From the Forum — Issue #102

11 December 2015

From the Forum — Issue #102

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!

Sometimes, staying open is a good thing

Using our anti-piracy options within Corona SDK is always worth the attention paid to them. Piracy rates of paid apps on Android, are staggering to developers trying to make their production budgets back while manufacturing games for the masses. But when is it appropriate to disable those security functions that we look to for that warm blanket security?

In the below thread, Rob Miracle provides some explanations for situations when leaving the anti-piracy options set to “off” for your Android app’s Google Play Game Services settings. It’s really a matter of keeping your audience from being fragmented across several different APKs. Head over to the original thread to learn a bit more about these processes, and what you can do to ensure that you reach the the widest audience possible.

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60503-why-you-should-set-anti-piracy-off

The key to the mysteries of OAuth integration

Used to “authorize third-party access to their server resources without sharing their credentials”, the OAuth standard is used by tons of websites to allow users access, without giving away the farm. In true stand-up developer form, the prolific Develephant has handed off a super-cool plugin that takes advantage of the OAuth protocol, opening up tons of websites and their authentication protocols.

The plugin is nifty, but it’s been open-sourced since it’s the start of it’s development, so while you’re on your own if you run up against issues, you are free to make any modifications you see fit. Click through to the original link in order to get your hands on their handy code!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60490-mod-arthur-easy-oauth-and-data-for-100-providers

Compendium of server logic

If you’ve ever needed to evaluate some third party server architecture that played nice with Corona and Lua, you most likely started and stopped at Coronium. It’s a great platform, but it never hurts to have options.

I was doing some deep reading and came upon the below thread, that goes over some viable options for third-party game state persistence. Whether you need purchased items to be available across several devices, or you want to make specific checks for download location of your app, or you just want to run your own analytics system, the links in the below thread are significant choices. Check out the options, and throw in your own if you have suggestions!
https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/54258-save-game-on-a-server/

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.