Convert Corona App into Mac App - Best/Fastest Option?

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

I have a physics-based puzzle game for iOS written with Corona SDK – and because of an error on my part I need to create a Mac version sooner rather than later.

Obviously I can reuse the assets, but I’m trying to figure out which language/framework will make the conversion easiest.

Any ideas?

Whatever I choose needs to have Box2D (or some other physics engine) and needs to be able to create a Mac executable that can be submitted to the Mac App Store.

I have Torque2D and have played with it in the past, and while it doesn’t implement Box2D, it does have a physics engine, so that *may* be my best bet since I wouldn’t be starting completely from scratch.

But I’d love suggestions – especially from people who have taken an iOS game from Corona to the Mac.

Thanks!

Jay
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#2

I thought of GameSalad for about a 12th of a second but then decided against it. I’m completely fine with the idea of trading power for ease-of-use – after all, that’s why I use Corona SDK. But I’m not willing to give up *that* much power. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the suggestion but I’m probably going to have to go with something more “programmer like” – I’m looking for something exactly like Corona SDK but for the desktop. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#3

… Well, it’s certainly a good time then to poke Carlos about how after they clean up this Android stuff, we’d all really like to release our apps for Lion. :wink: I’m guessing he doesn’t need a reminder, but all the same. :wink:

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#4

Obviously, the easiest would be GameSalad, but it is very limited and personally I wouldn’t recommend it. But if your game is very simple I think GameSalad would work. I would also like to know what else is out there.

-Chris [import]uid: 17138 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47010[/import]

#5

Yeah, kennw, in the back of my mind I had dreams of Carlos seeing the post and then dropping me an email, “Hey, want to test something we’ve been working on?” :smiley:

I haven’t given up hope of that (if nothing else, I am an eternal optimist!), but at the same time I’m actively looking for options that exist today. :slight_smile:

I know Cocos2D could do the job, but I *really* don’t want to go back to Objective-C. I’m also looking at Wax, which is a “bridge” between Lua and Obj-C and works in XCode. But in that case I *still* don’t have stuff like display.newImage to *easily* put graphics on the screen.

Corona SDK has ruined me for anything else! :frowning:

Jay

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#6

I vote for Monkey these days. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47046[/import]

#7

@mikehart … link ? [import]uid: 6981 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47049[/import]

#8

It must be that Monkey :slight_smile:

http://monkeycoder.co.nz/

Monkey Vs Corona SDK
http://monkeycoder.co.nz/Community/posts.php?topic=670 [import]uid: 10478 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47052[/import]

#9

I did think about Monkey, but am a little leery about it since it’s so new. I’d hate to get 95% of the way there and then run into a roadblock. But I’ll look at it a little more today, just in case.

I’ve also thought about using Impact, which is an HTML5 game engine I keep lusting after (simply because I’m a programmer geek). I’d create a Mac app “wrapper” that would be nothing more than a way to display an HTML page that would run the game. I *think* it would work. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#10

have you checked out love
http://love2d.org/
http://love2d.org/wiki/Main_Page [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47103[/import]

#11

Wow, i wouldn’t know Monkey if you guys dont talk about it.

Reading the forum comparing Monkey and Corona http://monkeycoder.co.nz/Community/posts.php?topic=670 .I guess the best benefit of Monkey are native integration and offline compilation?

EDIT: Corona is much faster though :wink: [import]uid: 41267 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47096[/import]

#12

Wow! Love2d looks great! Skimmed through a few tutorials and looks like a great way to distribute to the Mac app store. [import]uid: 17138 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47115[/import]

#13

I think one of the main problems with Love is in creating a Mac executable that would pass muster in the Mac App Store – maybe you can do it, but I can’t find info from anyone who has.

I’ve pretty much decided that Cocos2D is my “safest” bet so I went to install it this evening. And, well, I ended up writing kind of a rant on my blog about it:

http://gamedevnation.com/general/corona-sdk-vs-cocos2d/

Read it if you care, but I’ll go ahead and tell you the punchline – Corona SDK is better. :slight_smile:

Jay
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#14

@Jay

I replied your blog :wink: [import]uid: 41267 topic_id: 12813 reply_id: 47121[/import]