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Building an iOS app - what do I need?
I'm planning to build an iOS app to sell on Apple's App store. I'm pretty new to Apple since I tend to stick with Windows - what exactly do I need? I'm currently developing the app in Windows - I plan to port it over to a Mac later and make the necessary changes. I assume I'll need an iOS device like an iTouch to test properly. Is there a license or anything I need to purchase to get the app from Unity to Apple?
Also, what should I take into consideration when building a game for iOS - things such as terrain size, number of polygons/vertices on models, game length, etc. All input is greatly appreciated.
Answer by Peter G · May 21, 2011 at 02:11 PM
What you need:
You need a Mac
You need a Unity iOS license.
You need to be a registered Apple Developer. (The paid version, not the free one because that won't let you build to the device).
You need to set up your Provision Profiles. The Unity docs explain how to do this if you need help.
Note: You probably want to get on a Mac as soon as you can. Saving testing until the very end is a bad idea.
Capabilities:
Unfortunately there is a very wide range. Since some devices support GL ES 2 and others only support GL ES 1, you have to decide what systems you want to support.
You cannot use terrains.
Gl ES 2.0 supports Pixel shaders but remember to use them sparingly still.
Vert and Poly counts vary. On GL ES 1.0, you generally don't want to go above 10k. Newer devices have a much higher ceiling.
Thanks
When you say I should stay below 10k vertices, are you talking about the entire game, level, viewing screen, etc?
Which version would you recommend? GL ES 2 or GL ES 1?
10k visible at any given time. $$anonymous$$ake sure you use Occlusion Culling since overdraw will kill you otherwise.
GL ES 2 vs 1, well all devices support 1, but 2 is much more powerful. You have to decide if you want to cut out some potential customers who only have support for 1.0 to give a better quality game to those who can support it. I'm sure there are statistics out there showing percent of people with at least a 3GS. $$anonymous$$y guess is that the biggest group still using 1.0 is the 2nd gen ipod touch. I don't know many people who have an iPhone before that. But I would suggest looking it up before taking my judgement.