it is on Google Play but not iTunes
if you send me your email address i can register you as tester and send you a link
i dont do ads, but a lot do so this would mean:
basically all ad networks that are worth using, need a $199/year plugin license to corona
which means most indie developers are exluded as you’d need approx 300 000 to 500 000 ad hits just to cover the cost alone
which then means they are likely to move elsewhere when they discover this road block
so tell me, how is this going to help the corona community grow in the long run? 
UPDATE - None of this is directed at @anaqim as a developer, but I am responding to the general sense (as I read it) of his post.
Why does the community growth have to be based on making money on games?
Most new developers I see today just want a quick pay-day. When I started making games I did it for fun and to challenge myself.
Time and time again, I am stunned when a brand new developer who can barely get a game started, immediately focuses on ads, IAP, etc. Now, I could just be old -fashioned, and if so, let me know. Maybe I’m entirely off-the-mark, but it just feels wrong when I see neophytes focused on the Benjamins ahead of all else.
Also, I think the term Indie may be misused here. As an Indie I don’t have a problem spending money on tools, licenses, etc. $200 a year is a pittance compared to what it used to cost to make money in game dev.
Pet Peeve Rant Warning : I’m super tired of the ‘everything free all the time’ mindset I see today. New developers want to make money but don’t want to spend it or give anything back. It is very frustrating for me.
Note: I know I’m completely ignoring people who live in countries where 200 American dollars is a lot of money, but that is a completely different discussion.
PS - Where are they going to go that is better? :) Even if devs find free Ad code, they’ll have to suffer through using terrible (or at least much harder to use engines/sdks). Corona still beats the others hands down for ease-of-use.
Updated my last post… sorry for the long-delay in edits and tweaks.
- You can use Appodeal. It is free. With the latest version, you can even pick and choose what network to use. Many of the networks on that list are provided by Appodeal.
- You can create the entire game and then at the last minute pay for Admob. Yes, $200 dollars. In my experience having a mediocre game (my games for example) with limited advertising targeting a tier 3 country will yield you at least $2.00 / day on Admob. That is a tidy $400 profit a year. Of course, that does not pay for your time or electricity or anything else, but the Admob fee will be covered.
@roaminggaming I think the problem is bigger than just the developers. Users want all the content for free. You get a bad rating when you have too many ads for a “free app”. As an industry, I don’t know how much longer that type of business is sustainable. When the product is completely devalued. For a hobbyist, this will always be fun but as a business to make money most people would be better off getting a minimal paying job somewhere.
Dont worry, im not over-sensitiv. I appreciate your post and just felt my response would be appropriate.
Why? Because I believe that is the main reason why someone would start learning to program apps in the first place, at least in 2018. Becoming a new developer today is quite the journey with all the online apps and sdks you need to access and sync with while trying to publish on googles play store and apples complex app store, while jumpin hurdles to abide by all involved parts requirements. The only thing I havent signed off on by now is my soul, but Im not sure about that one either cause who can read all those agreements anyway.
Regardin point 2, I seriously doubt most developers are looking for a quick pay-day. Competition today is fiercer than ever and what new developers are looking for is both a chance of success, even if they suspect it is miniscule, and even if they only make a few dollars, it is a reward and motivation to keep pushing and try again. Unfortunately, corona has opted to remove that motivational possibility, the way I see it. Many game engines have chosen a “when you have success, we have success” type of payment plan, which makes a whole lot more sense, again to me.
As you know I’m here for about 18 months now and I do spend some money on it, in fact i think i’m overall on the red side. Take coronium core, a service I am using and which I think is well worth its cost. I’ve bough the full package from codeandweb, which are also great tools, I pay for a server each month. My point is, I chose to do this because I can afford to and find it worth, not because I feel I have no other choice. Everyone has to start somewhere and keeping motivation up when you are alone is no easy task. I try to give back by helping on the forums if I can but again, its my choice.
Corona is good, no doubt about that, its just the financial solution they have opted for I’m not a fan of.
@agramonte, thanks for the tip. I dont do ads anymore but its good to hear there is a viable option out there.
Thanks for the re-response. I think this is an interesting discussion.
I am kind of a stick in the mud, and my viewpoints are very colored by my experience (and age).
I am trying to get a more modern and complete view of how people think today.
One small flip-side I’d like to comment on.
You noted that ‘Becoming a new developer today is quite the journey’ because there is so much to go through.
I understand how too much choice can be a challenge, and perhaps I had it easier learning in a day when there was no internet and almost no resources available to learn from. 
I also want to mention something that might be out of topic. I think a lot of people’s version of success is tied to unreasonable expectations or from the perspective of a 1st World Country. Not everybody will bring in 50K a day like some of the King or Ketchup titles.
I am from the Dominican Republic (I currently live in the US). I have posted elsewhere in these forums how much I bring in a month. Maybe it translates into what people make in the USA at Starbucks in a year or half the salary of a school teacher. In my country, it translates into a nice sum of money (not to be rich but to be comfortable).
I ment that much of the concepts with app store and play store are very alien at first, which requires a lot to learn, on top of the programming itself.
i dabbled a little in ms access visual basic
its closed, its all inclusive, and its local.
when its done and working, its done, im done.
making an app feels much reverse in that thinking that the actual app/game code (without networking) is the big job, is really far from the truth. its still a big job but maybe only 50% of the grand total…and once done, you need to constantly keep it up to date with emerging technologies and requirements.
if only i could make those cross platform apps in my old access environment and sell them on floppy discs 
@roamimggamer LIKE ----> Pet Peeve Rant Warning
Man, I hear you! Like @agramonte said, it’s frustrating when users want everything for free and new developers think they can make a mint and do it quickly. The onslaught of get-rich-quick, low-quality apps can bury the gems. Now we as developers have to spend time figuring out alluring ways to “trick” our customers into paying us a few bucks they should have forked over in the first place - valuable time that could have been used enhancing the product.
Has anyone had success (however you want to define it) with Appodeal? It seems like a good model and as they are our parent company now I’d like to try them out.
Just to focus on that point…
Monetisation has to be considered and designed before the main dev cycle starts. Just bolting it on does not really work. The entire game needs to be designed around purchases to be really successful.
It should be integral to the gameplay - almost part of the journey. It should boost player productivity but never stifle it.
Yes! I’m actually reworking all of my projects with that in mind. You convinced me to go with IAP instead of a premium app approach I was taking and that was good advice. I can’t just say “My app rocks, now pay!” and expect everyone to appreciate it right of the bat. I do have one project that I’m still considering as a premium contender though . . . 
IAP all the way for me as well
screen space is usually too small to waste on ads so is nice not having to set aside space for it when designing apps.
im currently working on a spotify based app for those that are more than average interested in music (music collectors)
looking for beta testers if youre interested?
dont have a link just yet but will probably upload a youtube intro video about it within the week where i’ll be asking for more testers.
what about yourself?
Always happy to beta test for other devs!
This is me - https://coronalabs.com/stories/designercity/
My porfolio (so far) - https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5640292770246134663
Very nice stuff, gonna have to try that game some time.
I’ve only done one more thing in corona, its this one from asset store
https://marketplace.coronalabs.com/asset/radiance-particles-effects-creator-v1-42
I have an upgrade to it in the pipeline but only after my current app is released.
It takes a while since even though I start to feel more comfortable with corona and lua, I’m still finding my way.
Reading programming in Lua inbetween and to my delight, much I got already. My next steps will be OOP and coroutines.
Released 3 games some years ago made in GameMaker. I took them offline but plan on remaking them in corona.
Nothing so fancy like your city builder tho, must have been quite the job
I’ll get back to you with a test link in a day or two, just need to iron out an issue with logging in from a facebook account first
DC was my first game in Corona, SC was my second and DC2 (still in beta) is the follow-up to my first game… still learning every day!