Corona Pro Plugins

Solar2D Native builds
#21

I guess Corona Cards was the secret front burner project.  It could be a way for CL to make new customers out of native developers who have never used Corona, though I suspect most of the devs it will entice are current Corona users who are also experienced native developers, and perhaps former Corona users who jumped ship due to the SDKs limitations.  But those are small pools of potential customers for this new product.  For people like me, who develop only in Corona and don’t (or can’t) develop natively, Corona Cards doesn’t appear to provide anything I can use.

The plugin marketplace, on the other hand, promises to bring much new and needed functionality to CoronaSDK over what I and CL are capable of delivering.  From my perspective this would improve the quality and functionality of the SDK, would free up CLs’ developers to focus more on core functionality and bug fixing which would, again, improve the quality of Corona SDK and thus drive more developers to consider using CoronaSDK in the first place.  CL would also retain more existing customers who would otherwise jump ship, and could also stand to gain new Enterprise customers who would be interested in putting their expertise to work selling plugins to people like me.  Win-win-win.

#22

^^^ Very well articulated. I’m in exactly the same boat as yourself.

If I could code native I would go full on native. Yet I have needs which CL will take years if ever to get to. For example, I would love a better mapView and I would not mind paying a dev who could make a plugin encapsulating more features from the underlying native map API (ie buttons on map marker bubbles etc). 

#23

I started using Unity because of the lack of marketplace and the fact every project runs into a dead end with some third party service not supported or not supported fully.  It was overwhelming at first, but now it feels like Unity is actually easier than Corona and their marketplace is off the hook. 

From what I heard, the person who does plugins for Corona has left.  Corona Editor has already been near abandoned (hasn’t been touched in over 3 months) which is a shame as I was a part of getting this built.  Corona is not building third party plugins as they only want vendors to do them themselves.  Unfortunately the few that do step up and do this, later abandon the project and the plugin eventually will break or be no longer supported.

#24

I’m actively working on a few plugins with this, and I’m still hoping for a marketplace. Earnestly hoping you guys (Walter and David) are still engaged on that project. 

best,

Jen

#25

cspence - I have a few quibbles with what you wrote. So I just want to point them out  :)

  1. “No more features for Corona Editor” is a clear example of a lose-lose situation for us. When we put it out, a number of people here said it was unnecessary and a waste of time (and many others liked it of course).

Now, we get some grief because we haven’t kept on building it out (when it is already at a very reasonable v1 and good enough for now). 

  1. There have been a handful of plugins that are perhaps not being supported (I have yet to verify that), but the key ones (ad network and monetization) are definitely being supported. And more are coming. This is another example of a lose-lose situation for us: we are asked for many plugins, yet when a 3rd party decides to change what they are doing, it reflects badly on us.

  2. We are asked to focus on the core features of Corona, yet you also suggest we should be building plugins ourselves for 3rd party services. I can tell you that this would be very difficult to keep up and a nightmare in terms of maintenance. The only way to do this correctly is by involving the 3rd party (as we have done) or via a marketplace.

Which leads me to the plugin marketplace everyone has mentioned. Let me be clear: we wholeheartedly agree. A plugin marketplace would be a great thing and we want to do it as soon as is possible. But it’s not a trivial thing to implement, and spending time on it will detract from other areas. 

So let me summarize:

  • some of you want a plugin marketplace asap

  • you also want fixes/new features to the core of the platform

  • you also want as many plugins as possible

  • you also want as many platforms as possible (e.g., Windows)

  • you also *don’t* want to use Corona Enterprise to do your own plugins/extensions

It’s a bit of a tough situation :slight_smile:

So let me be VERY clear: I agree with you. I also want all these things. And we are trying to do as much as possible, prioritizing as best we can.

Keep on asking us for things. We think that’s a good thing.

I just want you guys to be aware of the situation and the different demands from different people in the community. That’s all.

#26

While we’re making wish lists, I also want a Prada handbag, can you help me with that? And a pony. 

Just kidding.

Actually, I’m trying hard to use my shiny Enterprise license to make plugins. But two issues…the documentation is really, really lacking, sadly, so I am obliged to pay for training elsewhere to create anything. And the plugins that I propose to develop I would like to monetize, not just use for myself, so we need … that … marketplace. Like yesterday.

It’s a question of priorities, really. Can you give us a rough idea of what we can expect in terms of roadmap, so I can synch my own development schedule?

:slight_smile:
best,

Jen

#27

I will give my 2 cents here…

For me (and I think that some developers also feel that way), it is not the fact of a new feature that is being built that I don’t need that bothers me, but it is that sometimes I never saw that feature being highly requested by users at all (using the Corona Feedback system as my guidance)… 

So, in summary, I think it is more something related to lack of transparency / alignment of expectations…

I understand that Corona needs sometimes to develop specific features under a stealth mode, but I really think that the number of complains would dramatically decreases with Corona provide the developers with the pipeline of features being/to be developed in the next 1/3/6/12 months or something like that… 

About the marketplace, it don’t know if it is technically difficult to implement, although I understand that commercially speaking it can be tricky… But even if it is technically difficult, it is something that would benefit not only the Developers but specially Corona since a lot of new features that are requested to Corona would be developed by others, releasing Corona manpower to develop new core functionalities/products.

#28

David great post. The summary above is a good discussion starter. The answers to above, as you so well articulated is very variable from developer to developer. The question is who to ask and who to listen to… 

For example, I recall reading in a press blurb that more than 250K developers use Corona SDK. Perhaps even more now… Also in the most recent blurb about Corona Cards it is said that there are more than 30K apps made with Corona SDK. Well, its pretty obvious isn’t it. Downloading and registering for a starter account vs actually delivering apps and maybe even making a living using Corona SDK are two totally different things.

I think, Corona Labs leadership perhaps favors choices that might expand that large number of devs on the list and overlooks the output side a little bit… You really need to pay more attention to your paying customers, the Basic, Pro and Enterprise license holders and people who actually have apps on the markets.

I strongly suggest you run a survey to find out what drives your customer base. What are the priorities according to your customers. And then weight the answers according to who provided them. Then you will get the voice of the customer. Whether you align with it or not of course will be a strong contributor to your long term market success. 

Thanks for listening. And, below is my take on the priorities : 

  • plugin marketplace asap - YES
  • want fixes/new features to the core of the platform - Fixes YES. Features NO until stability achieved.
  • you also want as many plugins as possible - 3rd Party strategy is a good one. Keep at it. 
  • you also want as many platforms as possible (e.g., Windows) - Who said that? Won’t touch win with a 3 foot stick… 
  • you also *don’t* want to use Corona Enterprise to do your own plugins/extensions - Not want to do but can’t do. Also the documentation situation is bleak.
#29

Totally agree here, I think the issue is more concerned about features that will increase funding opportunities and user base.

#30

- some of you want a plugin marketplace asap

Yes!  Please!  A  plugin marketplace  is what we want!

- you also want fixes/new features to the core of the platform

Yes!  With a  plugin marketplace  CoronaLabs limited dev. resources will finally be freed up to focus on the core!

- you also want as many plugins as possible

Yes!  A  plugin marketplace  will enable this!

- you also want as many platforms as possible (e.g., Windows)

Yes!  With a  plugin marketplace  CoronaLabs limited dev. resources will finally be freed up to focus onthe core!  new platforms!

- you also *don’t* want to use Corona Enterprise to do your own plugins/extensions

Yes!  I won’t, and can’t, but other can, and will have incentive to do so with a  plugin marketplace!

It seems so obvious that a  plugin marketplace  would be something for the Lab to have been working on in earnest, so it’s frustrating to see you emerge from stealth mode with yet another unrequested feature for a limited, and possible negligible, audience.  (At least it won’t break my existing code this time.)  I share others frustration with the lack of transparency into what the Labs’ priorities are, and the strange choices in terms of what actually did take priority over the past year.

(I have no ill will against Corona Labs.  I have a lot invested in you guys succeeding!)

#31

A survey would be an excellent place to start, great idea

#32

Rumors have it that it was already finished a while ago.

#33

We hear you.

cspense - you seem to hear different rumors than I have heard :wink:

#34

Isn’t that what the feedback voting forum was for, but doesn’t seem to be given any priority.

#35

I spell my name differently too.  It’s Cspence.

#36

My point of view as a professional developer making money with Corona SDK.

  • I do not understand CoronaCards, except if it replaces Corona Enterprise (but, in this case, I’ll want my money back or to switch my licence to Cards). Enterprise was good enough, except that THE DOCUMENTATION IS AWFUL :). What is the difference with Enterprise except as a marketing point of view? Enterprise should evolve and become CoronaCards no? How will you maintain so many licenses?! I paid a lot for Enterprise, with few support and, I said, the no-documentation, and I’m confused by this new product.

  • I like the idea of the marketplace, but I know how hard it is to create, launch and animate. I will become a big part of the CoronaLabs responsibility if launched. But it should be amazing, look how Unity3D is became with its market!

  • Windows 8 -> As a professional, I’m trying to “sell” Corona to big French companies, and Windows 8 is mandatory: they want Windows even with it’s small market share. They want as well some better figures to trust CoronaLabs: how many people are they? are they enough healthy to maintain Corona SDK for 5 years? Why Enterprise is shipped with this so AWFUL DOCUMENTATION :-), etc. I got this questions every time! Just sign a contract with a big and international french company to prove them how Corona Enterprise is great for them… pray for me!

  • Corona Editor : it’s working, but yes there is an “abandoned” perception here. We feel CoronaLabs is launching new things, do not maintain, and start new things…

If you look at the daily build logs, there is “maintenance”, “maintenance”,“maintenance”,“maintenance”… There was a time where Corona was fixing bugs for 2 weeks, then implementing features for 2 weeks, etc. It was a great time.

#37

@coronaentprise, there are some similarities, but Enterprise and CoronaCards are different.  CoronaCards lets you have a Corona view mixed in with your native app.  Communications between the two is done through events.  Enterprise on the other hand lets you create new API calls that your Corona SDK code can call like:

local myCoolLib = require(“plugins.myCoolLib”)

myCoolLib.doSomethingAwesome().

and is for extending Corona SDK.  I’m certain a lot of things can be done in either.

Rob

#38

A plugin market would be huge. From my own experience, I can attest that certain projects have stalled on account of Corona not being able to do what the native API can, which could be addressed with plugins. Unfortunately, a plugin market isn’t available to entice developers to fill in the gaps, and an Enterprise license is prohibitively expensive for hobbyist developers to create plugins for the community. In fact, simple things like pasteboard features aren’t even available to Pro customers. I don’t understand this thinking.

I think CoronaCards is a great idea, but I’m also a bit confused as to why this was a company priority. Myself and others would be more than happy to keep using Corona to build apps, but there are a lot of things we simply can’t do without the more expensive licenses. Will CoronaCards offer a cheaper alternative than Enterprise to make use of native functions?

#39

-1 for a Corona Marketplace.

I already spend too much money in the Unity marketplace and Unity is a freakin’ *hobby* for me! My PayPal account would stay in the red if there was also a Corona Asset Store. :frowning:

 Jay

(Only slightly kidding.)

#40

Actually, while an official CoronaLabs-based marketplace would be good, that doesn’t mean a 3rd-party can’t do something similar.

I get traffic to MasteringCoronaSDK.com and am open to the idea of putting in a “plugin store” – if any plugin developers here would like to experiment with that, contact me at outlawgametools@gmail.com and we can discuss it.

 Jay