A wrapper around Cocos2d so that you can use it with UIKit as a view.

AECocos2D.h

//
//  AECocos2D.h
//  CocosUIKitTest
//
//  Created by Paul Solt on 7/4/13.
//  Copyright (c) 2014 Paul Solt. All rights reserved.
//

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface AECocos2D : NSObject

+ (AECocos2D *)shared;
- (void)setupDirector;
- (CCGLView *)currentGLView;

@end

AECocos2D.m

//
//  AECocos2D.m
//  CocosUIKitTest
//
//  Created by Paul Solt on 7/4/13.
//  Copyright (c) 2014 Paul Solt. All rights reserved.
//

#import "AECocos2D.h"

@implementation AECocos2D {
    CCGLView *_glView;
}

static AECocos2D *sharedInstance;

+ (AECocos2D *)shared;
{
    if(!sharedInstance) {
        sharedInstance = [[AECocos2D alloc] init];
        sharedInstance->_glView = [CCGLView viewWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]
                                              pixelFormat:kEAGLColorFormatRGBA8 //kEAGLColorFormatRGB565
                                              depthFormat:0 //GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT24_OES
                                       preserveBackbuffer:NO
                                               sharegroup:nil
                                            multiSampling:NO
                                          numberOfSamples:0];
        [sharedInstance->_glView setMultipleTouchEnabled:YES];
        [sharedInstance setupDirector];
        [sharedInstance->_glView setFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]];
    }
    return sharedInstance;
}

- (void)setupDirector
{
    CCDirectorIOS *director = (CCDirectorIOS *) [CCDirector sharedDirector];
    
    [director setView:_glView];
    [director enableRetinaDisplay:YES];
//    director.wantsFullScreenLayout = YES; // Not on iOS 7
    [director setDisplayStats:YES];
    [director setAnimationInterval:1.0/60];
}

- (CCGLView *)currentGLView {
    return _glView;
}

@end

AppDelegate.m

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    // Call this right here, before anything else. Need to set up the director ASAP
    [AECocos2D shared];

    // Other setup code
}

MenuViewController.m

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    
    // The 2 below statements made the game window appear in landscape orientation correctly
    [[[AECocos2D shared] currentGLView] setAutoresizingMask:UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth|UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight];
    [[[AECocos2D shared] currentGLView] setFrame:self.view.frame];
    
    [self.view insertSubview:[[AECocos2D shared] currentGLView] atIndex:0];
    CCScene *scene = [GameWorldLayer scene];
    self.gameWorldLayer = (GameWorldLayer *)[scene.children objectAtIndex:0];
    [[CCDirector sharedDirector] runWithScene:scene];
    
    self.gameWorldLayer.parentViewController = self;
    [[CCDirector sharedDirector] startAnimation];
}

- (void)transitionToViewController {
    //...
    
    // Disable or enable interaction for your menus on top
    [[AECocos2D shared] currentGLView].userInteractionEnabled = NO;
}