From the Forum — Issue #79

03 July 2015

From the Forum — Issue #79

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. Lost in the Amazon, looking for ads

We’re starting off this week with a quick PSA. In pursuing the quest to build and deploy to Amazon devices, in affect, everything is the same as an Android build. Where you might run into trouble, is implementing ads in general, and Admob in particular. The Admob plugin can be a bit finicky when it comes to which platforms it’s built for, and will complain with a full stop if included incorrectly.

Developer mark_steelman found this very problem, and was having a tough time finding a solution. This was ongoing for a while, until recently, when he found that removing the platform string from the build.settings file allowed him to build and upload to the Amazon app store. Head on down to the original post to see the genius in action!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/53497-issue-with-admob-in-an-amazon-build/

2. Is the glass half empty, or half full?

Since Graphics 2.0 was introduced, Corona developers have been kicking the tires on all of the new bells and whistles to which we were given access. One of my favorites has always been the .fill() API. I really can’t get enough of all of those different filters, and I love to experiment and see what I can do with each.

Recently, a Corona developer was wondering if that object.fill call can be used to incrementally fill an object, which would serve as a container. It’s an interesting idea, and a couple of devs threw their hats into the ring to see if they could figure out the best way. In the end, esteemed lua aficionado StarCrunch strutted in and slammed down a Gist that demonstrates the solution to this concept.

Head on down to take a look at the solution he provided, and if you have any questions, please feel free to add them in!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/57562-how-can-fill-color-an-object-area-via-a-specific-percent/

3. The irresistible pull

There have been quite a few questions from new developers trying to merge dynamic interactions from a user with interactible physics objects. In the past, the Corona community would warn folks off of this option, opting to suggest a combination of touch functionality and transitions to achieve the desired effect. One specific popular functionality is the dragging of a physical object, and having other physics objects treat the moving object normally.

I’ve highlighted some other ways to achieve this without using the physics engine, but now, using touch joints, you can get this effect without having to resort to workarounds. True, you can still use the other methods and you might get the desired result, but with that touch joint, you might just get what you want without having to sacrifice.

Head on down to the original thread to see some of the suggestions posited by the experienced Corona community!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/57654-how-do-i-stop-a-draggable-physic-object-from-going-through-a-wall/

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.