$349 PRO Subscription of Corona is expensive or reasonable for those who have limited income with small business what do you think…?
THX
illsion. [import]uid: 120824 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 321899[/import]
I started as a developer, and I am still a developer using Corona (Pro) - so while I’m staff now I’d like to think I’m still unbiased on this.
When I started I wasn’t a small business, I was an indie with a VERY limited income, so the license was expensive BUT for what I was getting, what it was worth, it was still very, very reasonable.
If you are a small business then I would say the license is definitely very reasonable.
There’s no other SDK I’ve found that is as fast, friendly and constantly improving as Corona - and I’ve been using it since 268, never once has an update broken a project. (How many SDKs can you say that about?)
Nook, Kindle, Android and iOS for $349? It’s a steal, especially for a small business and not a hobbyist.
(Just my 2 cents.)
Peach 
[import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87068[/import]
You know I’ve thought about this and have come to a decision.
For the amount of time and effort to learn and get Xcode right it definitely worth it for me.
To try and get physics working in my next game would be impossible but I already have a demo going with it.
I’d not have a decent app in the store if I had to learn Xcode and would have given up.
The first version of my store app was done in Xcode and I hated it.
If it weren’t for Corona I’d never have done the update. Seriously.
The benefits outweigh the cost and the community and support are very good.
I’ve recommended Corona to many people already and cannot wait to release my first iOS game later this year.
The question is a no-brainer for me. [import]uid: 10389 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87070[/import]
I reckon it comes down to how you monetize your app, and why you’re writing one.
If you want to create an app for the fun of it (and I have seen some shocking apps released as vanity projects), then yes, its an expensive hobby.
But for comparison, its about the same price as a decent bridge digital camera, or a classy bicycle, and less than a set of golf clubs.
Its less than a years sub to a gym.
For a business, its less than the cost of a single decent computer, or a chair plus a table.
If I briefly discount my time and the cost of an iPad I didn’t otherwise need, then I can cheerfully report that sales of my one and only app, after two weeks, has already more than covered the cost of the software.
The iPad cost will be covered within a month.
So I’ll be in measurable profit within 2 months, and I’ll also own an iPad.
Everyone’s mileage will vary: if you want to write yet another sound effects app and put it out as ‘free, with ads’ then 349 is a very very long term investment.
I consider Corona as excellent value.
[import]uid: 108660 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87086[/import]
Well here is my completely unbiased answer to that.
About a year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to get into iPhone app programming. I was struggling with Objective C and about a year ago I came across Corona SDK. I was already looking at plunking down the $100 to Apple which was kind of painful. Thankfully, Corona SDK which let me play with it until I needed to build was a great way of hooking me on the easy of Corona SDK vs. the Apple model. I saved up and got the Indie iOS version at $199.
I figured I could run this way, get some app’s out the door, make the money back and then upgrade to do android later.
I’m coming up on my 1 year anniversary of being a paid subscriber and now its time to pay up again.
If I had not hooked up with a small game shop as a contractor, I would have just broken even on my Corona + Apple expenses. I’ve made around half of my $300 investment from sales and half from helping people here and there for little bits of money. My ad revenue is so abysmal, I doubt I’ll ever get paid from the different ad companies. Its not because my apps suck, well they might, but I know my marketing sucks for certain.
So without this other contracting gig, I can tell my accountant (my wife) that it paid for itself and I could convince her to let me re-up. But with my contracting gig, which I’m using Corona for, it has been more than profitable and I will be upgrading to the Pro version in a couple of weeks and then addressing all my apps to the android markets.
A year ago when I started, there wasn’t a Nook or Kindle Fire market place that had app buyers. The Android marketplaces are filled with people who do not pay for apps and you have to hope to make your money back on advertising. I just couldn’t justify that extra $150 a year ago. But now with the Nook and the Amazon market places with people who actually buy things, I can see Android as being potential profit centers now.
So my advice is if your tight on cash go with one of the Indie options to get you started. You can always upgrade later after you can measure your success in one of the markets.
Keep in mind if you want to do iPhone/iPad iOS apps you need a Mac to build on and you have to give Apple $100 a year for the privilege of building apps. So Android may seem like a better starter place, but you’re not going to see a lot of sales and will need to be ad supported. The Indie android license does not include Nook and Kindle Fire (I don’t believe).
But there are merits for going Indie to start with. [import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87132[/import]
I think Corona is very reasonably priced, especially when you compare it to competition. The amount of time (which I don’t know about you, but is very valuable to me) you’ll spend learning will be much less than with other methods.
I wonder… are you trying to move from another platform and need to justify the expense? If that’s the case I can tell you that I moved to corona from another platform myself and never had any regrets… If you’re just getting into development… this is also a great place to start. In my opinion (and yes I know I’m repeating myself) it is much easier to deal with than Xcode for example. Not only it’s an easier platform to work with, but also the corona community is quite large. You’ll find that almost anyone is willing to jump in to help out, or give you an opinion about something (although my opinions can be a bit harsh at times:) )
Anyway, enjoy the trial period… use it to its fullest capacity, and then switch over to a subscription if you want, I don’t think you’ll have any regrets. [import]uid: 10379 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87145[/import]
I think the try indefinitly before you buy really helps you figure out if corona is for you, and more importantly if the app you ended up creating will make the money back.
It seems expensive when you don’t have an app made and can asses its potential and weigh it against the corona cost.
I made back the pro subscription costs in a month of just iOS sales, never mind ad revenue and android sales [import]uid: 8872 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87473[/import]
compared to adobe it’s still a bargain. and smooth performance and and and.
with a solid game, you earn the money for a subscription in 1-3 days. [import]uid: 90610 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87475[/import]
Honestly, I think all software is dirt cheap nowadays, with the exception of a few hardcore industrial packages. The entry barrier for digital content creation has never been this low: 2500 dollars gets you a decent PC with Photoshop, Illustrator, Corona and an entry-level but still impressive sound suite like Cubase or Logic including a lot of add-ons synths. 3D programs have become cheap as hell as well, as have video editing programs. And that’s for industry standard professional tools - if you’re prepared to look outside of the classics you can cut the price in half.
Now, I know 3000 dollars isn’t a small picnic, but it’s practically nothing considering the fact that this allows you to run a legitimate business and make money. As a hobby this might sound expensive, but then again, if you compare this to buying and maintaining a motorbike or oldtimer as a hobby, it’s still super-accessible. I took up kitesurfing last year: my board, two kites and wetsuit set me back 2000 dollars - and I see a lot of 16 year old kids doing it so it’s not an impossible hurdle (you just need to get a summer job).
At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I worked every summer as a teenager to buy myself a sampler one year, a synthesizer the other year, a drum machine the third year and a mixing desk the fourth year. These days you buy Ableton Live Intro for 99 dollars, install it on your dad’s PC (if you don’t have your own already) and you practically have the equivalent of the state-of-the-art studios Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones used to record all of their hits in the 80s.
To make my rant clear and stay on-topic: I think Corona is very, very, VERY cheap - not to mention the free trial.
And I love it [import]uid: 70134 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87476[/import]
We are a small group of 3 friends that founded a small software business. We all left our full time jobs for this…
I have a short 5 months experience with Corona, before that we had developed one game in native android java.
We had endless compatibility problems in the android market alone that resulted in several crashes a week (you get these stats from the android market console).
It took us 3 months to develop the free version in native code and only for one platform and then we decided to expand to other markets.
My background is C++ and python and in the last 6 years I’ve been developing real time financial trading software (backend servers) for a big financial institution, so I wasn’t really scared from Xcode or object C, but after a few days I’ve realized that having two code branches for each application would be a nightmare and also the dev time required to write a simple game would just make it really hard to make money.
Then we found Corona. We managed to totally rewrite and improve our original game in a month time, and since than we released 3 more games!
Each game makes well over $1000 a month so my answer to your question is that Corona is very cost effective. Is it expensive? that really depends on what you manage to produce with it, and that’s really up to you.
The most important thing is that Corona saves time, and as you probably know human resources is the most expensive part of any business…
Like with any other SDK/API limited to what it exposes to you but once you know what you have available I’m sure you’ll find a lot of ways to monetize on them alone and with time I’m sure Ansca will add more exciting things…
Bottom line for us the price of the product is low and it already paid off… [import]uid: 80469 topic_id: 21899 reply_id: 87487[/import]