Extremely valid points from Michael Flad and richard11.
Right now, Vlad wants a full time job and the community someone to support the product.
It’s a win win situation and even better days may come.
Always, whatever we do in our live, no matter how big or small a company is, something can go wrong.
So?
Better spending our time thinking of a new name for Corona than trying to predict a gloomy future :p.
What about PHOENIX SDK? I know it is cheesy… but it fits exactly! 
All fair points for hobbyists, like most of us are I would guess. No serious business is going to touch Corona while one man holds its fate in his hands though. I wonder what SGS’ take is?
Having said that there are multinational companies using my employers’ software, and only he knows how the current revision is built (in VB.net!). And only I know how the forthcoming ‘next-gen’ version works 
I agree Corona definitely needs a new name though, it’s always been a millstone round its neck.
A nice name but looks like a lot of other engines agreed 
A change of name wouldn’t be a good idea from a marketing perspective. All of the material currently out there discussing Corona and helping with Corona development issues. The Corona tutorials and Corona videos. The #madewithcorona hashtag on social media, etc. There’s a lot pointing here under that label.
Not my call though.
I wrote about the name change in a light mood.
But, if there is a name change, remember that Corona is beer, renderer, now a virus and many other things.
The same mistake shouldn’t happen again.
VladAndRob SDK would be better :p.
Btw Dark Phoenix was one of the biggest superhero flops ever :).
But one of the best comic book stories ever
Well, as you asked, I feel conflicted by this news and it has kept me awake pondering it.
Corona has been “open source” for a while now but no-one really contributed. I can’t see this situation changing as, to be honest, we are game devs not framework devs. Interesting note, Vlad went from game dev to framework dev so he understands the problems and issue we face which is positive.
As I said earlier, I think initial support will be good but this will naturally decay over time (as all fundraising does). So awareness has do be raised otherwise I give it a year, maybe two. My other concern is Vlad will do what needs to be done to match the app stores constant changes but Corona as a toolset will never really improve and much needed features will never get implemented (I have quite a few on the 2018 road map).
@SGS There is always room for gloom and doom but at this point all that does is erode support for our one clear path forward which is to band together and make a go at this. As one of the visibly most success (and demanding) devs, I would expect you to see your name first on Vlad’s support page as you, ostensibly, have the most to lose financially if Corona 2.0 fails but you also gained the most from Corona 1.0.
I think we’re past the place where we wonder if our new endeavors will be fruitful. There is always room to cast doubt on the parts of our new journey that may fail but this is not the time wallow or shrink back, this is the time to fight. This is where we put down our money, volunteer our time and work together for a positive solution . . . or walk away.
Personally, I’m filling sandbags, putting on my helmet and fighting until the end or a new beginning. We all have a big task in front of us and I’m not suggesting that we close our eyes in a pollyanna-ish fashion and pretend everything is perfect or ignore the challenges we may never overcome, but I am suggesting that we need to feel inspired as a group, we need an esprit de corps - and this is not the time to take the wind out of anyone’s sails. Perhaps we are sailing to nowhere but if we stop moving the ship, we’ll never find out what’s over the horizon!
We need at least 4-500 users giving no less than 100€ per year for Corona to make it semi-sustainable. Not counting first year and those of you who make great succesful apps and can chip in more than that. Vlad and Rob should know how many active users there are on this forum… All of us who used or are using Corona SDK seem to love it, something Corona has forgotten over the years is not getting enough new users. I suspect experienced programmers in other languages might not rush to Corona now, but with great beginner tutorials, advertising focus on simplicity, on field/ in school courses etc., Corona can and should get that and many more users in no time. Once here it’s hard to leave, so get them while they are new at this. All the tutorials are dated and don’t inspire confidence - even though they are not outdated. Oh, and make the tuts practical - Hello World means very little for the novice.
The other focus that I haven’t seen enough of in Corona labs is on business apps.
It’s hard to compete in gaming alone with Unity etc, so focus on where you are better.
I would just say to this that the Corona community is diverse and people are here for different reasons. Some are here to build fun hobby projects and small games. For some of us (myself included), we derive our living from releasing mobile games and have families to support. For the more serious developers this is more than just showing support, and pinning your entire living on a one-man developer operation is a huge risk.
I think enthusiasm is good but I also think we need to be transparent. It’s only Vlad developing behind the scenes and I’ve always had a problem with the way Corona has communicated what is happening behind the scenes. They are (were?) a business so that’s their choice, but if we’re entering a period of open source and community funding I think the transparency needs to improve a lot. When Corona does press releases referring to the “Product Manager”, or Rob says he’ll “talk to engineering”, it’s a bit disingenuous: there’s only Vlad. Vlad is awesome but also just one man.
Example: https://appdevelopermagazine.com/corona-labs-goes-open-source-and-developers-are-nervous/
I guess what I’m saying is let’s not be unreasonably dour, but let’s also not be blind either. I will support Corona until our migration to another platform is done but please don’t silence the people speaking honestly and transparently. Corona has serious challenges ahead of it and they are not insurmountable but they are not minor either. Apple Metal, Android X, the AdMob plugin, Appodeal on Amazon, there are many deficiencies in Corona to correct.
Positive vibes with a dose of realism
Corona by itself is quite stable and offers great features. 2d Game dev and business apps, with amazing delivery speed. Always enjoyed building bits with it, and never had issues. Any feature that was missing was fixed via native coding easily.
People who need very significant features should sponsor them, for the rest, just keeping it up to date with architectural or core changes / support features such as metal etc will be more than enough. More of the community should get involved in the framework part of things though whoever has the expertise.
We definitely have a very active community and people enjoy using Corona, so I’ll be supporting it fully and getting my clients to pitch in as well
I have several points to note: I’m not the only person who knows how engine works and most of the time we had more than one engineer on the core. We also have engineers beside myself working on various stuff, like server maintenance etc. btw, if you would look into github pull requests there are several rather involved ones which was made by people who wanted some fixing and thy got it. Some in deep parts of core engine.
My point is that having resources there would be people to develop and support engine, even if something bad happens to me.
Honestly, I don’t see AndroidX as a big problem. It probably just needs testing. It would mean new AdMob plugin.
Anyway. I am positive about this change.
Liked this article -_- -_- -_- -_-
Overall Corona going open source is a good thing
Clearly, the move to open source has some Corona developers wondering what the future looks like for them and if it’s time to consider another platform that supports the LUA language, such as LÖVE (also open source), Codea, or MoaiSDK.
But when you consider how well Corona interprets the markup you write in LUA, and the thousands of API calls to various layers of the development stack are interpreted automatically, the fact that it’s free, and that they don’t collect analytics any longer about your app’s usage, I think developers should take a breath and remember that even though the 9 years worth of building the platform to where it is today is an incredible foundation for the open source community, it’s not a death nail because ultimately Corona still controls the daily releases of the SDK, along with the app builds which requires horsepower, internal staff, and a relentless barrage of management to keep up with OS changes.
There are other Corona components that are not open-sourced such as some plug-ins, the build infrastructure, and as usual the Corona Marketplace.
When Corona was acquired by Appodeal in March 2017, it was subsequently made free for public use. The eventual transition to an open-source model has been reportedly in the works since then so this should come as no surprise. It shouldn’t be of disappointment to Corona users though, rather a chance to reflect on where Corona has come from. Aside from the new source-code release rule, most every Corona feature that has been free since 2017 will still remain free, and the likelihood of the platform going away is almost non-existent.
They will still commit daily builds, you are still required to build in the simulator (or nativaly) and send the code to Corona servers for signing / compiling, and there is no change to the echosystem of making, and publishing apps using Corona.
Richard Harris in Open Source Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Vlads, that’s cool, but this is the sort of thing that will have to be clearly communicated before people start handing over money. How many developers are needed? What will they do? What happens if they get a better offer?
There are people who are migrating to another platform and talk about the end of Corona or a gloomy future.
On the other hand there are people who stay with Corona and try to be positive.
@firerabbit - all true. I’m not trying to silence a diversity of ideas. I have the same worries as everyone else but there is no longer a CoronaLabs to obscure our understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes. There is also no CoronaLabs, there is one engineer, a bunch of devs and the solutions we bring from now on as we build Corona 2.0.
@SGS is a friend of mine and my response wasn’t to a single post but more to where I think the leaders in our community should be. There isn’t anyone left to complain to, there is just us and if we keep expressing the same doubts again and again with out offering solutions, ideas or financial contributions - it just feels pointlessly grim.
Like I said, I don’t want to silence ideas. I would welcome more ideas and solutions.
Right now, I only see one path forward and we need momentum!
Sorry sporkfin, I quoted your message to launch mine, but a lot of what I said wasn’t directed at you. I was wondering if that silence comment would be taken that way. I was speaking to the community and not directly at you :)
Which group do you think is more likely to have the money required to sustain the project? Personally I’m pleased because I don’t rely on Corona apps for a living anymore, but those who do are going to need 100% transparency from the off, not just in response to speculative forum posts.
@firerabbit - sure, and I do agree with what you said that’s why I “liked” it.
@nick_sherman - I agree with you that we need 100% transparency and I think we have been getting that since the announcement of CoronaLabs closing ; the caveat being that it hasn’t closed yet and Appodeal is still paying salaries so there might be things that aren’t 100% discussable yet.