A custom built iPad game in time for the holidays

Target Corporation approached The Nerdery to create an iPad game using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. The nature of the project required we develop the entirety of the game engine from scratch. Developing in HTML5 for the iPad presented several unique developmental challenges for our team to tackle. The game’s graphical requirements were handled by utilizing an in-house engine using sprite-mapping for frame-based animations. Sound effects were another challenge. We found a way around the iPad’s sound limitations by combining sound files into a single file and referencing sections within it for playback. This significantly reduced the iPad’s sound retrieval and play time. Finally, we created a physics engine where we emulated elastic and inelastic collisions that were being modified by a magnetic field. Our team developed the engine to be component-based which allowed for quick alterations and made it simple to add additional code without having to roll back the entire engine. We were pleased to find Target’s excitement to the finished game matched our own, and that we had exceeded expectations.