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I am confused as to how endless runner games actually work, conceptually, as far as having a never-ending canvas. Sprite Kit is under NDA, so I am going to use Cocos2D as my framework.

There are some tutorials on the web that are specific to other languages, and tools, but I just need to figure out basically: If I create a scene with a specific size, how do I create the illusion of a never-ending background? Do I just animated backgrounds behind the scene, or do I somehow dynamically add length to the scene, so my runner really is running along the canvas?

Do I make sense? I just cannot grasp what the actual method these games use is. They certainly feel like the runner sprite is moving along a canvas, but maybe it's just that he's staying still and all the elements are moving?

Cocorico
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  • find an excellent reading resource here : http://www.learn-cocos2d.com/2012/12/ways-scrolling-cocos2d-explained/ – YvesLeBorg Sep 09 '13 at 23:36
  • another tutorial that will help you http://www.raywenderlich.com/3611/how-to-make-a-space-shooter-iphone-game along with this http://bobueland.com/cocos2d/tutorials/ – DogCoffee Sep 10 '13 at 01:17
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    sprite kit may be under nda but not for long (10 more days) – CodeSmile Sep 10 '13 at 07:50

2 Answers2

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One way that you can make the "endless" environment is by making UIViews (or NSViews depending on what platforms your game will be available on) that contain only a section of the environment so they can be reused when the runner passes that part of the game. Each view can be dedicated to display a certain feature of the game such as a power-up or an obstacle and it will be up to the logic of your game to decide when to use each view.

yliu1021
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Lets think of endless runner like jetpack joyride.

You might want to have two background nodes, each larger than the screen size by some amount (maybe 1.5 or 2 screen widths). When you load your level, you load first background and add second background at the coordinates where first ends, so that they form long screen. Then when we start moving character along this background when first background leaves screen we can take it, and change its coordinates to those where second background frame ends. This way when this comes to an end, we do the same with it. This way only using 2 long images we can simulate essentially endless space. You can use longer sequences for your game. You can add other nodes to your background when it has left the screen and present it, so it looks different each time.

Dvole
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