Solar2D Essentials Template

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

@vlads @Scott_Harrison After using Solar2D (formerly Corona SDK) to develop 4 games on Google Play and the App Store, our beloved Solar2D engine has undergone a transformation, thanks to Vlad and the community, from a corporately supported product, to an open source product that is primarily maintained by Vlad and a few others that he works with from time-to-time. Scott has become known as the most prolific developer of plugins for Solar2D. Between the two of them, we have been fortunate to see the Solar2D engine continue to be updated. With that said, I think it’s time we recruit another person who is solely dedicated to the creation of a Solar2D Essentials template.

As everyone who makes games for Google Play and the App Store, we have had to learn what’s available to connect to Facebook, Ad Networks as well how to have players Share the game with others through device share, Facebook or other platforms. And there are many other needs that most apps will have, but we have no template that has implemented them all together for the benefit of the entire community.

I am of the belief that such a template, with clear instructions, could help to grow our community significantly. I am willing to build a marketing system to colleges, because we have our own email server, and this could help us grow Solar2D to become a much larger, supported platform, where a few more talented developers might help expand the functionality of the platform.

I am asking Vlad and Scott to comment on this need, and as well, asking the community here to find out, “Are you interested in contributing code to such an endeavor?” or “Are you interesting in investing your time to be a product lead for such a project?”

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#2

Very much so!

There will be some information coming about this soon.

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#3

The biggest point I want to make is that I think the Solar2D Essentials Template needs to be a REAL APP in Google Play and App Store, so that we can see exactly how a LIVE build of the Template code is real and functioning. Otherwise, it’s not useful enough to actually use to publish an app.

Then, I think we need to prioritize which platforms to focus on, and in which order.
I would recommend:

  • Android (Google Play)
  • iOS
  • Nintendo Switch
  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Linux
  • others

I think each platform will have it’s own set of priorities, but for Android and iOS, I recommend we hit the most important points relating to getting an app online and maintaining it.

  • Notifications (local, Firebase which supports iOS and Android, and others as lower priority)
  • Google Sign-in (Google Play) and Apple Sign-in (iOS), since these are now required to publish an app
  • Facebook integration (sharing, etc)
  • Other Sharing (device and social pop-up sharing with other apps)
  • Firebase integration (so every game can properly use it as a free database for important events)
    What else would you consider ‘essential’?

Developers of the numerous plugins available will be key, too, as we’ll be promoting the plugins.

I think we also need to have very clear instructions about how to setup everything that is required to publish an app, and with regard to anything that must integrate so that the Solar2D Essentials Template is a real, practical study on how to create and PUBLISH an app. From how to create app ids, etc… In another thread, I’m working to help developers understand how to use built-in attribution for install tracking for marketing purposes. And perhaps we’ll create a button in the template that includes instructions on how to do everything necessary to promote and maintain the app, too - interesting idea?

If we do this right, we can launch a campaign and target college professors who teach game development, because there is no doubt Solar2D could be the easiest to use platform with enough robust power to publish professional games and apps.

Anyone else have an opinion or features recommendations or preferred priorities?

#4

Implementing the various ad networks should be key as well.

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#5

There were some elaborate sample projects in the Corona Marketplace, like the climbing one and the knife throwing one and at least the knife throwing one had ad plugin integration (Appodeal, I think), etc. I’d need to see if and where I can find them again.

Corona Cannon was also a project that was available on Google Play, App Store and many other stores: https://coronalabs.com/blog/2016/02/02/corona-cannon-a-new-corona-sdk-sample-game/

So, such projects do already exist. They just need to be updated to conform with modern app store requirements, etc. (and some of them need to be dug up again as well).

There are some projects in here:

I’m not sure, however, if there should be instructions on how to handle analytics and advertisements (as in attribution or ad campaigns), or app store distributions, etc. as they are too broad and also prone to constant minor changes.

There could be very brief overviews as to “how analytics can be added and why it’s important”, and just link to some documentation page for appropriate plugins, but going more into detail would be wasted on 99% of users. Out of the remaining 1% who would be interested in analytics, there’s an even smaller percentage who’d actually benefit from having analytics in their apps, then there’s an even smaller percentage who’d have the time, the interest and the skills to utilise said analytics.

I do think that having the game templates be updated for modern app stores and maybe adding some extra bells and whistles to them could be great. Adding some general guide pages to the docs on distribution, analytics or advertisements could also be useful, but such pages would need be fairly limited in scope. Just my two cents.

#6

This is a cool idea. I have certainly wanted to do this with my plugins on solar2dmarketplace and make a showcase app. I am pretty busy these days, but if there is any small way I could help. I definitely will!

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#7

I would like a more elaborate tutorial on how to create plugins for Solar2D, the one that already exists is a bit confusing, if you have video, even better. It would be great for people to learn how to create their own plugins and share with the community, it would help a lot to increase the power of Solar2D.

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#8

@jdsmedeirosbr I agree

#9

@Scott_Harrison great

#10

@troylyndon I’ll definitely help out where I can.

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#11

I also kept a lot of sample projects in Corona Marketplace when I started learning about Solar2D like: “Five Letters”, “floorIsLava”, “High Climb”, “lama_chef”, “match2048plus”,… if you need them, you can contact me via discord (Kan#4037).

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#12

That’s a good idea, if I can be of any help I’ll help.

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