From the Forum — Issue #96

30 October 2015

From the Forum — Issue #96

Welcome to the latest installment of From the Forum. In this series, guest blogger Alex Jackson highlights outstanding threads from the Corona Forum. The goal is to bring attention to the most captivating, interesting, and thought-provoking discussions taking place in our very own backyard.

Please visit the forum to join these conversations or start your own!

1. Simply follow that car! (or ball, or bird, or place…)

Getting some sweet gameplay effects into your next App Store smash hit is crucial. Whether you’re using any number of particle generators compatible with Corona, some killer ragdoll physics or your own home-spun shader, adding in that last little razzle-dazzle sets you apart from the herd and gives you a leg up in the ever-competitive download race.

I’ve been playing with a pretty cool snippet of code provided in the forums, and I wanted to make sure I shared with the community. The below link is a sample, showing how one can implement trails following a given object. Smoke trails, psychedelic shapes or just random ovals all look pretty sweet with this one. In it’s current form it’s pretty bare-bones, but it has some serious potential for expansion.

Head on down to the original thread to get the snippet and grab the code now!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/59224-simple-trails-freebie/#entry306401

2. Predictive search in the fewest steps possible

Corona is pretty versatile. Business-based apps, productivity suites, news readers and really cool games are all within the SDK’s wheelhouse.

Getting an Enterprise-level app out the door, while obviously more difficult, allows for some intense joy in overcoming challenges. One popular feature that is often requested is the ability to have live predictive search implemented when providing an interface to comb through a database. The idea can be daunting, but the below thread takes a bit of the sting out of the storyboarding of the logic behind the feature.

Click through to the thread below and see if you can wrap your head around the concept. Have your own ideas? Don’t be shy, share them with the community!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/59803-doing-a-list-view-with-a-live-search/

3. Axis detection now achieved!

Games developed with Corona and using controllers have now reached a serious milestone, one that has eluded us for years now. Axis events are now able to be detected within Corona code!

It might seem trivial to some, but the inability to grab those axis changes meant that certain game types were just basically, off-limits. The workarounds were impractical and unwieldy, causing most to abandon the game concepts out of hand. But no longer! Now we can run free in the beautiful utopia that is unfettered Corona game development.

Enough hyperbole from me. Roll into the original thread and grab some free code, courtesy of the prolific RoamingGamer!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/59811-pedals-detection/

About Alex

Alex Jackson is an indie developer and the founder of Panc Interactive, specializing in retro-style gaming. He has created several mobile applications, enjoys long walks on the beach, pixel art, and reading the Corona forums. Contact him by email or follow him on Twitter: @pancinteractive. Check out his new game Segreta on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Amazon devices.