Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

• What am I clicking on? (or: why double-clicking on a layer seems to do something different every time)
• Create a new layer
• Move & select layers
• Transform layers
• Group layers
• Duplicate layers
• Duplicate layer effects
• Merge layers
• Fill layers with a colour
• Lock layers
• Layer opacity
• Layer blend modes

Recorded, edited and uploaded with Screenflow.

This post is part of iDevBlogADay, a group of indie iPhone development blogs featuring two posts per day. You can keep up with iDevBlogADay through the web site, RSS feed, or Twitter.

The latest entry in my iDevBlogADay “Photoshop for Devs” series, I show you how to use Layer Comps to save layer visibility settings so can easily switch between visibility “states” for multiple layers (and even layer styles) at once. This saves you from having a separate document or layer group for each instance of your graphic, and makes your source PSD’s easier to update.

Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

• Create broad layer comps to set overall visibility settings for multiple layers at once.
• Fine-tune your layer comps so that you have a comp for every instance of the graphic you are editing.
• Learn how adding and deleting layers affects layer comps.

Addendum:

I realized after recording that I sort of left you hanging with an alternate art style (the blue version) and didn’t really give a way to manage that. Here’s how:

• Right-click on the “1″ layer comp and duplicate it:
  
• Rename the layer comp to “1-normal blue”.
• Change the visibility settings so that your blue layer is turned on.
• Right-click on the layer comp again and select “Update Layer Comp” and you’re done:
  

Download the finished Photoshop file that was created in this screencast.

Recorded, edited and uploaded with Screenflow.

This post is part of iDevBlogADay, a group of indie iPhone development blogs featuring two posts per day. You can keep up with iDevBlogADay through the web site, RSS feed, or Twitter.

The latest entry in my iDevBlogADay “Photoshop for Devs” series, I show you how to make a master theme template for your games using a single Photoshop file, and export all the required images in a single step. This process can save you hours of annoying, repetitive work.

Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

• Lay out your template file using shape layers and “placed” textures for resolution independence.
• Use Photoshop Slices to cut up the document and save out multiple PNG files.
• Create a new theme and save out a whole new batch of images in a few seconds.
• Use Adjustment Layers to quickly create colour variant themes.

Download the finished Photoshop file that was created in this screencast.

Recorded, edited and uploaded with Screenflow.

This post is part of iDevBlogADay, a group of indie iPhone development blogs featuring two posts per day. You can keep up with iDevBlogADay through the web site, RSS feed, or Twitter.

Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

• The basics: creating shapes.
• Selecting and moving points using the Path Selection Tool.
• Editing points (adding and removing points, converting points from corners to curves)
• Booleans (subtracting a shape from another, changing boolean settings after)
• Copy and paste shapes within a layer and from one layer to another

Also note that the rectangle and rounded rectangle shape tools have this somewhat-hidden checkbox that helps to ensure your shape edges are right on the pixel-edge:

Recorded, edited and uploaded with ScreenFlow.

Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

Part 1:

• Place a photo in a Polaroid border, without having to crop it. Keep its full resolution so you can scale and rotate it as much as you want.
• Texture a chess board. Combine the texture layer with layer effects applied to the base layer.

Part 2:

• Add a reflection to windows in a building and change the colours with a clipped adjustment layer. Add art to a billboard shape with rounded corners and perspective.
• Create perfect silhouettes for your vector art. Mask multiple layers with a single base shape and apply layer effects to the entire group.

Part 1

Click the YouTube logo to watch there in higher-res.

Part 2

Thanks to @OwenGoss for letting me use his art from LandFormer for iPhone. Go check it out!

Addendum: You can use any layer as a clipping mask, not just vector layers. Plain-old bitmap layers work great too, if you need a “paintable” mask, or if you have a transparent PNG you want to use as a mask, for example.

Download the Photoshop files used in this screencast (except for the LandFormer artwork).

Helping iPhone developers hate using Photoshop a little less with simple tricks that make workflows more efficient. View the rest of the screencasts in the “Photoshop for Devs” series.

This screencast covers making your App Store icon in Photoshop (I’m using CS3):

• Using a template to start your icon right
• How to use vector layers and position them precisely
• Creating icons at each of the required sizes and what to watch for
• Using Smart Layers for resolution independent files
• Using a preview window when working on small icons

Please excuse the fan noise, and forgive the voice, I’ve had a cold. Head over to the YouTube page for the nice big HD version, if it’s hard to see.

Also note that the rectangle and rounded rectangle shape tools have this somewhat-hidden checkbox that helps to ensure your shape edges are right on the pixel-edge:

Download the PSD files referenced in the video. But if you want the right corner radius for every size, check out this great template.

Here’s the documentation on adding icons (and other graphics) at different resolutions to support the new hardware.

But sometimes you need to get something in there, even if it’s just a placeholder, or you want to give your sound designer a starting point for mood and style. Here are a couple great tools for throwing together some music and sound effects, fast.

Update: As discussed in the comments, please note that it is difficult to overestimate the value of getting a professional to do your sound and music for you.

Voice Band for iPhone

This is incredible. Get that melody out of your head and turn it into real music, by singing into your iPhone. Just watch the video, you’ll see how awesome it is:

http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/voiceband/

sfxr

A handy tool for generating procedural sound effects, sfxr lets you choose a general style for the sound effect, then tweak the settings for it. If you find one you almost like, hit the “Mutate” button a couple times to get something similar to what you have. sfxr used to be Windows-only, but was recently ported to Flash, so now you can use it on any computer with Flash Player 10.

http://code.google.com/p/as3sfxr/

Another trick is to download Audacity and layer several sfxr sounds. Drag them out, reverse them, distort them, and come up with something much nicer than a clip right out of the box.

Thanks to Adam Saltsman for putting me onto sfxr.

Your computer microphone

I find that the most fun way to get sound effects is to make them yourself by banging things together, throwing things across the room, and generally making a racket as creatively as you can. Audacity has a decent noise-removal tool that lets you sample a bit of “quiet”, it then uses that data to remove noise. Even your laptop mic can be used for production sound effects this way.

I guarantee you’ll be happier with homemade sound effects than with stock you spent annoying hours searching for online.

Please share any other useful findings in the comments.

Marketing Basics

Game Marketing And PR. Lock It Down. – (AppGamer.net) Step-by-step marketing advice. If you only read one of these articles, read this one.

Launching on the App Store: It’s simple physics – David Frampton. Great advice, short and sweet: “Do it all at once.”

360iDev Henry Balanon + Panel Discussion On Marketing – Excellent podcast by Dan Grigsby on things to think of when launching your app. A great app is not enough, no marketing = no sales; don’t expect to put an app in the App Store and expect it to take off. “You have to sit by the side of a river a very long time before a roast duck will fly into your mouth.”

15 Suggestions for Marketing your iPhone Application – A good list with a lot of ideas specifically for enhancing your website for iPhone sales.

Militant Optimisim Award: Gavin Bowman – Great interview with the maker of Eyegore’s Eye Blast and Sneezies (iTunes links). A bit lengthy, but a thoughtful look at the entire process of making and marketing games, using a publisher, and more. Worthwhile reading. (Gavin also posted a great “1 Year in the App Store” review of his experiences here).

It’s not Apple’s fault that you don’t know how to sell – Rana Sobhany’s keynote at 360iDev. Important words about how the App Store is changing, marketing yourself, and how to price your App and take back the App Store. Watching this is 20 minutes well spent. Here’s part 2

How to score higher in iPhone App Store searches – Learn how to best utilize the keywords in iTunes Connect. SEO for the App Store.

GDC Austin: ‘Tips for Success as an Indie iPhone Developer’ by Imangi Studios – Notes from the presentation given by Imangi Studios (makers of Harbor Master) at GDC. Great tips about developing your concept and how to build buzz before you release.

iPhone App Marketing: What Works (and What Doesn’t)? – An older post (May 09), but has some interesting information and developer feedback.

Building Buzz for Indie Games (Gama Sutra) – A very detailed and useful overview (not App Store specific)

iPhone Boot Camp – Jeff LaMarche on Marketing iPhone (YouTube, 2:37) – Co-Author, “Beginning iPhone Development”

App Marketing 101: Introduction to iPhone App Marketing – A good overview that touches on four important steps when planning your marketing strategy.

App Marketing 101: Pricing your iPhone App – Art and Science – Some help with the ever-present problem of App Store pricing.

Google Analytics for software sellers – If you have a website for your app (and you should), here are some tips to get the most out of your website by learning how to process the feedback you get from Analytics.

Making a Video

Creating an iPhone Game Video – Some helpful tips on physically filming your iPhone game, by the maker of Dapple.

iSimulate (iTunes link) – An interesting idea for recording games combining the Simulator and the accelerometer. This allows you to record the screen for high-quality recordings of your games. I haven’t tried this software, if anyone has, let us know in the comments how it works.

The Art of the Trailer: 8 Top Tips for Creating a Great Game Trailer – Some great tips and things to think about when making your game trailer from a professed “iPhone game trailer lover”.

Getting Reviewed

How to get your iPhone App Reviewed by Bloggers – Another great article with simple steps to improve your chances of getting reviewed, and build a relationship with reviewers.

How To Use And Abuse The Gaming Press And How The Gaming Press Wants To Use and Abuse You. – Great article by gaming journalist Kieron Gillen about getting the press to notice you. Journalists are busy people – do part of their job for them and give them everything they need for an interesting piece. Great read.

Five Tips For Getting iPhone Reviews – Mobile Orchard: “What makes a successful pitch-email?” Lots of good info in the comments here, too.

Traffic Ranked List Of iPhone App Review Sites – A nice list of places to submit your app for review.

Doing a Presentation

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: The Real Deal Behind The Reality Distortion Field – If you ever need to present your game in person, you should read this article. It’s broken down into 10 easy-to-understand tips for giving not only an interesting presentation, but an inspiring one.

…and don’t forget to get outside!

In that first post, he refers to this:
[button setSelected:YES];

So the method I came up with was to have a button with separate graphics for the required three states:

Normal

Highlighted

Selected

Each of these corresponds with the button states that can be set in Interface Builder. Be sure to set the images in the “Image” pop-up, NOT the “Background” pop-up. If you put it in the Background, it will scale the image to fill the size of the button. Putting it in the “Image” pop-up centers the image in the button and allows us to make the clickable area of the button larger than the checkbox itself, which is important for such a small button.

The code itself looks like this:

- (IBAction)checkboxButton:(id)sender{
if (checkboxSelected == 0){
[checkboxButton setSelected:YES];
checkboxSelected = 1;
} else {
[checkboxButton setSelected:NO];
checkboxSelected = 0;
}
}

Download the source code (full Xcode project) here. You can see that there is an IBAction and IBOutlet as well. Make sure you make those connections in Interface Builder, or the button won’t work.

I’m pretty new at programming so if I’m doing something wrong here, please let me know!