Outside of hiring a developer or learning code
yourself there are ways to break into the app making business on your own without
needing to write a single line of code. Reskinning an iOS game is a relatively simple
process that requires no knowledge of code or programming. All that is required
is the application source code, your own graphics, and audio files. The necessary
functions of the game will be within the source code which you can purchase at
www.a4appz.com! To open this source code
you will need a Mac running Xcode, a free program to open and edit code written
in Objective-C.
To begin you will need to purchase an app source
code. Typically, when buying source code there are two options: a single license
and multiple app license. These two licenses both let you create an app but have
each has limitations on the ways you can sell the app that you will produce. Depending
on where you find the source code you should read through the licensing conditions
yourself to know what you can and cannot do with your reskinning application. A
single or regular license will let you build one app for yourself or a client while
a multiple or extended license allows you to sell the app to multiple buyers. For
reskinning an app a multiple use license will be necessary unless you only plan
on building the game for yourself.
Once you have purchased your source code with
the appropriate licensing you can move on to designing or purchasing the graphics
and audio files for the app. This is where your individual creativity will affect
the outcome of your game, and will also be where you will spend the majority of
your time and effort when reskinning. Within Xcode right click on your game file
and select “View in Finder.” From here you should look for three different types
of images that you will need to replace for the app. The first is to find the app’s
icons, which can be found within the icons folder.
The next is for the game’s launch screens which
can be found in the project root folder. Finally you will need to find the game’s
main graphics inside “resources” > “assets” > “textures”. Take note of the
size, name and format of all of these images, as your job when reskinning is to
create your own images in the same size and format, and simply rename your images
to match the names of the existing images you find within the source code and replace
them. Some of the graphics may require animated images, so take some time to go
through all of the images and understand exactly where they will appear in the game.
Once you finish creating your images and replace the old images your next task is
to replace the sound and music in the game.
The app sound files can be found under the “assets”
folder, one level up from where the graphics were located in “textures.” The files
you will need to replace are one .mp3 files. If you’re musically inclined you can
simply spend some time creating the .mp3 files, otherwise there are options to purchase
cheap sound files or even find free sound clips online. For both graphics and sound
files if you are going to use images taken from the internet for free make sure
that you are not taking anyone’s copyrighted work. This is one of the main downfalls
for people wanting to quickly reskin an app. Always err on the side of caution,
if you’re not sure if you can use it, don’t.
After replacing all of these images you should
test the app yourself to see if you are happy with the results and all of the graphics
and sounds are working correctly. To do so you will have to “Clean” the app first.
This function is under the Product menu on the top and it will make sure all the
newly copied images and sound files replace the old ones.
Once you’re satisfied with your work you will
have successfully reskinned your own iOS application! Your next step is to submit
it to the Apple app store and get it approved. For help with marketing and getting
it approved you should check out our article on App Marketing!