iOS 7 SpriteKit - Creating game menus/buttons (Scenes vs. more view controllers)

Question

So, I\'ve begun working on a project in SpriteKit, and I\'m hoping to be able to implement a \"main menu\" scene with a few buttons. One would go to a level select screen, one w

Answer 1

Although @Albert's answer is a good one, i have always just used SKLabelNode. It is a class that is already inside of the SpriteKit framework, and doesn't require the use of gestures.

This makes you wonder, how does it react to actions? Well, that is actually quite simple.

I just use touchesBegan:withEvent: method, and I check if the label node is being pressed upon. Here is an example.

// in .m file
@interface ClassName () {
   SKLabelNode *menuItem1;
   SKLabelNode *menuItem2;
}

@implementation

- (id) initWithSize:(CGSize)size // can't fully remember this one...
{
     if(self = [super initWithSize:size]) {
        // here you create your labels
        menuItem1 = [SKLabelNode labelNodeWithFontNamed:@"Your font."];

        // this will position this at the center, top 1/3 of the screen
        menuItem1.position = CGPointMake(self.frame.size.width/2, self.frame.size.height * .3); 
        menuItem1.text = @"Menu 1";
        [self addChild:menuItem1]; // takes care of the first

        menuItem2 = [SKLabelNode labelNodeWithFontNamed:@"Your font."];

        // place at center, lower 1/3 of screen
        menuItem2.position = CGPointMake(self.frame.size.width/2, self.frame.size.height * .6); 
        menuItem2.text = @"Menu 2";
        [self addChild:menuItem2];
    }
    return self;
}

- (void) touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event
{
     UITouch *t = [touches anyObject];
     CGPoint touchLocation = [t locationInNode:self.scene];

      if(CGRectContainsPoint(menuItem1.frame, touchLocation)) {
          // do whatever for first menu
      }

      if(CGRectContainsPoint(menuItem2.frame, touchLocation)) {
          // do whatever for second menu
      }
}

hope this helps!