I'm thinking of starting to learn and produce some mobile app games, and I thought I'd ask our community here if anyone has any experience or is currently doing the same. I'm not looking to make anything too complicated, I'd be happy to just be able to achieve even the simplest of mechanics as a start. I'm aware that there is supposedly a free software I can get to begin, which I've forgotten but I can just search it later on, but I'd like to know if it is the most advisable way to go about it or if there are better alternatives such as starting from scratch. I'd also love to hear which software I can use to do this. I have some experience with Macromedia Director MX and I've already managed to make some games out of it, and I'd like to know if making game apps is any similar to this process. Thanks!
If you really want to make apps I wouldn't recommend any of those build-your-own-app softwares as they are mostly pretty bad and don't offer a lot of possibilities. You'll either have to learn to program in Java/Python/C++ or in HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. Both paths will take a lot of time and it might be pretty frustrating at first but it's really satisfying when you finally finish your first app. The advantage of higher programming languages like Java, Python and C++ is performance, your apps will run smoother and you'll be able to make more complicated games easier. If you don't think you'll be able to spend that much time and you don't want to spend more than a year before even starting to program your first app I would recommend starting out with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. It's gonna take quite some time too but you'll be able to see results faster if you are willing to put in enough effort. Apps made with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript need a program like PhoneGap to put them into an app, but that won't be your worry right away. They are also a little bit more resource reliant, so they won't work too smooth on older phones, if you make a complicated app. If you are still interested and have any questions about programming or where to learn it just ask away!
There are a handful of programming languages you could learn to build your own app. The custom builders aren't worth it because you can code a far superior app yourself with a couple months worth of learning programming from home. You could learn these languages from Codecademy for free, and tons of other free solutions are available.
I agree with you here. Codecademy is a great resource for learning programming, because it's really interactive and you can learn pretty fast. There are also other resources like W3schools for example if you don't like interactive learning and you'd rather learn it like out of a book. I recommend the interactive way, because you'll learn best when doing something yourself most of the time and not by watching someone do something.
Hi, there are many free mobile app builders out there, but like the earlier posters have rightly pointed out, these free app builders really limit you in terms of what you can build. However, don't completely write them off because they still have their place. If you're just looking to build nothing but the most basic games, and don't have a couple of months to give up in order to learn a programming language, then those app builders might just be what you need. If you however, want to build your own mobile apps from scratch, and have a lot of time to learn, then I suggest you learn to use the following technologies: 1. HTML5 2. Cascading Style Sheet(CSS) 3. JavaScript/JQuery and 4. PhoneGap This set of technologies allow you to build your mobile apps once, and run them on the many mobile platforms available today(Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS) without the need to modify your code, and best of all, they all free. Good Luck.
A lot of these technologies are surprisingly easy to pick up, and can be honed as you start to build a real world application. I would agree with the sentiment above, don't bother with the mobile app builders, they limit you to a very basic web page style app...which, if you already have an established business selling something might be okay, but if you are trying to sell the app itself is woefully inadequate. It took me about 6 months to learn the languages GLOGIK listed, and a few years to hone them...but this was extremely part time.
