Learn Lua for iOS Game Development

So you have a great game idea for iPhone or iPad, but Objective-C just seems a bit daunting. What are your alternatives? The App Store is very picky about languages, but there is hope: Lua is a versatile, lightweight, fast, and easy to learn language that you can use to build your iOS games and get them accepted into the App Store.

Learn Lua for iOS Game Development walks you through the Lua basics, then shows you how to create games using the top Lua frameworks like Corona SDK, Gideros, Moai, and even how to create games on the iPad (not just for the iPad) with Codea.

You aren’t tied to Xcode and Objective-C — you can create all sorts of amazing games with Lua. But if you already have an existing iOS game, you’ll also learn how to integrate Lua to extend the game. If you’re an aspiring or current iOS developer, you need to know Lua, and Learn Lua for iOS Game Development will give you just what you need to do that.

What you’ll learn

• Lua basics for iOS
• How to choose a Lua framework depending on your needs
• How to use Corona, Gideros, Moai, and more
• How to use Lua to create a game faster and easier than with Objective-C
• How to use Lua libraries, wrappers, and third party tools

Who this book is for

Beginning iOS developers who find Objective-C difficult but HTML5-based tools too limiting; more advanced iOS developers who want to integrate and open their apps to extension via Lua scripting.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Lua
2. System Libraries
3. File IO
4. Math
5. Strings
6. Threading
7. Tips and Tricks
8. CoronaSDK
9. Gideros Studio
10. MoaiSDK
11. Löve
12. Codea
13. Libraries
14. 3rd Party Apps
15. Links to source code