Open Radar

 
Summary:
Please allow custom rendering of nodes and OpenGL access in Sprite Kit.

Elaboration:

I understand that Sprite Kit was designed with stability and performance in mind. You tried to make it impossible (or at least improbable) to have strange rendering bugs or low performance resulting from incorrect use of drawing and other OpenGL calls. I think this is a great approach and preferable in most situations. However, it also greatly limits the amount of creativity possible.

As far as I can tell from the WWDC sessions and the API documentation there is no (supported) method of implementing custom rendering in OpenGL. In some situations I don't think there is a way around that stuff, when you want to implement a unique effect or feature. You specifically mentioned successful games, such as Tiny Wings, Cut the Rope and Where is my Water, as being an inspiration for creating Sprite Kit. But I don't see how I could render a dynamic, textured rope for instance without being able to specify all the vertices and tex coords however I want.

I think you should allow custom rendering and just warn developers that it can go wrong. This would greatly increase the possibilities. Also, please consider releasing the source code. That would increase the rate of adoption by a big factor. I'm hesitant to base months of work on an engine that I can't modify to my needs when I run into a wall. Thanks!