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I'm really interested in starting to study some language with the idea of develop games for ipad and iphone.

My main concern is that as soon as is possible to develop games with javascrit and html5 with canvas seems so powerfull, shouldn't be better to invest time in studying javascript+HTML5+canvas instead of Objective-c and the necessary libraries?

Thank you

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3 Answers 3

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HTML5 is becoming so powerful that it is very much possible to develop games for mobile platforms using them. If you are planning for simple 2D games, then I would say you go for HTML5.

But if you want to do some big complex games supporting device orientation and other such features, then I suggest you learn Objective-C. Because as of now, there in no direct procedure to make the game stick to one orientation (which I suppose is one of the basic feature). As far as I searched it is not possible to tell the browser to stop auto-rotating on change of orientation.

Another things is about performance. The performance of canvas API inside the browser is good enough for simple games, but it cant compete with the power of native games.

Regarding libraries, on native side there is cocos2d and many other mature libraries; but on HTML5 side I dont think the libraries are not mature enough when compared to native libraries. But soon this problem will vanish as the libraries evolve.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you, can't vote you up because my reputation, but I would. \$\endgroup\$
    – user5793
    Feb 27, 2012 at 5:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ I believe it's possible in javascript to get device orientation etc. Have seen several examples, for iphone / ipad, online but haven't been able to test it myself. \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas
    Feb 27, 2012 at 10:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ its possible to get the orientation.. what I said is its not possible to tell the browser not to switch orientation when the phone is rotated so as to stick to any one orientation. \$\endgroup\$
    – saiy2k
    Feb 27, 2012 at 11:23
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Objective-C and HTML5/JavaScript are quite different. If you have a background in web-technologies, the HTML5 route might be easier for you. If you have some Java or C/C++ experience, you might feel more comfortable with Objective-C.

While it's certainly possible to develop games in both "environments", you shouldn't forget about monetization. You can put your Objective-C app in the AppStore and sell it, while you'll have to find other ways to make money from your HTML5 app (maybe ads or some sort of subscription model?). If your focus is iPad/iPhone, then Objective-C is going to be less of a pain and also give you the better performance.

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If your really interested in iOS Development, I STRONGLY recommend you at least learn the fundamentals of Objective C 2.0 and Cocoa Touch.
I'm have quite a bit of experience with iOS development as I'm in a group called theCodeCadets.

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