From the Forum — Issue #98

13 November 2015

From the Forum — Issue #98

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!

TestFlight feedback integration to get you in the air

TestFlight has faced some stiff competition in recent months. There are a plethora of alternatives to the original iOS beta testing service, and since Apple purchased them a while back, some of the fun hacks and workarounds don’t really work that well any longer.

However, now we’ve got one good reason to start using TestFlight again. A longtime Corona developer has shared a quick snippet with the community, that adds a TestFlight “feedback” button to your app or game. They state that it has helped increase the amount of comments they have received on their app so far, and as we all know, the more eyeballs you can get on your app prior to release increases the likelihood all bugs will be ironed out before full release.

Click over to the original thread to grab this seriously cool hint!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60096-testflight-beta-feedback-button/

Abiding can get you a long way

With another in a long line of “post-development optimization” conferences under my belt, my mind always turns to ways I can make my development time count as much as possible. Updating assets after the fact is my best solution, making download sizes smaller, installation times shorter, and end users happier.

A lot of conversation has taken place online about how to operate within Apple’s guidelines when it comes to this post-installation downloading of app assets. One important detail is that, for a multitude of reasons, executable code cannot be downloaded by your apps.

A developer recently asked what assets can be downloaded remotely by Corona developed apps, and another super-dev hooked them up with a dandy of a snippet that relates to getting some updated images into the field of play. Head on down to the original thread to check it out right now!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/60092-abiding-by-apples-terms/

tvOS is ready to be explored!

When it comes to consumer-facing software, getting your apps onto the next big platform is essential to getting in on the gold rush. Being a game available on at (or as close to) launch day can be the difference between a mint, and a pile of pennies.

When tvOS came out for the new Apple TV, the Corona community clamored for support. Normally, Corona is perfectly happy to let a new technology ripen before they start to dig their claws into it. This is a double-edged sword, as the ease of use of Corona means that getting apps and games up and running quickly on all financially viable platforms is a legitimate business model. So, when developers miss out on this bite at the apple, well, they get kinda hungry.

But you don’t come here for witty puns, you come here for the hottest forum news. And it doesn’t get much hotter than the below thread, which treats us to some cool “proof of concept” video of an app running right on tvOS, and a discussion on which Corona APIs are working right out of the box. Head down and check it out now!

https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/59069-tvos-apple-tv

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.