Looking for a solution. Why is Corona my best choice?

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hi Gang! New to the forums. I’ll give you a little background and then ask a few questions. I’m a tech junkie. I love gadgets. Professionally, I’m an IT analyst. I don’t write code or program or anything like that. Roughly a year ago I lost my job and decided I wanted to look into what it would take to get into app (game) development for the iPhone (actually back to work now, yay). After much googlizing, I researched 3 solutions - Corona, Unity and finally found GameSalad (please no jokes). I picked GameSalad, have a lite (free) version of a game, a $.99 version and also an iPad version for $.99 also. It was originally published in May of this year and has done “okay” for me. I’m not getting rich and I really didn’t expect to. It was more of a challenge for myself “can I do this and will people download it…” I started to work on a much better game and have put a lot of time and effort into it, even hiring an intern to do my art. I don’t expect to get rich or make this any more than a hobby. I think its interesting and fun and who knows, if it happens to gain a bit of popularity, I could make more than just beer money.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, GameSalad is undergoing some major changes and I may dump them when my yearly license runs out (April or May). I have some time to finish my game, get out an update or two into the App store before being forced to make a decision to jump ship or not. I’m thinking if I do make a move that it’ll probably be to Corona and I have a few questions.

1 - Where should I start? Should I read up on Lua? I see there are some books and reference materials available and I could start becoming familiar with it during some down time.

2 - As I stated earlier, I’m not a programmer but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and/or learn a little bit. Some of the the logic I’ve thrown into my games I think I could handle some coding and from the demo videos I’ve, it’s not rocket science. Is Corona the best solution for someone like me?

3 - From what I’ve seen, I can access the GPS and camera. What about embedding URLs to use the default browser to visit a website? How about embedding phone numbers to make calls?

4 - Is the iPad supported? Can I make a “universal app” that can tell which device is being used and scale everything accordingly? With GS, I have to make separate versions and some feedback I’ve received requested a universal app.

5 - Speaking of universal apps, is there much tweaking of the app required to publish games for the both iTunes App store and the Android market?

6 - Is there anything else that you think I should be made aware of?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Chris
225 Labs

If anyone is interested, check out the Our Games page on my (simple) website - www.225labs.com The graphics of the iFore game have been completely redone but I haven’t rerecorded a demo for it. There is a video of my upcoming game as well.
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#2

Hey there ckurt25!

Just a bit of background before I answer your questions:

I am a self-taught programmer. I’ve programmed websites and software since the age of 12 (I am now 17), but please don’t let my age affect your view on my answers. I’ve made a substantial amount of money off of my programming of websites and other projects.

1 - Where should I start? Should I read up on Lua? I see there are some books and reference materials available and I could start becoming familiar with it during some down time.

I suggest you start by browsing through some example code. At the top of this website click “Community” and then “Code Exchange”. This will give you an idea not only of general Lua syntax but also of how to use Corona SDK specific functions.

2 - As I stated earlier, I’m not a programmer but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and/or learn a little bit. Some of the the logic I’ve thrown into my games I think I could handle some coding and from the demo videos I’ve, it’s not rocket science. Is Corona the best solution for someone like me?

Although it’s not as simple to use as GameSalad, I’d say Corona is your best bet. GameSalad might offer you quick and simple game creation, but it does not offer you freedom. In Corona you have access to hundreds of different features like access to the iPhone’s camera and its GPS. It may take you some time to wrap your head around it but trust me it’s worth learning how to program.

3 - From what I’ve seen, I can access the GPS and camera. What about embedding URLs to use the default browser to visit a website? How about embedding phone numbers to make calls?

You can definitely embed URLs to use the default browser.

As stated in the Corona Docs:

[code]native.showWebPopup( )

native.showWebPopup( url [, options] ) Creates a fullscreen web popup that loads a local or remote web page specified by url. By default, the url is assumed to be an absolute url to a remote server.

native.showWebPopup( x, y, width, height, url [, options] ) Creates a web popup at the position specified by the x and y parameters and dimensions specified by height and width parameters, instead of occupying the entire screen. [/code]

I could be wrong but I don’t believe you can embed phone numbers to make calls unfortunately.

4 - Is the iPad supported? Can I make a “universal app” that can tell which device is being used and scale everything accordingly? With GS, I have to make separate versions and some feedback I’ve received requested a universal app.

Yes, the iPad is supported.

To scale and make other automatic changes, read this page: http://developer.anscamobile.com/content/configuring-projects.

5 - Speaking of universal apps, is there much tweaking of the app required to publish games for the both iTunes App store and the Android market?

Apple is much more restrictive of what apps can and cannot do than Google. Therefore if your app is approved on the App Store it will likely also be accepted on the Android Marketplace.

Code-wise there won’t be many changes. Some features aren’t completed yet for Android, but I’d say 90% of what you can do with the Corona SDK on the iPhone you can do on an Android phone.

6 - Is there anything else that you think I should be made aware of?

One thing should be clear - have fun!

Don’t get upset if something doesn’t work the first, second or even third time.
Trust me, all programmers have been there! [import]uid: 7366 topic_id: 2671 reply_id: 7765[/import]

#3

Chris

Why is Corona my best choice?

Cos we are a cool company that creates a very cool product ! Nah !

I think you will find Corona easy to use, and powerful enough to create challenging games and apps.

:wink:
Just wanted to swing by and say hi !

Carlos
Co-Founder
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#4

@ckurt25, Welcome to the Corona forums.

To answer a few of your questions:

#1) Where should I start. You can find information about Lua here: http://www.lua.org/
Corona implements Lua 5.1. There is also a good book, called “Programming in Lua”, that will explain things in a little more detail.

#3) Embedding URLs and Phone numbers. You can use the system.openURL to open up URLs in the browser, open the email app, or dial a phone number (using the phone app on the device).

#4) Corona makes it easy to develop your app so it works on multiple devices (iPhone, iPad, Android) but we don’t support the Apple Universal app build in our current release. You still need to create separate iPhone and iPad binaries. We hope to offer the Universal build in the near future.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

-Tom [import]uid: 7559 topic_id: 2671 reply_id: 8632[/import]