I saw yearly was removed and I think that was a noble and good move. But there should be an option to own it outright so there is no call home in the app. I’m talking purely theoretical as I don’t need kiip or paypal functionality myself but I see this as the line in the sand for what will be considered typical for future plugins when and if there is a marketplace or anything else.
IMHO, call home is not a problem since if you have no network you will not be able to use PayPla / Kiip anyways. Whats important though is that the license checking process is kind enough to give you a “pass” if the licensing servers are unreachable while the rest of internet access is ok.
That is the thing. This is pretty much a trial run of a marketplace for Corona. As I said previously, devs can launch plugins through my system and sell them via my store. I believe this is a great way for Corona to trial how the community would take to a plugin marketplace.
If it is successful then they can launch their own. People forget that they are a small team and have a gazillion things to do at once, features, bug fixes and so on. So they have to prioritise and ensure that what they are working on is worthwhile, in both the short term and long term.
If this takes off, then they can get their marketplace out with the data and knowledge that it is time well spent. If not then they can allocate that time to other areas. It’s a win win for absolutely everyone.
My 2¢
Thank you. As I said, I want this to work for everyone and am trying my hardest to figure out a way to make these accessible to everyone, and not have to live on the streets 
I agree the option to own it outright would be very nice, and I am sure that we can come up with something in that regard. I think this whole thing is going to take a little bit to get the balance right. Again, valuable data for corona to use for their own marketplace should that happen.
Lets try to see this as a positive thing, and a thing that could bloom into something great for the whole community. I am one of the biggest and most passionate Corona supporters and I am absolutely thrilled that I get to play a little part in hopefully making Corona even better and more extendable. My post count doesn’t reflect this, but I have been using Corona since day one.
Yes I know how Unity works with plugins/third-party services. They are doing a great job. But I am curious about their response to Unreal and CryEngine`s new licensing policy…
I have tried out UE4 and their mobile App/game examples… they work pretty well on iOS. This is a new competitor for Corona SDK.
And UE4 is preparing their own marketplace at the moment - it will be interesting to see how that works.
Anyway - I have to admit that Jen and Danny have done a great job at building these plugins and providing Corona developers a platform to sell their (Enterprise) plugins(!)…
But it is not as valuable as the their competitors at the moment in my opinion.
A little bit more than three years ago when I started my career as a game designer/developer there was not very much competition in the market. Corona was the fastest and most valuable way to create apps and games for mobile devices. Unity had been very hard to learn (from my experience at this time) and the other SDKs were not as beginner friendly as Corona.
But today there is a totally different situation. Learning Unity was quite easy since the community has provided many many very useful tutorials. The same goes for Unreal Engine. Their community is very helpful, better than Unity´s but on the same level as these forums.
Corona needs to make changes and if these rumours are true then this is a big step in the right direction.
If my co-workers requests me to create an application then the following are my answers at the moment:
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Size Matters? --> Corona SDK
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Not much time for a prototype? --> Corona SDK/Unity3D(2D)
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just a business app? --> Corona SDK (if all requested features are do-able without Enterprise ! - if not then this goes out to our external partners)
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3D graphics? --> Unity/Unreal
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“simple” 2D game?—> Corona SDK
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“big” 2D/2.5D game --> Unity
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“special” 2D/2.5D --> Unreal
Especially if you are going bigger than “normal” then Corona SDK gets a little bit too chaotic - even through you are splitting everything up into modules for examples - but this might be related to my workflow, too.
For no good reason I would like to compare one of the games created by me with Corona to just the basic stuff you need in Unity and Unreal Engine to run a simple “hello world” app on your iOS device:
Corona SDK: 26,4 mb full game developed with Corona (and currently getting approved by Apple)
Unity Free version: 48mb (hello world text screen)
Unreal Engine 4 (nothing except for a single “hello world” text object included): 89 mb
But if app/game size does not matter then you can see what framework I would use for different cases.
My “advice” for Corona (who am I to give someone advice? 
)
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Do not keep everything behind closed doors (closed betas ! )
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Give everyone ( /Pro users only?) the ability to create their own plugins
This is just my opinion at this moment.
Max
Thanks, Kerem and everyone else for your support. Danny and I are working to make it right, as I said earlier. Chris, we hear your objections, but I believe that you’re not going to invest in this new initiative at any rate so I’d actually be interested in hearing more from folks who WOULD like to participate in one way or another to see what we can do to fine-tune your experience.
best,
Jen
Not sure where you get your numbers from but hello world in unity is 8.5mb and if you have Pro you can make it smaller.
Unreal is overhyped. U4 doesn’t even properly support android right now and has other issues. It’s really immature now but pricing is competitive and may eventually drive down the rest of the market.
I was hoping unity 5 would be cheaper but same price. But it is a perpetual license.
I would not be so fast to claim corona owns 2d. 65% of release unity games are 2d. I use unity exclusively for 2d and love it.
I would if it was tapjoy or something like Parse. I just don’t have a use for kiip or paypal personally and as I mentioned privately I do not use Corona much anymore.
Parse is next on my list (should be no surprise :))
best,
Jen
@Jennifer, if you want a suggestion though, I would suggest a Parse plugin. The current one is kind of left alone due to the Chronium project and a fully supported/maintained one would be a big win.
As I said before, I am not against the plugins to be charged or that they all should be free, I just like to have options and not a monopoly.
You guys says that this is not monopoly, but let’s see the facts:
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Only 1 group is allowed to sell the plugins
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The group says that anyone can use their platform, so, let’s say I develop a Paypal plugin and want to sell it for $1, Will my plugin be accepted in this ‘market’? I doubt… So, we have 1 group that control who/what can be sold via their platform
So, this is not a market place, it is a monopoly.
And guys, what really makes me worry is the future on it. Corona has a lot of features not (fully) implemented. Imagine that based on this experience they now hires a 3rd party to fix them all and that 3rd party charges YOU.
With that said, I totally understand that everyone has bills to pay and need to gain some money. I didn’t like the way that it was being sold (with the 2-dimensions cap). The year cap was now removed and I think this is great move from Gremlin and congrats them for listening the feedback. When we have a open market place, where everyone can post their plugins and charge whatever they want, I will be happy.
Only 1 group is allowed to sell the plugins
The group says that anyone can use their platform, so, let’s say I develop a Paypal plugin and want to sell it for $1, Will my plugin be accepted in this ‘market’? I doubt… So, we have 1 group that control who/what can be sold via their platform
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Come up with a plugin or two that are ready to sell and approach CL about whether they can be sold. If they say no, then this point *may* be true.
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Come up with a PayPal plugin for $1 and approach Gremlin about selling it. If they say no, then this point *may* be true.
But until those things happen, you’re whining about an imagined slight.
Imagine that based on this experience they now… (insert doom and gloom here)
Or, imagine that things will continue to get better and better and better. Based on the 2010 version of Corona SDK – or heck, even the 2013 version of Corona SDK – I’ll take what we have right now, any day.
So odds are things will get better, not worse.
Jay
I did not say that things are going to get worse. In fact, it is the opposite, I agree with you that things are getting better and better and will continue to improve. The question is at what cost…
@Renato, I don’t think there is a monopoly here. Its just that we are seeing the first effort of this kind. Hopefully other entreprenurs will come forward with similar offerings in due course and prove my point. In the meanwhile, why should this make the most eager competitor who happened to reach the market ahead of others the bad guy?
Corona Labs is operating in California. If we assume they are incorporated in California (which might be a wrong assumption but other states have similar laws) then we can assume that they will abide by the law in California which expressly forbids forming and operating monopolies.
I can assure you that if a worthy competitor comes along and asks Corona Labs for similar priviledges to host plugins on the build servers Corona Labs would have no choice but comply or face being sued. They have no reason to grant a monopolistic right to any one party. No benefit in it for them beside the fact that they would be breaking the law and risk getting sued for it which I doubt they would want.
Hope this helps. Repeat after me… It is not a monopoly… It is not a monopoly… It is not a monopoly… It is not a monopoly…
Reference :
Quoting California Business & Professions Code, Sec. 17040.
It is unlawful for any person engaged in the production, manufacture, distribution or sale of any article or product of general use or consumption, with intent to destroy the competition of any regular established dealer in such article or product, or to prevent the competition of any person who in good faith, intends and attempts to become such dealer, to create locality discriminations.
Thanks for the feedback. The initial goal is to get a wide diversity of plugins into the marketplace. So initially we don’t want several of the same plugins. With that said, anyone who wishes to sell a plugin via our platform decide the price of their plugin themselves. We don’t decide the price for them, they do.
I understand your opinion and can tell you with certainty that we want to make this as accessible and open as possible. We haven’t said anything in terms of what we will and wont accept to date, so lets all keep an open mind
+1 Tapjoy plugin.
Current prices/licenses for the plugins offered seem reasonable for the functionality provided, especially given the limited number of potential customers. I truly hope the folks putting their effort into this experimental marketplace can make a living at it, or at least pay off their Enterprise licenses. Good luck!
-Stephen
UE4 has many issues right now that´s correct. But since they have given every developer access to their github page and the source code there might be some big improvements in the near future. There are already new features being added in UE 4.1 that have been made by random guys over the internet). And if the price drop of UE4 and CE4 causes other SDKs/Engines to go the same way then that is really great. I did not want to say that Corona “owns” 2D - it is just a little bit faster (for me) when it comes to small games and prototyping stuff. But this might just be the case because I have more experience in Corona than in Unity. (More libraries I can re-use in new projects for example).
But as you can see at my license I am not needing Corona Pro at the moment. If Orange is the new Bla… uhm… if Pro is the new Starter then this is great
hi,
last Post I see from David was beginning of ‘last’ year…where he said we are working on a plugin store.
Any News about that… one year later?
thanks
chris
hi,
last Post I see from David was beginning of ‘last’ year…where he said we are working on a plugin store.
Any News about that… one year later?
thanks
chris