From the Forum — Issue #9

28 February 2014

From the Forum — Issue #9

Welcome to the ninth 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. A Funny Tweet Happened on the Way to the Coliseum…

From a Corona developer standpoint, a great way to send tweets from apps without having to fool with oAuth, tokens, getting your Twitter developer account approved, etc., is to simply use a native.showWebPopup(). Stroll over to the original post, started by fellow developer spjnowak, to see how this Twitter implementation method can revolutionize your apps and make them even harder to put down!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/7727-easy-twitter-integration/

2. The Labyrinthine Reaches of Google Play Game Services

Leaderboards and social interaction go together like peanut butter and carrots, or at least I think that’s how it goes — but seriously, the steps to get GPGS working (while well-documented) require use of the command line, generation of SHA keys, and more. All of this is very important, but it’s not for the uninitiated.

In addition, getting GPGS leaderboards into your Android apps can be a bit daunting. From the SHA hash to the numerous additional steps required to get GPGS into your game, you might find yourself shelving these steps.

Fortunately, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Corona developer lKinx has created a nice module which takes care of the sign-in steps for the GameNetwork function that Corona offers. What are you waiting for? Fly over to the forum and check out this piece of GPGS goodness for yourself!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/44198-wow-steps-to-set-a-simple-leaderboard-in-google-play-services-console/#entry231498

3. Stand Up, be Counted, and Get Rewarded Too!

Rewarding users for downloading your app and inviting new users to participate is great way to leverage Facebook and its “request” structure. We all like receiving gifts in the real world, so the virtual world is no different.

Implementing this functionality in your app, however, is another animal altogether. Finding a flow that sits well between the giver, app, and receiver is a tricky proposition. In addition, it can be tough to sort out the GET requests coupled with “session” types at the correct intervals.

Fortunately, the following forum thread talks about the best workflow for implementing Facebook requests to share your app. Head on over to the original post and get some valuable tips!

http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/39229-invite-friends-from-facebook-and-reward-user/

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!