From the Forum — Issue #100

27 November 2015

From the Forum — Issue #100

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!

Distribute iOS apps without iTunes

Since Corona is so good at accelerating your app development, it’s always a great option when you’re thinking about producing a mobile or desktop app that specifically targets your own, special intranet. Whether you’re getting a time-keeping app started, or want to create a mobile app for your company’s social media solution, getting an app spun up to serve a very specific group really adds polish to any enterprise.

When it comes to getting these apps onto other folks’ devices, the situation gets a bit more difficult. Android makes things a bit easier, in that it’s a simple security feature that needs to be disabled. iOS makes the hoops a bit more difficult to jump through. But fear not! One very generous developer has outlined the process to accomplish the feat, posted the steps and provided some template files to ensure the process goes smoothly for you.

Head on down to the original post to get the info hot off the presses!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60300-in-house-distribution-website-for-ios-and-android/

Physics editor plugin

Let’s face it, folks: the physics body modification market has been cornered by the PhysicsEditor application. Any program that makes the most tedious part of game development that much easier definitely deserves the accolades.

If you’re looking for alternatives, however, you’d do well to check out the Physics Body Editor Plugin by Corona developer scottrules44. Coded in Java, it lets you create, edit, modify, and manipulate virtually any part of the physics landscape available in your game.

Click through to the original thread that contains the plugin download and a great source example.

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60272-physic-body-editor-plugin/

Gratis Corona libraries

Continuing on the theme of the giving nature of the holidays, we have another Corona developer who is offering a host of free plugins, helper functions and modules to the community. Some of the items on offer include a Back Button Handler for Android devices, to a Sprite Sheet handler, which “makes it easy to load, unload and manage spritesheets globally.”

I don’t think it needs more preamble than that, so get yourself down to the original thread and grab some of the goodies. And don’t forget to say “thanks!”

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60255-several-free-corona-libraries-by-screen-head-media/

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.