Handling Gesture Recognizers and TouchesBegan in SpriteKit

Are you working on a SpriteKit game and trying to use both gesture recognizers and touchesBegan? I spent more time than I expected figuring this out. After asking AIs and not getting clear answers, I ended up checking the friendly manual myself.

Thought I’d write a quick blog post about it—maybe it’ll help someone else searching for this later.

The issue is that touchesBegan happens before the gesture recognizer. There’s an easy fix: set delaysTouchesBegan to true. Here’s an example:

override func didMove(to view: SKView) {
        let panGestureRecognizer = UIPanGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(handlePanFrom))
        panGestureRecognizer.delegate = self
        panGestureRecognizer.delaysTouchesBegan = true
        self.view!.addGestureRecognizer(panGestureRecognizer)
} 

Why was it tricky to find? I think it’s because SpriteKit doesn’t get much attention these days, so there’s not a lot of discussion about it online. Hopefully this saves you some time!

Swashteroids 2.6

Version 2.6 has a lot of new features:

• New Phasing power-up! Temporarily nothing can touch you!
• New Xray power-up! See what treasures are in which asteroids!
• New button to trigger shields, enable them in your own time (or not).
• Improved the TRAINING section.
• Now using Apple SpriteKit’s physics engine to detect collisions.

Since my last Swashteroids blog post in Dec 2023, I've released many updates!

Version 2.6
Version 2.5
Version 2.4.2
Version 2.4.1
Version 2.4
Version 2.3
Version 2.2
Version 2.1.2
Version 2.1.1
Version 2.1
Version 2.0.1

Here's a video showing all the new power-ups (note: this is level 5)

Swasteroids 2.0

I’ve released Swashteroids 2.0 to the App Store! A fun retro open-source game built on my open-source ECS framework Swash. 

All new user-interface and art. Play with or without buttons! Plasma torpedoes and hyperspace are now both power-ups, and they're moving! Game play mechanics have been tweaked, ie asteroids' base speeds increase per level. The game starts easier as well so you can warm up.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swashteroids/id6472061502

 I’ve released Swashteroids to the App Store! A fun retro open-source game built on my open-source ECS framework Swash.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swashteroids/id6472061502

ABGC On Sale

My course A Blender Game Character is on sale at CartoonSmart thru Saturday, $25 (usually $39) #b3d

How to play Astra Itinera

I'm long overdue with this tutorial on how to play my iPad game Astra Itinera. If you've questions you can post here, contact me directly, or post in the facebook group.

Astra Itinera on Facebook

I have a Facebook page for my game Astra Itinera. Check it out for the latest news and tips. Note: You do not have to be a member of Facebook to browse the page.

Astra Itinera

My first iPad game, Astra Itinera, is now available on iTunes! Astra Itinera is a turn-based strategy game. Check out the Facebook page.

Astra Itinera grew out of my AS3 Strategy Games tutorial series. If you'd like to learn how to create random terrains, use connected component labeling, A* (a-star) pathfinding, state machines and more, check out the tutorial

Recommended by MacMost.com: "The interface is simple, but the game play is deep."

Mentioned in the CartoonSmart.com blog.