Corona SDK Hotshot

A detailed guide with 10 projects specifically designed to expand the fundamentals of this exciting mobile development platform!

Overview

• Ten fully developed code projects that build on previous projects and present new techniques.
• Freely reusable art and sound files included with every project help you jumpstart your own development.
• Numerous advanced techniques to make the most out of Corona’s features and the Lua programming language.

In Detail

If you’ve used the Corona Software Development Kit to build your very first new mobile app, you already know how easy it makes developing across all the pieces of this fragmented market. This book upgrades your knowledge of Lua and the Corona API with designs, habits and advanced concepts to speed your development and create more exciting apps.

Corona SDK Hotshot will show you how to combine advanced Lua features such as coroutines and metatables with Corona’s sophisticated tools, including physics and networking, to develop exactly the game or app you or your customers need, quickly and with an eye towards updating your app with improvements in the future.

Corona SDK Hotshot will expand your basic knowledge of Corona with an insight into making the most of its event platform, using physics wisely and easily, and moving on to advanced programming tasks like path-finding.

You will focus heavily on how to keep your programs understandable as they become more complicated, by using modules and events to divide it up. You’ll practice ways to make AI scripts and map files easily understandable to designers and other collaborators, and use networks like GameCenter to publish progress.

The last projects will combine the full range of covered material to illustrate how you can produce sophisticated and exciting apps as a Corona Hotshot!

What you will learn from this book

• Loading maps and regions from simple, editable file formats.
• Using included interface elements to create usable app front ends fast
• Connecting to external services to get data and request actions
• Filtering collisions to improve performance and simplify game logic
• Responding to multiple touches as well as tilt and shake input
• Connecting to game networks to share high scores and achievements
• Controlling characters and enemies in games easily by writing AI scripts
• Controlling physics interactions to create fully controllable game behaviour

Approach

Using a project based approach you will learn the coolest aspects of Corona SDK development. Each project contains step- by-step explanations, diagrams, screenshots, and downloadable materials.

Who this book is written for

This book is for users who already have completed at least one simple app using Corona, or are familiar with mobile development using another platform and have done Lua programming in another context.

Table of Contents

Project 1: Bat Swat – An Introduction to App Event Cycles
Project 2: SuperCargo – Using Events to Track Game Progress
Project 3: TranslationBuddy – Fast App Development for any Field
Project 4: Deep Black – Processing Mobile Device Input
Project 5: Atmosfall – Managing Game Progress with Coroutines
Project 6: Predation – Creating Powerful Visuals from Simple Effects
Project 7: Caves of Glory – Mastering Maps and Zones
Project 8: The Beat Goes On – Integrating with Game Networks
Project 9: Into the Woods – Computer Navigation of Environments
Project 10: Underfoot – Selectively Leveraging the Physics System