From the Forum — Issue #71

08 May 2015

From the Forum — Issue #71

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. Gear up for the dispatch

Of all the different APIs available within Corona SDK, one of the least understood and most versatile is object:dispatchEvent(). Incredibly useful when implemented correctly, it can save you a lot of time and trouble, keeping your code DRY and, most of all, maintaining your sanity.

Corona developer RoamingGamer shares my outlook on this powerful feature. In the below forum post, he answers some questions regarding possible pitfalls and how to apply the API to it’s greatest effect. Check it out below, but first, a disclaimer: The original thread discusses some high-level OOP code with metatables.

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/56574-how-to-arrange-for-a-dispatchevent-listener-to-have-access-to-my-class-instance-scope-see-code-attached/

2. The best kinds of trails for your game

Is there a cooler effect than having exhaust trailing and slowly dissipating from a projectile in a game? It’s a visceral image that lends some serious texture to your gameplay, lends it some gamer cred, and helps get the word out that you know what you’re doing in the code department.

Great! You’ve decided to put them in your game. Now, you need to decide how to get that perfect effect in there. Well, the below thread has you covered. It talks about some interesting ways to get this feature to work with very little overhead, from folks who know their way around a sweet game or three. Check it out, and if you have your own suggestion, please share it with the class!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/56536-super-cool-missile-trails/

3. Overlay effects have been liberated!

Having the ability to add, remove, and modify all aspects of your project helps us Corona developers create the perfect app. Crafting an amazing user interface, amazing physics, and everything else you can cram in there will give you the leg up when you hit the market.

And so I bring you another RoamingGamer gem. These are some very cool overlays that he discussed on a recent Corona Geek episode, nicely packaged up and put on Github for the enjoyment and benefit of the community! Head down to the original thread to find a bit more about this module, and if you have any scene transitions of your own, feel free to let us know in the forum.

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/56579-composer-showoverlay-effects-not-working/

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 Crosstown Smash on iOS, Android, and Amazon devices!