From the Forum — Issue #50

12 December 2014

From the Forum — Issue #50

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. Shadows and light, the Corona way!

We know what what we want. Amazing games. Mind-blowing apps. Easy development and fantastic features all rolled into one package. Corona SDK makes this possible for many of us, and with top-flight libraries being created and shared with the community, it has never been easier to get into Corona development.

First up is a fantastic library created by Corona developer Rene Aye has given us all access to their “Dynamic Shadows” codebase, which, as the name implies, generates shadows from a lightsource created in-code. The complete project info is on bitbucket, but there is one caveat for which you need to keep an eye out. It’s called the “Lucky Luke” problem by the current developer, and it needs a solution.

Take a look at the original thread to find the bitbucket link and more information about “Lucky Luke”. If you have a suggestion for improvements or a fix for the developers sticky wicket, feel free to chime in!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/53127-2d-dynamic-shadows

2. Memory management: Not child’s play

Keeping your game within the confines of performance limits with all of the mobile devices Corona is capable of targeting is a lot to bite off. Between making sure that your awesome app can run on the bargain-est of basement phones to the strongest iPhone 6+ means having clean, simple code that runs without a hitch.

But what of memory leaks? Many new developers get caught up in trying to solve a problem that doesn’t really exist. Because of how Corona SDK handles garbage memory collection, developers will see what looks like an undulating sea of memory increases and decreases. It is so important to remember that garbage collection doesn’t happen on a specific timer within Corona, nor does it handle immediate zeroing of memory.

Check the original thread for more information and some helpful tips to remember regarding memory management. Have a suggestion of your own? Feel free to add it in!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/53267-memory-leak-out-of-nowhere/

3. Another development time-saver just in time for the holidays!

In this competitive development ecosystem, it’s always nice to get some help from your friends. Corona has an excellent developer community that is always ready to help out when needed, and to provide some great tools to make life that much easier for all of us.

Corona developer Rene Aye bookends this week’s offering with a great utility that can generate our splash screens for us from within Photoshop. It’s a quick easy way to have your app’s different screen sizes created, so you don’t have to fiddle with each one individually.

Head on over to the original thread to grab the download, and don’t forget to say thanks!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/53281-fast-easy-%E2%80%93-splash-screen-template-photoshop-needed

About Alex

Alex Jackson is an indie developer and the founder of Panc Software, 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: @pancsoftware. Check out his new game Crosstown Smash on iOS, Android, and Amazon devices!