San Francisco-based start-up Apportable has announced the launch of SpriteBuilder 1.0: its game development suite for quickly building iOS and Android games with Objective-C, and Xcode.
SpriteBuilder, which is available now as a free download in the Mac App Store, is being pegged as the only game development suite that allows users to run Objective-C code as a native app on Android.
Indeed, Apportable has explained that as Objective-C avoids the overhead of other tools used for cross-platform programming, a game built with SpriteBuilder will run faster on Android than a game written in Java, or other languages.
Together we stand
The developers of four open source development tools - Cocos2d, Cocos3d, CososBuilder, and Chipmunk - joined forces under Apportable just over a year ago.
CEO Colin Jackson reckons that the collaboration has allowed the firm to create something "spectacular".
"We believed that the lead developers on the projects could work together to create something spectacular,so we simply brought them together," says Jackson.
"Combining these four open source projects will greatly increase the productive potential of game development."
Save time, maintain quality
Developers have also praised SpriteBuilder's ability to save them time, without forcing them to sacrifice the quality of their app.
"The tool is easy to use and can handle everything from simple GUI layouts to complex character animations," explained Conor Seabrook of Sidebolt, creators of Skyward Slots.
"It saved us time and energy by allowing better collaboration between design and development teams."
