It all comes down to one thing: Courage!
Seriously, when I first noticed the splash screen I freaked out a little. Having been using Corona since the very beginning and promoting it since, this “feature” causes concerns regarding how much I trust this platform / company. And it is not because of $99 but the uncertainty of what will be charged (with no warning) as extra features in the future.
For the management team: Please clarify the roadmap regarding future pricing schemes.
Thanks,
Dave
My biggest problem is that the functionality of the plug-in isn’t well communicated. I have to go to the Marketplace, select the plug-in, scroll the display down to reveal the Documentation link in the bottom left corner and then click it to go to this:
https://docs.coronalabs.com/plugin/CoronaSplashControl/index.html
Also, the documentation should carefully explain how the scaling is done. Is aspect ratio preserved? Is it stretched to fill? Etc. Some of us have carefully built our own splash screen modules to deal with different use cases and I’d like to fully understand how the new plug-in works before using it (for any purpose other than disabling the Corona splash itself.).
In summary, make the features more obvious (in the plug-in summary in the Marketplace) and add more details to the documentation page. Please.
As for charging the $99, it’s a one time fee (usually something a client would absorb) and a very fair exchange for the VALUE of Corona itself. I want Corona Labs to prosper and now that they aren’t a cost center for Perk, they need to make revenue. This is an incredibly reasonable way to do so IMHO.
Sales of platforms always make people feel a little worried. The fact that the sale was not immediately mentioned in a blog post makes it even more so. The fact that the developers don’t feel like they know where the platform is headed is also a worry. Time for another roadmap?
Rev share on advertisements, even if limited in scope, reminds people that they DON’T control the platform and at some point in the future may have to give up very high percentages. And since this would be a very effective revenue generation model for Corona long-term it presents a very scary proposition…
Changes to platform pricing and development tiers with no notice also does not imbue confidence. I don’t mind paying $99 to remove a startup screen. I think 30 - 90 days notice of upcoming changes is probably best though.
I’m normally not super jumpy, but recent events made me go and install Defold on all of my machines and begin reviewing it as an option… The more information I can read here about the Corona platform going forward, the less time I’ll need to spend poring over Defold documentation with a worried look on my face!
I’ve got a few contractors working on a project (just started) so I’m very interested in long-term plans for Corona!
Hi Ben. Thank you for the questions. I will try to address them. As for the price, everyone is going to have an opinion on the price from free all the way up to “Bring back Pro”. $99 a year is less than $10 a month and if you’re building apps for clients or where you don’t want our branding, we feel $99 a year is fair.
Regarding communications, sure they can always be better and I think we do try to be as transparent with you as possible when we can and we can always work to be better at it. As far as AdMob goes, I don’t want to hijack this thread, so open up a new topic about it and I will tell you want I can about it.
Rob
I agree that giving some notice would have been more optimal for sure.
What do you think whan you say “AdMob is kept in dark…”
Can you explain in one-two sentences or provide some forum links?
Many thanks.
@tschussler - The docs should have also been linked from the blog post. It’s also linked from the plugin doc’s index page. We probably should include more information on how you should prepare your own images. I’ll get that feedback to the team. I’ll also suggest improving the description on the Marketplace.
@gamedeveloper, regarding the sale: this announcement isn’t the proper place for this. This was about the release and the splash screen. We will be having more posts covering the sale and the road map coming soon. We have some exciting things coming soon too. But I do want to assure you, we plan to be around a long time and we plan to be the best 2D engine on the market.
@ivan888, I’ve asked that we take the AdMob discussion to another thread to keep this one focused.
@rich.stupek, I still owe you answers on that topic. Can you bump your thread for me?
@lessmsios, and everyone else regarding the look of the splash screen: We are working on this. It’s going to take more than a few minutes to pull the details together.
Rob
Thanks for the confidence boost Rob. I’ll keep an eye out for upcoming blog posts.
rob miracle, any chance of other plans?
month of splash plugin : usd 10 , or even usd 15
year of splash plugin : usd 99
Thank you to everyone who has been committed to using Corona and have been passionate enough to share your thoughts on this topic. I just created a video to share with you my thoughts on the splash screen. I did this so you could see my face and hear my voice, and not just read my words.
Near the end of the video I mention a splash screen contest. Please consider participating in this contest as soon as possible so we can have your submission for the community to review.
Thank you again for being a part of the Corona community.
@ivan888 read this topic https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/64444-do-we-use-admob-sdk-70/, i posted links and comments from the Admob team. No reply yet from Corona on when we’re getting an update for the plugin. all we know is admob v2 should still be serving ads.
First paid plugin! Woohoo! Congrats, Corona Labs, this is great news!!
Just watched your video, Charles. I feel your apology. I know we don’t have to pay $$99 to remove the splash screen. BUT I CANNOT SUBMIT AN APP UPDATE WITH THAT DEFAULT SPLASH SCREEN. THE WHOLE LAUNCH SEQUENCE LOOKS SO WEIRD.
I just tested a build on my device (Corona SDK v2016.2951, iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.1). This is what i see, when i cold start my app:
I see my own app splash screen
Then I see the Corona splash screen
Then I see the main menu of my app.
I just cannot describe to you how weird the app launch looks right now.
Seems very fair to me. Unity always had this. Should have done it years ago!
I’m sure any visual issues people are seeing will be ironed out quick too.
Now no more surprises for a month please :-).
Should I pay the $99 and have a cleaner app or leave it there and support corona. I don’t mind the splash screen but would prefer to have a corona splash screen that matches my apps load screen colours.
I submitted my 4 screenshots.
Hi @Rob Miracle,
We’re having trouble getting rid of the “Powered by Corona” splash screen. In your Pricing page, it says that there is “No Required Splash Screen” for Enterprise users. I’ve messaged support (submission 5960043) and am hoping to get a response as soon as possible.
We’ve been wanting to get a release out for a long time now. Our app got rejected last week due to the whole “app thinning” issue. Therefore, we upgraded to the latest version of Corona that fixed this issue and now we’re getting this whole splash screen issue.
@jhow Are you doing an Enterprise build or a simulator build?
Have you tried putting in the:
settings = { splashScreen = { enable = false }, }
into your build.settings?
We are in the process of trying to make sure Enterprise subscribers are not hitting this problem.
Rob
@Rob Miracle,
Received a “Build Failed” error that states:
"A device build error occurred on the server.
Error: Splash screen control is only available if you are subscribed to the following plugin:
Plugin: plugin.CoronaSplashControl
Publisher: com.coronalabs…"