Over the years, I’ve been developing a framework to help create GUIs in Corona which I use for my own applications. The framework borrows a lot of ideas from Java’s Swing library. I’m considering converting it to a plugin, but I’m not sure there would be any interest in this sort of plugin. This leads me to a couple of questions:
I appreciate any input.
I may be in the minority (in fact I almost surely am), but I prefer libs where I can see and modify the source.
So, if you mean you’re going to release it as a open-source plugin or ui-lib, that would be cool.
If it is closed source, it can still be cool, but it will have to be highly functional and well documented.
Note: It isn’t hard to create a pure-Lua plugin from an existing library, so you should definitely try this if you feel it might have traction. The big catch is making demos and docs.
Note 2: You can also release your library code as a downloadable asset in the store (paid or free; up to you).
PS - As the dev of SSK, I use SSK almost exlusively for bacic UI interfaces, and then I custom code where needed or fall back on widget.* for scrollers if I need them. Even then, I have a wrapper for the widget.newScroller() in SSK.
I might be interested in something like this provided its well documented and has the functionality i’d be looking for.
If I’m to pay for it I prefer it to be closed code and leave it up to the developer (you) to handle errors and requests 
Not using anything like this today though so not quite sure what to expect.
I am actually using several UI modules to help speed up my game development. If you think about elements like options, in-game currency store, level select, etc. the fact is that users don’t really care how most of these look as long as they work as intended and expected, so having created an overlay IAP store that I can move between projects has greatly sped up my team’s development speed. Same with options since no one has to spend more time than absolutely necessary with something that users don’t care for.
But, regarding whether I’m interested in additional UI or widget frameworks, the answer is yes, if they serve a function that I need and haven’t already addressed. The more universal or broad the plugin, the less likely I am to need it, whereas the more specific and niche it is, the more likely I’d use a plugin for it.
While I don’t mind closed code, I think twice before implementing such plugins in my projects because if something breaks or if the plugin becomes unavailable, then my projects will stall or require code rewrite.
That being said, I am also planning on releasing a free simple “window UI” plugin next week to Corona Marketplace, and I’ll also provide the code for the plugin on my company’s site (and my personal GitHub) once I finish the company site’s redesign. I have also thought about providing other UI modules that I use as plugins, but they would require more work (perhaps too much) to turn into plugin form. Some such UI modules are the aforementioned IAP store, endless level select scroll setup, etc.
I may be in the minority (in fact I almost surely am), but I prefer libs where I can see and modify the source.
So, if you mean you’re going to release it as a open-source plugin or ui-lib, that would be cool.
If it is closed source, it can still be cool, but it will have to be highly functional and well documented.
Note: It isn’t hard to create a pure-Lua plugin from an existing library, so you should definitely try this if you feel it might have traction. The big catch is making demos and docs.
Note 2: You can also release your library code as a downloadable asset in the store (paid or free; up to you).
PS - As the dev of SSK, I use SSK almost exlusively for bacic UI interfaces, and then I custom code where needed or fall back on widget.* for scrollers if I need them. Even then, I have a wrapper for the widget.newScroller() in SSK.
I might be interested in something like this provided its well documented and has the functionality i’d be looking for.
If I’m to pay for it I prefer it to be closed code and leave it up to the developer (you) to handle errors and requests
Not using anything like this today though so not quite sure what to expect.
I am actually using several UI modules to help speed up my game development. If you think about elements like options, in-game currency store, level select, etc. the fact is that users don’t really care how most of these look as long as they work as intended and expected, so having created an overlay IAP store that I can move between projects has greatly sped up my team’s development speed. Same with options since no one has to spend more time than absolutely necessary with something that users don’t care for.
But, regarding whether I’m interested in additional UI or widget frameworks, the answer is yes, if they serve a function that I need and haven’t already addressed. The more universal or broad the plugin, the less likely I am to need it, whereas the more specific and niche it is, the more likely I’d use a plugin for it.
While I don’t mind closed code, I think twice before implementing such plugins in my projects because if something breaks or if the plugin becomes unavailable, then my projects will stall or require code rewrite.
That being said, I am also planning on releasing a free simple “window UI” plugin next week to Corona Marketplace, and I’ll also provide the code for the plugin on my company’s site (and my personal GitHub) once I finish the company site’s redesign. I have also thought about providing other UI modules that I use as plugins, but they would require more work (perhaps too much) to turn into plugin form. Some such UI modules are the aforementioned IAP store, endless level select scroll setup, etc.