Interested in Corona

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hey,

I recently joined the iOS developer program to publish a simple soundboard app I made after being inspired by how the “BedIntruder” app rose to such popularity, including reaching top #1 free download for several days. While I knew paying $99 and simply putting 1 small app out there with ads would probably not generate enough revenue to even cover the developer fee – which is fine, because I knew I wanted to expand and create more apps in the future.

As for my background, when I was 12 I started HTML and CSS programming and by 14-15 I was programming with those and PHP a bit, created and ran my own fan sites for quite a while based around game series. By the time I was around 15.5 I sort of left web programming and went into C++ and began running game servers, which, eventually went onto and currently, dedicated server machines holding hundreds of people and profiting around $3.5k each month. So I’ve had quite a decent experience into C++ for the past few years and not had much trouble editing or modifying it.

So I figured – Objective-C might not be that different right? After creating the soundboard app that’s still in pending review by Apple I was just displeased by how much programming had to go into to just play a sound file. The syntax was not only much, much different than C++ but the APIs were… ugly.
Well I was Googling for quite some time for game making problems after being quite displeased by the Objective-C language and I found first GameSalad which looked O-K but not so great. Funny enough, today is the exact day they did some whole reform that pissed pretty much everyone off and I couldn’t even get an account going there and instantly didn’t like it – not to mention it looked very basic games.

Shortly after I found Corona and I’ve been watching the videos, reading about people like Jon Beebe who’ve been extremely successful and have similar background into coding like me and it got me pretty hopeful. I’m considering trying out a 30-day trial but I’m afraid since I don’t have any content or anything available I might waste a bit of those days and maybe not see how much I really like the program before the trial expires them I’m forced to pay a… hefty fee.

So I’m just a little curious about people’s feedback, how they got used to using it, how they’re liking it, etc. I hope to maybe look into this some more and maybe make some games for the iOS platform and possibly even convert them to Android even though I don’t own one of those.

Oh! I forgot to mention my age since I sort of left that hanging in the introduction – I’m 17 1/2. [import]uid: 9973 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 302626[/import]

#2

Henry

Welcome to Ansca and to the Corona Forum.

Carlos [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7506[/import]

#3

You don’t seem like someone that is afraid to try new things (or that can’t have the money to pay for it :slight_smile: so what’s exactly is you waiting for?

I have apps in the AppStore made in different development frameworks and I tell you this, the app I did with Corona was the fastest one…. considering I was learning LUA while coding it!
[import]uid: 3686 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7562[/import]

#4

We are also working on better documentation and getting started tutorias as well as video tutorials.

Carlos [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7632[/import]

#5

The coding style is closer to Javascript / ActionScript but its easy to learn. In fact these days when programming in PHP / JS etc bits of lua sometimes creep in to those projects as its such a nice language.

Give the demo a go, Ansca will give you another 30 days if you email support. But, you know, have an idea and then try to accomplish it. Go for something simple but that uses a lot of the features of the API such as the accelerometer.

At the end of the day you need to know why and how to use a tool before you pick it up and try to use otherwise it can end up messy but if you set yourself some tasks and the investigate and learn each one by the end of the 30 days you will have Corona down and be in a position to then use the tool to develop something.

Tasks could include

  1. Loading and positioning an image
  2. Moving the image with a transition
  3. Programatically moving the image
  4. Touch based input
  5. Drag the image about
  6. Accelerometer based input
  7. Move image with accelerometer
  8. Sound playback
  9. Spritesheets
  10. Physics
  11. Saving a file locally using json
  12. Destroying an image to regain memory
  13. Define a skeleton app with more than 1 screen
  14. Memory Management

etc…

Once you get through everything I would think you would be in a position to then easily start developing apps. [import]uid: 5354 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7593[/import]

#6

A big help for us would be a sample piece of syntax for each API in the reference. Many are lacking a sample. Those sample help immeasurably. [import]uid: 9492 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7634[/import]

#7

Worst, some of our docs have bugs in them and I found them when coding my stuff…

So I put on my pointy head managerial hat and our staff is working on making our documentation better.

C [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7636[/import]

#8

@Matthew Pringle: Great list of things for new users to learn! Looks like that list would make for a nice course on Corona. Perhaps I’ll use it as a basis for more tutorials posted to CoronaSDK.com.

@synthesis: I’ve been using Corona long enough to have been able to try out most everything and see how it works for myself, but I agree that a “practical example” (even in text form, with syntax examples) next to each function would have come in VERY handy.

@carlos: In my opinion, the docs aren’t BAD… If they were I wouldn’t know how to do anything in Corona as it’s my main source of reference. But glad to see that they’re going to be improving anyway :slight_smile: [import]uid: 7849 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7646[/import]

#9

Thanks Jon, thats how I learned and how AlienHorde came about. It was a series of experiments that ended up as a simple game.

The docs arent bad, I did like the PDF version as it was easy to search but the online ones are steadily increasing. Im sensing those GS people who are new to this are maybe missing the samples / user code sections of the site. There is really enough there to get going on most projects.

But yeah people should expect to struggle for a little bit, it wont take long before it all clicks but you will need to hit each barrier so you can learn the right way of doing things in lua / Corona. But once you are there it is really powerful. [import]uid: 5354 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7648[/import]

#10

Regarding #13 on Matthew’s list up there (“Define a skeleton app with more than 1 screen”), here’s an amazing “skeleton app” that’s both effective and VERY easy to use. It was created by Ricardo Rauber and it’s what I’ve been using in my games since I discovered it:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/director-class-10

“Scene” switching, and screen loading/unloading (as well as the use of external modules) was probably the hardest thing for me to learn when I was new to Corona/Lua and the “Director Class” up there makes it all WAY WAY simpler. [import]uid: 7849 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7647[/import]

#11

Thanks for all the great responses guys!

I’ve been reading up on Lua and watching the video examples on YouTube to sort of get a feel for it so far and how the functions work, syntax, etc. It seems pretty easy so far and I think I’ll enjoy programming in it.

Once I feel that I’ve read enough guides and have enough resources to actually do something, I’ll download the trial.
Thanks again. [import]uid: 9973 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 7674[/import]

#12

When I was first learning Corona (or any language), I would try out all the sample programs in the SDK and Game Edition. I would then look at the source code and see how it was done. If I didn’t understand something I would look up the information to understand how the API worked. It also got me thinking about what I could use in my own programs and the Corona Simulator made it easy to modify and try out different ideas. (The reload command [cmd R], is your best friend after making changes to the source code.)

There is also a lot of user submitted code examples that can help you get started. www.developer.anscamobile.com/code

We are working on improving the Corona documentation so each API has it’s own formal document page, along with example code that can be copied an pasted into your programs.

Thanks for everyone’s great comments and suggestions.

-Tom [import]uid: 7559 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 8635[/import]

#13

Interesting that you bring up the free bed intruder soundboard. I made what I believe was the first or second “Antoine Dodson” app using GameSalad, but I took the 99 cent route instead because I had no ad options in GS. I doubt I made as much as the dev you mentioned did in ad revenue, but $2182 (gross) since Sept 8th isn’t bad… :wink:

Here’s a link if your interested: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/talking-antoine-the-bed-intruder/id391256245?mt=8 [import]uid: 10248 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 8641[/import]

#14

Hi Henry925,
I am surprised when you say that it took a lot of code to play a sound file. I love Corona mostly because it is easy to use and debug. However having created most of my apps in Objective-C, I find that statement a bit odd. If you are trying to play a wav/caf audio it is including the AudioToolkit framework, initialising the sound and then playing it. If it is a MP3, then you use the MediaPlayer framework.

Anyways, I hope that you can find Corona to be much easier and you can create some apps using the same.

cheers,

Jayant C Varma [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 2626 reply_id: 9177[/import]