Side-scrolling platform game possible with Corona?

Games
#1

In all the resources on this site and others, I don’t see much written about these types of games. Are there any examples of side-scrollers done in Corona? Even better, is there anything open-source? I’d be interested to know if anyone has tried this, and what the pitfalls and limitations are.

I know about Lime, but since they don’t offer a trial version I haven’t tried it. Can it be used for a full-fledged quality game, like Super Mario Bros? How big can the levels be? Does it have bugs? I see they have some simple tutorials which is great, but do they translate into a real full-scale game?

I need to know if it’s really possible to make these games - not just “theoretically possible”. I don’t want to sell clients on the idea, but then hit dead ends when building the game, since a lot of work would be lost. I’d love to hear some experiences and advice from other game devs. Thanks. [import]uid: 52127 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 309583[/import]

#2

I believe that it’s 100% possible, While learning Corona and Lua I have prototyped simple side scrollers both with and without using the physics engine. While I have never developed a full scale side scroller it seems that everything necessary to accomplish the task is available for you.

Now that Ansca is actively investigating the performance issues that Lime has run afoul of I believe that using Lime as your platform for sidescroller creation wouldn’t be overly risky.

Even if you don’t go the lime route… parsing the Tiled xml structure is fairly trivial and creation of a tile-engine customized to your needs isn’t an overly complicated problem to solve.

[import]uid: 50570 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 34979[/import]

#3

I’ve seen many games that are side (or up-and-down) scrolling, with Doodle Dash (now “Monster Tilt”) being one of the coolest - so yes, it is possible.

There’s a shooter template I sell that’s side scrolling; http://buypremadeapps.com/Buy_Premade_Apps/Templates.html

I’m not sure about any Mario style games but certainly, it would be possible and I’m sure it’s been done, just perhaps not by an active forum user :wink:

Peach [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 34981[/import]

#4

Hi, just found this thread and thought I would chime in.

Naturally I am bias towards Lime however I will say that at present it is not ready for a full-fledged game, by that I mean that although I believe you could create said game very nicely it would only run well in the Simulator. Until the performance issues are sorted, and they will be, you won’t really be able to test on hardware.

You are still able to dev a whole lot of your game in the simulator though until then.

I wish I could offer a trial version however I’m not really sure how I could go about doing that, as Lime is purely just a bunch of source code without an actual self contained compiled tool I can’t just put a time-limit on it or require a registration code. Any ideas I am very happy to hear them.

And yea if you decide that you want to roll your own system I will happily help guide you through the Tiled format if you have any questions about it.

In summary, if you actually have to get a game to a client by a certain date (and that date is relatively soon) then I would hold off on Lime, however if you aren’t completely set in stone for a game to be made in the next month then I would go ahead and buy it. But I would say that.

An idea may be to have a poke round the Lime forums - http://developer.anscamobile.com/forums/lime - and ask some of the users what they think of it. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35018[/import]

#5

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately it sounds like this is still in the “theoretically possible” stage, so I probably shouldn’t pitch these ideas to clients for now.

I look forward to Lime and Corona performance updates. Hopefully this will be a reality soon. [import]uid: 52127 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35087[/import]

#6

I hope so! I’m currently in the middle of a side-scrolling-pltaform-game-alike but I’m not using Lime. I have my own framework designed for my own needs.

It’s still in its infancy so I can’t tell you if it’s entirely possible but there are some annoying roadblocks like the obligation to have all objects in the same group for collisions. Well, not entirely true but as soon as you start scrolling the background group, if the player is in another group, the physics system gets messed-up. [import]uid: 51516 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35092[/import]

#7

I too look forward to improved Lime performance! Would be nice if I could make a game with my own tool :slight_smile:

Yea that physics issue is quite annoying, a solution to that would be great too. I would like to see the separation of physics and visuals, that may help. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35097[/import]

#8

As Graham as said already, I tested lime in a fairly large map (roughly about an hour of side scrolling play) and it works in the simulator, but the mobile devices can’t even load it, the FPS is unplayable even for a side scroller.

At this current stage I don’t think corona has the power to create a large scale tiled based game. From what I’ve tested even 2d image based games are lower FPS then for example Unity 3d emulated games (Placing 2d images onto 3d planes and ignoring the z axis).

However Corona just came out of beta so we shall wait and see :slight_smile: [import]uid: 46343 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35163[/import]

#9

I agree that at present I am not sure it is up to the challenge of large games, however I can’t put all the reason for that onto Corona, I’m sure there will be things that I can improve in Lime that I just haven’t found yet.

Hopefully soon we will get some solutions and all be very happy. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 35202[/import]

#10

GrahamRanson keep your hard work up, you just sold another copy of Lime and I’ve also upgraded my coronaSDK to paid subscription :slight_smile: [import]uid: 13099 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 42353[/import]

#11

Thanks for the support! Hope you enjoy using it! [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 42550[/import]

#12

Hey GrahamRanson,

I have purchased Lime and have put it through it’s passes, and it’s exactly what I need.
Only thing is the outstanding performance issues.

Where are we at with this? When can we expect to be able to launch a game using Lime onto the device?

Thanks
h [import]uid: 58388 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 44511[/import]

#13

Hey, sorry for the long wait in replying. Been a crazy couple of weeks so just getting back to replies and emails etc.

The performance is always getting worked on and depending on what you are after you may be ok. Plus there are ways to help performance in the level design and construction stage from your end.

If you want to feel free to email me - support@justaddli.me - and we can discuss ways of helping improve performance for your game. [import]uid: 5833 topic_id: 9583 reply_id: 46307[/import]