Setting up

It's time for another game, and we'll be using more of SpriteKit to build a whack-a-mole game, except with penguins because Whack-a-Penguin isn't trademarked. You're going to learn about SKCropNode, SKTexture and some more types of SKAction, and we'll also use more GCD to execute closures after a delay.

Create a new SpriteKit game project in Xcode, named Project14 and targeting landscape iPads, then delete most of the example code just like you did in project 11 – you want the same clean project, with no “Hello World” template content.

If you don’t remember all the steps, here’s the abridged version:

• Delete Actions.sks.
• Open GameScene.sks and delete the “Hello World” label.
• Change the scene’s anchor point to X:0 Y:0, its width to 1024 and its height to 768.

Finally, remove almost everything in GameScene.swift so that it looks like this:

import SpriteKit

class GameScene: SKScene {
    override func didMove(to view: SKView) {
    }

    override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
    }
}

I won’t be repeating those instructions again from now on.

Now download the files for this project from GitHub (https://github.com/twostraws/HackingWithSwift) and copy the assets from the Content folder into your Xcode project.

All set? Open up GameScene.swift and get whacking!

Reminder: When working with SpriteKit projects I strongly recommend you use a device if possible. If you don’t have a physical iPad to hand, use the lowest-spec iPad simulator rather than something like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro – you'll get much slightly frame rates, making it much more suitable for testing.

SAVE 50% To celebrate Black Friday, all our books and bundles are half price, so you can take your Swift knowledge further without spending big! Get the Swift Power Pack to build your iOS career faster, get the Swift Platform Pack to builds apps for macOS, watchOS, and beyond, or get the Swift Plus Pack to learn advanced design patterns, testing skills, and more.

Save 50% on all our books and bundles!

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!