A few months ago, my partner and I put ourselves up to a challenge: to create a mature horror comic series with Corona SDK and Kwik. Today, that vision is called Near Humanity. I, Xavier Bottet, am an art director with game design experience, and my partner Emmanuel Beaudry is a writer with movie scripting experience.

Near Humanity blends horror stories, comics, animation, and interactive contents into one visceral experience. We’re still working on the project, but we plan to develop 12 full episodes, each lasting 5-7 minutes. I’m in charge of the technical aspects, while Emmanuel is responsible for the text definition.

Near Humanity’s core starts with the script, written by Emmanuel. After I view the script, we exchange ideas, make modifications, and then discuss the conceptual art. I then proceed to the illustration stage and mix in other media such as photos, scanned sketches, 3D elements, and digital paintings. Then I put all of the contents into Adobe After Effects. As the final step, Emmanuel edits the videos in Final Cut and “viola!”, we have an episode.

As with Halloween Recreation — a 2012 App of the Week winner and my first Kwik and Corona SDK app — I prepare videos and present them to several “candidates” to see how they react to the app. Using Corona SDK and Kwik, we’ve also released NearHumanityNews, an app based around the entire campaign. We hope that this teaser app will help people discover our motion comics, peek at the official trailer, check out stills from the first episode, and maybe even discover some extra content.

We developed NearHumanityNews in just one week, and I used some video content from our crowdfunding campaign. You can experience Near Humanity in a video, and then you interact with the same content in the app.

Our plan is to continue this project at full speed. Since we’re a small team — just the two of us, plus a few partners such as Melanie Jane, an English vocal artist who plays “Rachel” — we need to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Recently, we discovered Indiegogo and set a flexible funding campaign which helped us to raise funds. Now, we’re reaching out to the Corona SDK community for help.

We hope that you enjoy NearHumanityNews as a free teaser, and that it inspires you to contribute to our cause, even in a small way. If funded, our motion comic will come to life, and we promise to deliver you more episodes soon. You can contribute to the Near Humanity Indiegogo campaign and download NearHumanityNews from the App Store. If you want to check out more videos, head to our YouTube channel.

Tap for Tap is very excited to be partnered with Corona Labs and even more excited to hear from Corona Developers as they explore the list of excellent 3rd party services now available.

We know what Corona Labs is all about: Helping developers build high quality, cross-platform mobile apps in a fraction of the time it would take to build from scratch.

So what is Tap for Tap all about?

Simply put, Tap for Tap is here to help Android and iOS developers get users and make money. Corona helps you build your app and Tap for Tap helps you build your app business. We are a cross-promotion and monetization network for mobile apps and our services include a tap exchange, an ad network, a self promotion tool and a paid promotion network, all in one easy to use platform.

Corona developers can sign up here for a Tap for Tap account and use our Corona Plugin. Then choose how you want to show ads in your app; we offer banners, interstitials and app walls. Next, you can select what kind of ads you’d like to show and how you’d like to be paid using our Earning Preference Slider.

Choose “Get Users” if you’d like to participate in the Tap Exchange. Here you will show ads for other developers and every time you generate a tap or a click on one of their ads from one of your users, you will be paid back by getting a tap on an ad for your app on our network. This user exchange allows you to grow engagement with your app, scaling your installs at no cost.

If you’re more interested in making ad revenue from the ads you show, just select “Make Money” on the Earning Preference Slider and you’ll start showing paid ads and earn a share of any revenue generated. You can select any mix of get users/make money that suits your app business.

If you have more than one app, be sure to take advantage of our Self Promotion tool which allows you to choose what percentage of your traffic you’d like to use to promote your own app.

Tap for Tap also offers a great Paid Promotion network where you can reinvest your earnings to buy traffic on a CPC or, in some cases, CPI basis to grow your app’s user base.

If you’re interested in seeing our network in action. Take a look at Corona Developer, MonkeyBin Studios’ game MindFeud. They actually built their own plugin using Corona Enterprise several months ago and have been rocking on Tap for Tap ever since.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Looking forward to hearing about your apps and helping you build your app business!

For awhile, Bob was pretty vocal about some of the shortcomings of the old network 1.0 stack, and made that clear in his bug reports where he expressed his frustration. He’d say things that were brutal like “Network request/download support is only suitable for toy apps,” but balance those comments with constructive thoughts about improvements he’d like to see.

Over an e-mail exchange, it turns out that Bob really wanted to make something happen:

What I would like to do is volunteer to rework the Corona networking APIs (specifically network.request and network.download) in order to both address the specific open bugs, and also to extend the APIs and make them more robust, as outlined in 14023. I think that this can be done without changing the API definitions (so the new implementations would be fully backward compatible and pass any current unit tests).

So after several conversations, we agreed to give it a go! One of my primary concerns was the API, and Bob was (thankfully) patient as I poured over every detail of the API changes. We’ve had several dozens of exchanges just on the API. We covered a bunch of things including error handling, distinguishing between text/binary in responses, and minutiae like how download file paths should be specified.

Here’s a typical example of the kind of exchange we had. In this one, we decided on the name for a new API to cancel http requests:

I went back and forth. I picked cancelRequest( ) because, unlike the
timer module, the network module has a couple of methods that deal
with things that you might think are cancelable and that are not
requests (the network status functions). But I’m fine either way.

I have slight preference for the more succinct “network.cancel()”, so let’s go with that.

Then came development. Bob rewrote the Android implementation because a newer HttpURLConnection had become available since the time at which we wrote the original. He then ported over our existing iOS, Mac, and Windows implementations.

Given the number of platforms involved, it was definitely a significant undertaking and a Herculean effort by Bob. I could go on about all the technical details but long story short, we all have a richer set of http APIs.

Thanks Bob for all your hard work, generosity, and dedication. Corona is that much better for it!

During Monday’s Hangout Ed Maurina showed off a sample app he created to demonstrate how device memory is affected when objects are set to nil at various stages of Storyboard development. His app shows memory usage in an empty scene, with objects nilled or not, object listeners nilled or not, etc. You can download the code from his Roaming Gamer website. Thanks Ed!

Watch the full Hangout for more geek fun.

Thank you for watching, we’ll see you on next week’s Corona Geek hangout!

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One of the new plugins handles the compression and un-compression of files using the popular zip algorithm. For anybody who’s unfamiliar with zip files, the most common usage is when you need to group several related files into a “package” so it’s easier to move them around and share them with others. For example, if you contract a set of artwork from a designer, he/she can compress them into a zip archive and send them via email, Dropbox, etc. All of the artwork will be contained in that one file with the .zip extension, and when you open it locally, the file will “unzip” and all of the files will be available to you, exactly as the designer intended. Another use of zip files is to compress one large file into a smaller overall .zip file. The format and type of the original file will dictate the amount of compression achieved, but in virtually every instance, you’ll save valuable storage space.

Why is this important to mobile app developers? For one, you gain the ability to expand your app’s contents. You can create a zip file containing expansion art and sounds, download it into your app, unzip it, and use those assets. Secondly, you can now produce zip files which you can upload to web servers for distribution.

In today’s tutorial, let’s examine how to download a zip file from a web server, unzip the contents, and show a list of the files within.

Using Corona Plugins

Corona Plugins are “managed” from the build.settings file in your core project directory. This makes it easy to add just the specific plugins you need for an app, ultimately resulting in a lighter compiled binary.

To use a plugin, simply add the plugins table within settings and configure the zip plugin within:

settings =
{
   orientation =
   {
      default = "portrait",
      supported = { "portrait", "portraitUpsideDown" },
   },
   plugins = 
   {
      ["plugin.zip"] =
      {
         publisherId = "com.coronalabs",
      },
   },
}

Next, in your main project code, you must require the plugin, similar to how you’d require a core Corona library or external Lua module.

local zip = require( "plugin.zip" )

That’s it! Now you’re ready to use the zip plugin. Note that when you run a project in the Corona Simulator that requires a plugin, you’ll be prompted to download the plugin; this only happens once, when you first use the plugin.

Implementing .zip in Code

Like many API calls in Corona, a callback function is required so that you can determine when the process is complete and then take the appropriate action.

local function zipListener( event )
   if ( event.isError ) then 
      print( "Unzip error" )
   else
      print( "event.name:" .. event.name )
      print( "event.type:" .. event.type )
      if ( event.response and type(event.response) == "table" ) then
         for i = 1, #event.response do
            print( event.response[i] )
         end
      end    
   end
end

Now, let’s use use the network.download API call to retrieve the zip file from a remote server and, in its callback listener, initiate the unzip process. The callback function will list all files that are successfully uncompressed.

local function networkListener( event )

   if ( event.isError ) then
      print( "Network error - download failed" )
   elseif ( event.phase == "began" ) then
      print( "Progress Phase: began" )
   elseif ( event.phase == "ended" ) then
      if ( math.floor(event.status/100) > 3 ) then
         print( "Network error - download failed", event.status )
         --NOTE: 404 errors (file not found) is actually a successful return,
         --though you did not get a file, so trap for that
      else

         local options = {
            zipFile = event.response.filename,
            zipBaseDir = event.response.baseDirectory,
            dstBaseDir = system.DocumentsDirectory,
            listener = zipListener,
         }

         zip.uncompress( options )
      end
   end
end

local params = {}
params.progress = true
local URL = "http://omnigeekmedia.com/coronasdk/test.zip"
network.download( URL, "GET", networkListener, params, "test.zip", system.TemporaryDirectory )

Let’s follow through the process step by step:

1. When network.download finishes, the networkListener function is called.
2. After checking for and catching possible error conditions, create a table of options to pass to the zip plugin. The zipFile and zipBaseDir will be given to you in the network.download “event” table. Optionally, you can specify whether to unzip all files or just some files — see the documentation for details.
3. Provide the destination directory as dstBaseDir and the zipListener function that you wrote (above) will handle the rest!

In Summary…

As you can see, using the zip plugin is simple! Just include the plugin in your build.settings file, set up a basic callback function, and pass a table of options to the plugin. For full details and instructions on how to use the zip.compress() and zip.list() APIs, please review the following documentation:

Plugin Documentation (zip.*) — http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/plugin/zip/

Finally, before we conclude today’s tutorial, there are just a few more important points:

1. Currently, the zip plugin is only available to Corona SDK Pro subscribers using Daily Build #1115 and above.
2. zip files can contain executable code which can be problematic, in particular on Windows machines. Please do not open zip files from unknown sources, and keep your virus scanning software up-to-date.
3. On iOS, since you are downloading easily retrievable data, Apple expects those files to go into the system.CachesDirectory.
4. On Android, remember to enable Internet access as detailed here.

Questions or comments? Please provide your input below.

• Sponsorpay
• Tap for Tap
• inneractive
• Green Throttle
• Carrot

It’s great partners like these that enable Corona developers to access the best new functionality and 3rd party services. In particular, today’s batch span a wide variety of services from app advertising to cross-promotion and value-exchange ads, from social campaigns to game controllers.

You can see more information at the Corona Plugin Directory. You’ll notice a “Docs” link below each partner that’s got all the technical docs you’ll need to use the plugin in your app. In the coming days, you will see more info from these partners about their services and why you should use them.

Just keep in mind that, for now, you need access to daily builds to use these plugins.

This is just the first wave. We have more partners coming in the next few weeks, adding to the growing list of additional features and services you’ll want to use in your apps. As you can see, Corona plugins are going to play an increasingly important role in your apps.

Corona core gets lighter

Another things that is happening this week is that the core Corona engine is about to get lighter.

Last week, I talked about our plans to move certain services into plugins that currently reside in the core Corona engine.

That move is happening this week. In tomorrow’s daily build (after 1115), the following services will be moved into plugins:

• iAds: iOS
• InMobi: iOS + Android
• Inneractive: Android

This will make the core even smaller than it already is.

We’ll also be rolling out a new “Plugins” section in our daily build docs where you can get details on the ‘build.settings’ changes needed to use those plugins in your device builds. Again, this will start in tomorrow’s daily builds.

Plugins for Enterprise

Two final notes for Corona Enterprise users.

First, we plan to make plugin binaries available to you soon. These plugins will probably be available as a separate download. That’s because plugins will generally be the same across daily builds.

Second, if you are using Corona Enterprise and you require InMobi or inneractive, the corresponding plugin binaries will not be available immediately. So if you use those services, stay on 1115 or earlier for now. These will be available in the separate download I mentioned above.

We’re going to have more plugin announcements in the coming weeks, but after Memorial Day, what I’d like to get back to in the weekly updates is more eye candy. With that in mind, if you have a favorite filter effect, let me know!

Oh, and if you happen to be in the Big Apple today, we’re exhibiting at AppNation, hosting a panel on app monetization, and also crashing the Corona NYC meetup to share the latest and greatest.

This week we hung out with Ed Maurina, Gerald Bailey, Jesse Warden, Matthew Chapman, and Richard Harris to discuss memory management in Corona SDK. Ed did an excellent job of explaining the sample app he created after one of our previous Hangouts where we discussed Storyboard. His app demonstrates how memory is affected when objects are set to nil at various stages of development. Ed agreed to post his code on GitHub, so we’ll post a link to his code once that is available. We also talked about the announcements at Google IO, the ongoing Dilbert contest, and COPPA Privacy Policies.

Corona Labs T-Shirt Winner

Congratulations to Theo Rushin, Jr. for winning this week’s Corona Labs’ t-shirt. For your chance to win, follow Corona Geek on Twitter and Facebook, and complete the Corona Geek giveaway form.

Thank you for watching, we’ll see you on next week’s Corona Geek hangout!

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In Tomb Breaker, your goal is to clear as many gem tiles as possible by swiping across tiles to make chains. The more tiles you clear in one swipe, the more points you’re awarded. As you collect gems and purchase game powerups, you can also score breaking crossovers, clears, and combos. And, if you’re feeling competitive, you can challenge friends on Game Center or on Facebook, or you can play against your own high score.

This catchy puzzle game is available for free on iTunes – give it a play!

I would also recommend that anyone interested in this topic read this blog post by ACT 4 Apps for a general overview and to understand what constitutes Personally Identifiable Information.

I will approach this in 3 sections:

1) Data collected by Corona Labs – We have always been very clear that we collect basic information from Corona-based apps via our “LaunchPad analytics”. The information collected includes:

• Device type and OS
• An app identifier – this is a string that identifies the Corona app. It does not include any end user info.
• App session time and lengths – this is data on the end user’s usage of the app, but not any personal info.
• IP address – this is the IP address related to the user’s phone connection to the Internet
• Hashed/anonymized MAC address – this is an identifier of the end user’s device

Please note that we no longer collect UDIDs, although the *anonymized* MAC address does serve as a device identifier. All data collection for analytics purposes needs some type of device identifier, otherwise the data would be almost useless.

VERY IMPORTANTLY, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN POSSIBLE TO TURN COLLECTION OF THIS DATA OFF. This is documented in several places, but here I will direct you to the Analytics section of our Project Configuration guide.

The way to turn this data collection off is by adding the following code to your app’s config.lua file:

application =
{
launchPad = false,
}

Once your app includes that line of code, CORONA LABS DOES NOT COLLECT ANY DATA from your end users’ app sessions.

One final point on this: even in the cases when we do collect this data (i.e., when you have not turned it off), we NEVER share this data with any third parties. The data is only used as a way to give you basic analytics on your apps and by us in aggregate form to get some basic data on the Corona ecosystem.

2) Data collected by 3rd party services – Of course, Corona allows you to use a number of 3rd party services (e.g., ad networks, analytics services, etc.). We cannot control what data those services may or may not collect. It is up to you, the app developer, to make sure you know what data those 3rd parties collect and act accordingly.

If you turn off the Corona “LaunchPad analytics” but still decide to use a 3rd party service, it is possible that you are sending data to those 3rd parties via their libraries/SDKs even if we (Corona Labs) are not collecting any data.

3) Privacy policies – Finally, as we mentioned back in December, we think it is important for all developers to know what data they are using/sending and to have privacy policies that accurately reflect this.

To help with this, we have published a Privacy Policy for App Users that explains what data is being collected, if any, by Corona Labs.

We recommend that your app have a privacy policy that lists any 3rd party services used in your app, and that links back to this Corona Labs policy – this will ensure that you are informing your users of any data that is being collected.

As a proof point and also for a Google I/O demo, we also worked with Aaron at AppAbove Games to integrate Google Play game services into his fantastic Corona-based game, Chip Chain. The new version of his game, which has support for the new Google functionality is now up on Google Play. Try it out!

We’re excited about all the new innovation happening in gaming and related cloud services and we are working hard to make as much of it available to Corona developers as possible.