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iOS

Posted by Oliver Denman
Oliver Denman
898 Points

In Sprite Kit tutorial why are the Sprite classes written without over-ridden init methods?

In the Sprite Kit tutorial, Amit creates instances of sprite nodes using class methods. Eg:

+(instancetype) hudAtPosition:(CGPoint)position inFrame:(CGRect)frame {...

Ever since I first learned Obj-C, I've always used custom init methods to create objects:

-(id)initHudAtPosition:(CGPoint)position inFrame:(CGRect)frame {
       if (self = [super initWithImageNamed:...

I'm currently working on a game of my own and tried using Amit's method with my PC sprite but ran into problems. For example, the following seemed to have no effect on the instance property:

hero.UpTexture = [SKTexture textureWithImageNamed:@"HeroUp"];

hero.UpTexture would point to null. However, if I created my objected using a custom init method, the property would be set properly.

Why is Amit creating objects in his way? What is the benefit of not using a custom init method? Why couldn't I set the instance properties properly without using an init method?