Ending Pro license & moving to Starter - what will still build?

Solar2D Daily Builds and Public Releases
#1

If you have been using the pro-license latest daily builds and no longer continue your pro subscription does it mean that the current daily build you’re working with will no longer compile and you’ll be forced to downgrade to the latest public build?

Unfortunately I’m seriously considering not renewing my pro license, not because corona labs is doing a bad job (you guys are actually doing a fairly good job), however, the builds get changed so much it has become a massive hassle to continuously re-code parts of existing games each time there is a sufficiently new daily build that has fixed previous build bugs, etc. Lack of proper document on fixes and changes in new builds is another serious issue as it basically means we end up needing to re-test existing games all over again for days and days sometimes even longer just to make sure that a new build does not totally mess up the existing game. Due to this we end up sticking with virtually the last public builds anyways as we’re sure they won’t be messed up continuously, however even using the last public builds we still seem to be able to use some of the newer graphic apis.

So if corona labs could just clarify if not renewing a pro license (i.e.'moving to starter), do api’s such as .newSnapshot and some other graphic effects still work with the current build we are using (which is most probably newer then the latest public build) or will current builds not even work anymore and will we be forced to work with only the older public builds?

#2
  • Graphics effects are reduced according to this list
  • Plug-ins access reduced according to this list
#3

Jacques1, daily builds are by their nature subject to break things.  Many pro subscribers only build with public builds because daily builds while providing the latest features and bug fixes, does create a situation where you have to spend time re-testing everything. 

In addition to the reduced graphics and restricted access to some plugins, the one of the biggest differences between Pro and Starter is access to In App Purchases.  Starter accounts do not have access to this.  We have a tier between Starter and Pro called “Basic” which has the In App Purchases but with the restrictions @richard9 listed above.

Now other than Graphics 2.0 which was a huge change, what things have changed that are requiring re-codeing?

Rob

#4

Thanks for the feedback. I don’t actually bother with IAP, so it’s not something i will miss, nor do any of the 3rd party utilities or plugins offer any worthwhile need. i’m only concerned with some of the graphics 2.0 new apis such as new Snapshot, filter effects, etc. My concerns don’t actually have anything to do with the latest daily builds as i rarely use the latest anyways since they aren’t confirmed stable. However i do use newer builds that fix significant bugs in earlier builds.

What does get me a bit peeved and in a way its not totally corona’s fault is the new box2d settings (i think since after build .2277) Yes box2d is open source but i believe corona can choose what new box2d updates will be implemented into corona sdk. Now that box2d can no longer handle very small physics objects (it simply doesn’t even create them anymore), some of my existing games no longer function properly, so I will have to stick with much older builds to build new update for them, hence it becomes pointless for me to have access to new daily builds, in other words all the bugs you fix in new builds, my existing games can’t enjoy anyways due to these box2d issues. Perhaps corona overlooked the fact that not every game code can be easily tweaked so that existing games still work but i’m afraid thats not the case. It would be good if corona gives devs some sort of code option to switch off new tweaks implemented for box2d so that they won’t affect our existing games.

#5

I don’t know much about the box2d engineering process, but I suspect that while it might be possible to undo things they’ve done, we are not experts on their internals and dependencies and it would be an engineering nightmare on our part to try and pick and choose what bugs they fix.  Once you start forking repos like that it becomes very difficult to take future downstream updates.

Rob

#6
  • Graphics effects are reduced according to this list
  • Plug-ins access reduced according to this list
#7

Jacques1, daily builds are by their nature subject to break things.  Many pro subscribers only build with public builds because daily builds while providing the latest features and bug fixes, does create a situation where you have to spend time re-testing everything. 

In addition to the reduced graphics and restricted access to some plugins, the one of the biggest differences between Pro and Starter is access to In App Purchases.  Starter accounts do not have access to this.  We have a tier between Starter and Pro called “Basic” which has the In App Purchases but with the restrictions @richard9 listed above.

Now other than Graphics 2.0 which was a huge change, what things have changed that are requiring re-codeing?

Rob

#8

Thanks for the feedback. I don’t actually bother with IAP, so it’s not something i will miss, nor do any of the 3rd party utilities or plugins offer any worthwhile need. i’m only concerned with some of the graphics 2.0 new apis such as new Snapshot, filter effects, etc. My concerns don’t actually have anything to do with the latest daily builds as i rarely use the latest anyways since they aren’t confirmed stable. However i do use newer builds that fix significant bugs in earlier builds.

What does get me a bit peeved and in a way its not totally corona’s fault is the new box2d settings (i think since after build .2277) Yes box2d is open source but i believe corona can choose what new box2d updates will be implemented into corona sdk. Now that box2d can no longer handle very small physics objects (it simply doesn’t even create them anymore), some of my existing games no longer function properly, so I will have to stick with much older builds to build new update for them, hence it becomes pointless for me to have access to new daily builds, in other words all the bugs you fix in new builds, my existing games can’t enjoy anyways due to these box2d issues. Perhaps corona overlooked the fact that not every game code can be easily tweaked so that existing games still work but i’m afraid thats not the case. It would be good if corona gives devs some sort of code option to switch off new tweaks implemented for box2d so that they won’t affect our existing games.

#9

I don’t know much about the box2d engineering process, but I suspect that while it might be possible to undo things they’ve done, we are not experts on their internals and dependencies and it would be an engineering nightmare on our part to try and pick and choose what bugs they fix.  Once you start forking repos like that it becomes very difficult to take future downstream updates.

Rob