When I started doing iOS development was pretty much everyone for himself and that was scary. Now on the other hand there’s a healthy software eco-system build around iOS and iOS development and by investing few bucks you get such a belt of power-tools that creating indie apps was never easier. Here’s a round-up of what I really can’t do without:
Coding and development
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Well, yes – without Xcode nothing of it would be possible. And believe me I used quite many IDEs throughout the years like Delphi, Eclipse and Visual Studio, and I really wanna say that Xcode is great. Not always flawless or bug-free, but still a fantastic IDE. Go Apple! You can get Xcode for free if you are registered Apple Developer – more info here: http://developer.apple.com/xcode/ |
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Dash is a handy little app that takes away the burden of using Xcode 4 built-in help/documentation. Dash stays in your tray bar and pops up when you press “Alt + Space bar” gives you super fast iOS SDK documentation search and more – it remembers what you have looked up last, and unlike Xcode 4 it gives you the TOC and more.
This app was priceless while I was writing for “iOS5 by Tutorials” because I had to constantly dig through the new API references. Much recommended, you can get it from the app store – it’s FREE: |
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Coda is the most fantastic all-in-one web editor. Some years ago I downloaded the trial version because I had to quickly start on a web project and few days into the trial period I already went ahead and bought the full version – I didn’t need any more convincing.
Coda is priceless when you need to deal with any text files, especially useful for creating web pages, has super intelligent built-in FTP, SFTP and SVN, and much more. Priceless … I also have Espresso (built after Coda), but I feel Coda is much better. Get Coda at Panic’s web site for 99$: http://www.panic.com/coda/ |
Graphics and other *visual* stuff
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Graphics Editor is the only category where I really don’t vouch for indie software. After I moved to the Mac I bought at least 5 different independent editors, but all of them were actually an impediment in my workflow. So in the end I turned to an older version Adobe Photoshop Elements, which came bundled with a tablet.
I have version 6 as I don’t have right now money to upgrade to version 10, but I can say Photoshop Elements does everything much better than indie software and more. I’m very happy with it. You can get only the Photoshop Elements 10 Editor from the App Store for $79.99 : http://itunes.apple.com/app/adobe-photoshop-elements-10/id465291110?mt=12 Or alternatively if you want not only the editor but also all the other crap that Adobe bundles with Photoshop, you can get the “full” Photoshop Elements from Adobe’s web-site (hurry, there’s discount till 3rd of Jan, 2012): http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html |
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iConify is a very simple little app that fills a gap Apple should’ve taken care in another way … but anyhow – you drop a 520px icon on iConify’s window and iConify produces all the sizes and filenames you need to bundle with your app. There you go – it’s that simple.
iConify at the App Store for Free: http://itunes.apple.com/app/iconify/id416289784?mt=12 |
Game creation power tools
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Not much to say about Particle Designer, eh? If you are building a game for iOS you’ll definitely need some cool effects (ok, if you’re building a cool game for iOS that is) – you can do everything with particles – rain, fire, stars, vortexes, explosions, fountains, etc. etc. If you don’t have Particle Designer you’re in for a tough ride.
You can get Particle Designer for ONLY $7.99 + see a short tutorial at 71Squared’s web site: |
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There are few apps to manage textures and sprite sheets for your iOS games, but I think I like Texture Packer the most (having the widest variety of formats to export to) + is very snappy. If you’re building a game – sprite sheets are the answer, get Texture Packer for $24.95 from Andreas Loew: |
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Physics Editor helps you out defining shapes of your objects in your physics game. Very handy app, features a magic want to auto-detect the shapes of objects. Again from Andreas Loew for $19.95:
http://www.touch-code-magazine.com/physicseditor Or alternatively buy the Texture Packer + Physics Editor bundle for $34.95 (save $10): http://www.touch-code-magazine.com/texturepacker_physicseditor_bundle |
Results
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There’s no better software to tracking your success on the app store (or your competitor’s success for that matter) than MajicRank. This program is priceless in the first few days after launching when you are overexcited and want to know how your app is doing in real-time.
Get MajicRank free here: |
Various
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I resisted giving Evernote a try for a long long time, but when I finally surrendered it was magical … that’s a program which really serves you as your olde paper notebook, which you keep loosing and doesn’t have search – and better! It was very valuable while I was writing for “iOS5 by Tutorials” and when I work on different projects to keep my notes organized. The absolute best thing is you can just copy whatever from a web page and paste it inside a note, everything is transferred with the formatting and the images. I recommend a lot – it’s also FREE: |
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Grand Perspective is a fantastic little, but super-powerful tool. It helps you have a look at your hard drive from bird’s view and kind of really easy spot where you’re burning space. I just launched it today to spot an install of iPhone SDK 3.1.3 silently taking 3 Gigs of space on my drive … it’s erasing time for you buddy! So … Grand Perspective is free and very handy, give it a try: |
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Yes, I actually also use a lot Preview – yes, the Preview that comes with your mac! If you haven’t noticed Preview also have a little toolbar which you can use to add shapes, highlights and text to the image you are previewing right now. It is super handy to just quickly open images, edit them and save right inside Preview. Try it  |
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XAMPP has been one of my favorite software bundles for years. XAMPP is a ready-to-use web server/ftp server/database server bundle (plus more inside), so that when you need to build web sites on your mac, you can have a real-life setup in less than 10 minutes.
I use it to run web server on my mac and work on different web sites on it, including developing web back-ends for some of my apps. It’s free: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html |
Leisure time
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After a long day of coding, filing invoices or just plain zombifying debugging of a stupid problem … it’s really good … to .. just shoot some bad guys. I love the Call of Duty / Modern Warfare series, too bad they don’t release the new ones for Mac anymore … but hey, you can always play the first,second and fourth installments.
Here’s a link to Call of Duty 4 on the App Store at $26.99: http://itunes.apple.com/app/call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare/id403574981?mt=12 |
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World of Goo proves indie games can be fantastic just as much as AAA games. You probably have heard of World of Goo already (except if you have lived for the last 5 years in a cave on the moon without a telescope), but if you haven’t tried it (or if you have played it without paying for it, bad! these are indie guys like you and me!) – now is your chance to grab a copy from the App Store at $9.99: |
Wrap up
Also I wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas, and for those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas – enjoy the winter and making snowmen
Also – Christmas time is the perfect time to think about the less fortunate than you – did you know 1 of 8 people don’t have access to drinking water ? Have a look here: http://www.charitywater.org/ you can help any time of the year!
And finally – thanks to my co-authors on “iOS5 by Tutorials“, thanks to my colleagues on raywenderlich.com, to Ray, to all the people who downloaded my apps and to you the readers of Touch Code Magazine for a fantastic 2011!
cheers, Marin
The post was originally published on the following URL: http://www.touch-code-magazine.com/software-that-completes-me-as-an-ios-developerpublisher/
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hey marin,
thats a great overview and summary of some really great tools in a devs life…. except your love for xcode… once you are used to the workflow of vs2010 and visual assist, xcode looks and works like a b-movie….
nevertheless i will checkout the physicseditor and texture packer in the next days.
thx and cheers
martyn
Ha Martyn! Didn’t expect to see you here
I used VS for several long term project and it’s not that I don’t like it – on the contrary I think it’s a very good IDE – I just like Xcode more 
))
BTW Martyn,
As far as I know, the ONLY way to develop apps for iOS is with Xcode.
VS might be a better IDE, but it’s not available on the MacOSX platform, and it’s not FREE.
Hey Michael, that’s not really true is it ?
Consider PhoneGap, Adobe Flash and all these other IDEs you can use to create iOS applications 