Setup GameMaker:Studio for iOS

In order to utilize GameMaker: Studio’s iOS support you will need to first prepare GameMaker:Studio and your device for use as well as fulfill a number of prerequisites from Apple. To make things easier we have outlined below all the necessary steps for you to take in this simple setup process.

Setup GameMaker:Studio for iOS

What You Need To Get Started

Before beginning to work with the iOS module with GameMaker:Studio, you must be a registered Apple developer and have all certificates and licenses up to date. For more information on becoming a registered Apple Developer and how to get the necessary certificates, please visit the Apple developer site here.

Ideally, you will really need a Mac and a PC to use the iOS module properly, but you can create the whole game app with just a pc and then author it through Apple using a Mac at the end of the process. For those that wish to do it that way, there are services like MacInCloud that can be very useful. Bare in mind that you will still need all the certificates and things outlined below to actually create the final app.

To be able to develop for an apple product there are a number of things that you should have from Apple :

Development Certificate - This is the certificate that Apple gives you permitting you to create for their products
Provisional Profile - This is what ties a product to your Development Certificate and devices, basically saying "The product I am making can only be tested on these devices"
Distribution Certificate - This is not essential for developing but if you wish to put your product on the app store at one point then you will need to buy it from Apple.
Once you have all of the above, you will need to have installed the following tools :

On your Mac you need the Xcode Development Environment which can be found for Lion here and for Snow Leopard here (You will need to sign in with your Apple ID).
On your PC you should get the iPhone Configuration Utility for Windows which is avaialable here.

Device Compatibility
If you are already a registered developer it is worth noting before starting that nearly all iOS devices are compatible with GameMaker:Studio including :

iPhone 4G, 4Gs, 5G
iPad 1, 2 or 3
iPod Touch 3rd Generation or higher
It also doesn't matter if you are testing on an iPhone or an iPad as all iOS project builds created by GameMaker:Studio are, as standard, universal apps. This means that they will run on both iPhone and iPad devices without problems.


Setup GameMaker:Studio And Devices
For GameMaker:Studio to work with the iOS module you will need a Mac computer, an iOS device and your copy of GameMaker:Studio. The following sections ive you all the information you need to get three things set up correctly and working as they should.


GameMaker:Studio Setup
Install GameMaker:Studio and do the following :

Launch GameMaker:Studio
Enter your License Key
Create a new Project
Select File>Preferences>Web Server
Web Server Port: This is set to 51268 to 51280 by default. There is no need to change this unless these ports are already in use
IP Allowed List: Enter your local IP Address here as seen in this example: 192.168.1.1/24
If you are not sure of your local IP address, you can find it easily by following the instructions found here


Mac Setup
So, you are a registered developer and you have Xcode on your Mac, what now? Well, you need to copy over the Application Oven disc image from your pc GameMaker-Studio/iOS folder onto your Mac. This file can be found easily by opening GameMaker:Studio and going to Help>Open GameMaker in Explorer then select the iOS directory and there you will find the .dmg file for the Application Oven. Once you have copied that over to your Mac using a USB stick or over a network connection, you should double-click it and then in the following window you should drag the Application Oven toApplications to install it. This app is necessary due to the fact that the YoYo Runner that is used comes with the certification of YoYo Games, and you will need to change this to your own certification for the iOS module to work properly. When you open the Application Oven you will see something like this :


The fields that you see represent the following :

Certificate - This is either iPhone Developer, or iPhone Publisher. The default is developer so if in doubt as to what certificate you use, just leave it as that.
Provisioning - This should automatically be detected by the App Oven if you have added the Provisioning Profile to Xcode or the iPhone Configuration Tool.
App id - This is the unique name of the runner.
Finally, just click on the Bake Me an Ipa button which will prompt you to enter the directory and a file name for saving your Ipa. Once you have this Ipa, you can use iTunes or the iPhone Configuration Tool to place it on your iOS device.


iOS Device Setup
The first time you test something on your iDevice you will have to make sure that the settings are correct. When the YoYo Runner is started you will be presented with a connection screen where you must do the following :

Select Settings
Select IP and enter your machines IP (If you are not sure of your local IP address, you can find it easily by following the instructions found here)
Select Port and ensure this matches the port number you entered within the GameMaker:Studio prefrences (51268 to 51280 by default, and normally don't need changing)



Running A Game From GameMaker:Studio On Your iOS Device
Once you have set up both GameMaker:Studio and your iOS device, you should do the following :

Select the Windows/HTML5/iOS/Android drop down from the tool bar and select iOS as your target
Click the Green play button to compile your game
On your iDevice, launch the YoYo Runner
as soon as the loading bar is complete, your game should appear on your device.

GameMaker:Studio Settings for iOS

General

The first thing to do is fill in the details about your game, including its Display Name, its App id and the Version info. Then you will need to give your game Icons and a Splash Screen. The icons should be authored as a individual *.png files with sizes of 57x57px, 72x72px, 114x114px and 144x144px. The splash screen should be the size of the first room in your game as this is what will briefly be shown while the game assets are being loaded. Smaller or larger images are permitted but will be scaled to fit.

The last two sections on this tab are Orientation and Devices. The orientation section can be used to lock the game to a specific orientation by checking either landscape or portrait, or both, while the devices section is used to target specific iOS platforms, either iPhone or iPod Touch, iPad, or both.


Graphics

Once you have configured the game details and presentation graphics, there are two more available options on the Graphics tab. The first is the Interpolate Colors Between Pixels option that (when checked) turns on interpolation, which basically "smooths" pixels. For crisp pixel graphics, it should be off, but if you have nice alpha blends and smoothed edge graphics it is better left on.

Next there is the option to set the size of the Texture Page. The default (and most compatible) size is 1024x1024, but you can choose from anywhere between 256x256 up to 2048x2048. There is also a button marked View which will generate the texture pages for this platform and then open a window so that you can see how they look. This can be very useful if you wish to see how the texture pages are structured and to prevent having texture pages larger (or smaller) than necessary.

NOTE : Be aware that the larger the size of the texture page, the less compatible your game will be.


Provisioning

The Provisioning tab is where you configure the Mac OS options to get the correct certificates for the iOS export module. Her you should go to the Provisioning and Certificate to fill in the details of your developer certificates, which is done by simply clicking on the button marked Refresh From Mac. Please note this can only be completed successfully if you have previously signed up for an Apple developer account(see Setup GameMaker:Studio for iOS) and have set up GameMaker:Studio correctly to communicate with your Mac computer where this information is stored (see Setup GameMaker:Studio for Mac).

[Finch]

You would need the Mac export module (if YoYo even still sell this -- not sure?) maybe worth asking their helpdesk.

[CoolsitesChris]

oh,right, sorry, I just want to know can you build the game for the mac, as I do not own one, yet...

[Finch]

.Exe files are a PC format and wouldn't be able to load on iOS (AFAIK). You should be able to build and export your game as a exe file without the iOS module.

[CoolsitesChris]

Heres a question, do you require a apple licence for just building the exe, because my intention are not to put it on the apple store.