2015 Hangout Topics and Guest Suggestions?

General (non-technical) Corona Geek
#61

All,

I’m going to maintain an alphabetical listing of suggestions and who suggested them HERE

As well, I’ll be occasionally updating my first post in this thread (dated: 11 January 2015 - 03:25 PM ) so that you can see them all in one place.

#62

In addition to Penlight, this one is also maintained: lua-stdlib

On the topic of Penlight itself, the author, Steve Donovan, might be a good guest, if he’s up for it. He maintains quite a few other interesting projects too, including LDoc, the documentation tool I use (it would be interesting to see if this could be combined with Coronium) and LuaMacro, for code manipulation.

For that matter, there are probably quite a few frameworks among the Corona community by now.

Somewhat related to that would be the LuaRocks and LuaDist projects, the babies of Hisham Muhammad and Peter Drahoš  respectively. Both of these guys have done workshops and so might be game.

Actually, we mentioned unit testing on or after the color picker show… I’m thinking it might be better trying to find somebody that has some experience with them to discuss that. I haven’t had the wherewithal to research it much and it would probably have more weight coming from somebody who already knew them well.

Finally, seeing as I was already encouraged to post them on the Code Exchange, shaders now seem to be a legitimate topic.

#63

Hi Guys, I am new to programming and Corona certainly is my preferred engine so far. I just started following the tutorials and its the best I have ever seen. Well done guys, you are among the best.

My challenge as a beginner is what videos or materials to read to help with just basic simple physics games like the maze game. I don’t know if you have any topic on it or plan to.

Thanks

#64

@sysads,

Hi.  Thanks for the feedback.  I’m glad we’re providing useful materials on the hangouts.  

Can you be more specific?  Which game are you referring to when you say ‘the maze game’.  Can you post a link or links to examples of specific instances?

#65

@roaminggamer, this is the game i am referring to - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobirix.playmaze&hl=en_GB

Thanks

#66

@sysads, I have seen screenshots, looks like there is no physics - I mean, you can create this game without using capabilities of Box2d. I can suggest topics that will help you to create a similar one: 1. Files - because you perhaph will load mazes from file. 2. Drawing lines - because walls will be made with lines; drawing images for character, exit and such things 3. You need to implement some function to draw on screen maze that was loaded from file. 4. Handling touches for moving a character 5. You have to detect collision with walls and prevent character from passing though them. As I said, you don’t need to use physics here, because state of game and position of character is discrete, like in chess or other board games. If you need detailed explanations, feel free to contact me.

#67

Hi Charles,

Do you know if there will be a Hangout soon which focuses more on Business Apps and Social Media Integration?

I know there are a lot of people out there whose primary focus is not Gaming that would really appreciate the panels thoughts and views.

Thanks

Anil

#68

We don’t have anything scheduled, but those would definitely be a good topics. They can be big topics, so we might need to plan a series of Hangouts to cover things fully. Are you interested in hearing about them together or separately? 

#69

Hi Charles,

Probably a separate hangout for each main topic e.g.

  1. Using, implementing and Integrating Social Media in a Corona app

  2. Form Data Entry and SQLite

etc etc

Anil

#70

@Anil,

Hi.  I think I’d like to discuss social media first as I have a better handle on how to cover that, but first let me know if these sub-topics align with the stuff you were thinking of when you said ‘social media’.

  • Basic Social/Sharing via Social Plugin (Twitter, FB[?], e-mail, more)
  • Advanced Facebook
    • Setting up a Facebook App
    • Connecting to Facebook App via Graph (Facebook) Plugin
    • Basic Facebook queries (User details, friends lists)
    • Using FB as a sign-in method.
  • Advanced Twitter
    • Setting up a Twitter App
    • Connecting to Twitter App via 3rd Party Libs.
    • Using Twitter as a sign-in method.
  • Other Social/Sharing Options
    • To Be Determined; Just leaving this open for now.
    • Custom URLs (wrong name for it)
#71

@Ed,

That sounds just perfect - I am sure there are going to be a lot of people that will not want to miss this hangout!

Could you please also add in ‘Checking In To A Venue/Location Using Facebook’ as this is a particular area/issue that I am very interested in and am sure would also be of great interest to other Business App authors.

Thanks

#72

@Ed,

Just watching yesterday’s Corona Geek After Dark and see that you have mentioned this topic.

Just to clarify my 2 published ‘Business Apps’ are targeted for Bars and Restaurants. The basic feature set is :-

 

  1. Custom and Personal Happy Hour which starts when the app user wants it to start (timer)

  2. Deliver periodic Special Offers/Deals/Coupons to the app user for the bar/restaurant

 

  1. Display Upcoming Special Events (Valentines Party/Xmas Party/NYE Party) using Posters/Flyers

 

  1. A ‘Stamp My Card’ facility like most coffee shops have these days (buy 6 get next 1 free)

 

  1. A digital membership/discount card

 

  1. Push notifications to send out targeted Special Offers and Promotions

 

  1. Photo Gallery displaying photos of the venue

  2. Contact Us page with Webview links to the Business’s Social Media Pages (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Youtube)

 

 

The apps are now published but for the next release I would like to add proper Social Media Integration i.e. posting directly to the users pages/feeds etc and implementing FB Check In etc

 

Thanks

#73

Hi.  Thanks for the update.  Note: On the show I was somewhat flippant, but not poking fun.  I often see questions and end up being unclear on what the asking party really wants.  So, I really appreciate the detailed follow up.

Cheers,

Ed

#74

Hi Ed,

So when do you think the first part, i.e. Social Media Integration, will be able to be discussed on the Hangout?

Is the next Hangout out of the question or is that just wishful thinking on my part?

Your breakdown on the topics that should be covered is bang on but it would be great if you could also include Facebook Check In.

Thanks for the continued support from yourself, and indeed, all of the panel and the wider community.

#75

@Anil,

Hi.  Charles has the final say, but right now it looks like next hangout is going to be a third installment of shader talks.  

I’ve floated the idea (to Charles) of starting a discussion of social media on the following talk.  Note: I couldn’t be ready for Monday anyways.  This kind of thing takes a little prep to talk about intelligently.

-Ed 

PS - Regarding ‘Facebook Check In’,  Is this what you’re talking about? 

#76

@Ed,

Yes http://www.facebook.com/help/131352130275629 is definately what I am talking about.

@Charles,

Do you think we could schedule a Hangout with Ed’s proposed Social Media content in the very near future?

Thanks

#77

@Ed & @anil8: Something I hope you’ll both be able to use very soon for Twitter integration in your apps is my new Twitter plugin, which I just submitted to Corona Labs for inclusion in the Plugin marketplace. For details on the plugin, including full API documentation, please go to http://twitter.plugin.jasonschroeder.com/.

Here’s a video of the demo app I whipped up to show off the plugin. You can download the source code for this project on my site, but unfortunately it won’t work until Corona Labs approves the app and adds it to the store. Hopefully that’ll be soon. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg7N_f1BoTQ

#78

@Jason.

I caught your brief pre-announcement of the Plugin in the recent Hangout and am really looking forward to it being made available soon on the Corona Labs Store.

Keep up the great work!

#79

@anil8, yes we can definitely schedule social media integration as the topic for July 27th. @Ed is working on the material for the discussion and @Jason will be presenting his plugin solution for Twitter this coming Monday, July 20.

BTW, I’d love to see your app. It sounds like a great example of a non-game app.

Thanks again for suggesting the topics.

#80

Hi Charles,

Excellent news - I am looking forward to both of the upcoming Hangouts.

Here are the links to my 2 non-game apps that were approved for the major stores last week. They are not overly complicated but have proved to me that Corona can definately be used to build a Business/Non-Game App.

Roadhouse:Access All Areas

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roadhouse-access-all-areas/id1008119617

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riverfine.accessallareas

http://www.amazon.com/Riverfine-Solutions-Limited-Roadhouse-Access/dp/B010CA843W

Joe’s Chicken Feed

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joes-chicken-feed/id992269908

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riverfine.chickenfeed

http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Kitchen-Chicken-Loyalty-Lovers/dp/B00Z4N5OTA

Anil