

Other Resources for Game Developers

iPhone Game Design Course