ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we’re going to take an in-depth look at creating a “hero” character and his main weapon. Now, I say the word “hero,” but I don’t mean it in the sense of the character having a heroic trait. Instead, what I am referring to is a game’s main character or asset. It’s the “hero” object that gets most of the attention in regards to polygon count and system resources. As we discussed in Chapter 1, “Getting to Know the iDevice Hardware and Unity iOS,” when dealing with a mobile device such as the iPhone and iPad, you must always be aware of the limited resources available. Like an old miser, constantly counting every penny, you must watch over each vertex and make sure not a one goes to waste. Throughout this chapter, I’ll be discussing techniques and principles behind creating optimized game models for the iDevices. To illustrate the concepts, we’ll be looking at the process behind creating Tater and his trusty sidekick of mass destruction, Thumper, as shown in Fig. 2.1. We’ll begin by discussing how to determine the project’s polygon budget.
