New Tool: Corona Rapid Prototype

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Having seen a lot of games and loving to program, I was recently thinking to myself - “Hey, I could/should make a game like that!”. So, I looked around for different tools that could be useful, when I came across Corona. Corona seemed like something for me, but I found that placing objects by trial and error was kind of tedious. So I thought - “Hey - Corona needs a GUI, where you can drag and drop stuff around”. But such a tool didn’t seem to exist. So…well, I started to create one.

I call it Corona Rapid Prototype, and is not nearly enough finished, but good enough to get you started with a new game. Comming from an Asp.Net background, I built it using Silverlight. So I guess you’d have to install that if you want to use ut.

With the click of a button the tool will create Lua for you, which you can then copy and paste into your project.


Features including:
* Create elements and move them around
* (Resize elements - buggy)
* Clone elements
* Add physics
* Create Lua

Limitations including:
* Resizing won’t work properly (images will be cropped). I recommend that you check “Resize to image size” when importing.
* No rotation of objects at the moment
* No saving. Waiting for a more complete structure before I implement that.
Try it here:
Corona Rapid Prototype
Please let me know about your thoughts, feedback and various bugs! [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 305124[/import]

#2

Looks great!
Gonna have a look at it!! [import]uid: 10657 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 16956[/import]

#3

Thank you!

I forgot to mention that you can also move objects around using the direction keys on your keyboard. Hold Shift to move by 5 pixels instead of 1. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 16962[/import]

#4

it is a very goon feature, i hope someday it will be a proper graphic interface for corona, who knows) [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 16970[/import]

#5

I’ve just updated Corona Rapid Prototype with support for rotation.
You rotate by holding CTRL and pressing the direction keys. This can be combined by also holding Shift, to rotate faster. You can also change the angle by setting the value in the Rotation textbox. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17091[/import]

#6

This is pretty cool! It’s perfect for creating game levels I think.

However this is probably the wrong subforum for it. This is for helping beginners. Maybe repost in What’s New. [import]uid: 10835 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17093[/import]

#7

Yes, you are probably right. I just thought that it would be most useful for beginners, to get them started, but it should really be useful to even more advanced users.

I can’t change the subforum though. When I click Edit I get a dropdown where I’m supposed to change this, but it’s empty. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17099[/import]

#8

I realize that the name of the tool is not the best, but I couldn’t come up with anything original. I’m open to any suggestions regarding a new name. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17134[/import]

#9

I love this tool! It saves so much time.

What else are you able to add to it? Can the silverlight file work offline?

Thank you. [import]uid: 6762 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17172[/import]

#10

The tool is based on Silverlight 4, so making it work offline/standalone should be possible. It’s not a high priority at the moment though. You could, in a way, use it offline already, as long as you don’t close the browser.

There are of course a lot of different functions that could be added, but I’m focusing on the graphical parts. The next functions will probably be the implementation of some keyboard shortcuts, like deleting and cloning objects.
[import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17232[/import]

#11

Cool, I am really looking forward to the next update.

I was looking at making something like this myself using flash but I wasn’t sure where to start.
It was the whole positioning things then generating the correct Lua output for it.

It would be great if it could generate other scripts for simple things like movement on touch or to make items drag-able.

I cant believe more people are not raving about this. It is such a good idea. It is great that I can mess around with layouts on my Laptop (running windows) then easily transfer the results to my Mac mini.

Maybe you could team up with J.A Whye. I bet you would make an awesome tool together. [import]uid: 6762 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17233[/import]

#12

Yes, the positioning part was kind of tricky, since the coordinates in Corona are based on the center of the object, where they are based on the upper left corner in Silverlight. I guess that goes for Flash too. So I had to do some recalculations.

Actually adding support for events is on my list. I was thinking that you get a list of different events, and if you define a function name for it then Lua will be generated. The function will of course be empty, so you’d have to fill it with logic yourself.

It will be added very soon. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17239[/import]

#13

This looks really helpful.
Is this only for iphone?
I would love a software like this for Ipad.

Maholm [import]uid: 5717 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17307[/import]

#14

Very cool! Why not make it FOSS so people can contribute to it! [import]uid: 13784 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17319[/import]

#15

Is this only for iphone?

The software doesn’t run on iPhone, it uses Silverlight in the browser. It supports iPhone only in the sense that it outputs Corona code. [import]uid: 12108 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17327[/import]

#16

Like jhocking said, it’s used in your browser.

But I guess that what you really mean is if you can use it to create iPad apps? Sure. The generated code should work with both iPad and iPhone. It’s just the black window in the editor area that is the size of an iPhone screen. You can still drag objects outside of this.

Adding a choice between iPad and iPhone screen size (the black window) should be easy though, so I’ll probably do that soon. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17334[/import]

#17

Great work. Looks really interesting. And fabulous idea doing it silverlight thereby making it cross platform [import]uid: 11393 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17344[/import]

#18

I’ve just updated it with some more functions:

Keyboard shortcuts:

Del - Delete object
N - New object
C - Clone object
D - Deselect object

The canvas part must be selected for these to work (just click anywhere on it).
I’ve also added support for iPad. Just use the dropdown in the top left corner and select “iPad Portrait” or “iPad Landscape”. A high resolution display is recommended. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17383[/import]

#19

This is awesome dude… nice work. Put up a donations link and keep adding to this thing. [import]uid: 21535 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17388[/import]

#20

Well done on getting an update out so quick. I will give it a whirl later on.
Yeah, definitely put a donation button on the site somewhere. I am sure people will show their appreciation.

I wonder if Carlos has seen this yet? [import]uid: 6762 topic_id: 5124 reply_id: 17453[/import]