Mobile App Development with Corona

Mobile App Development with Corona: Getting Started
By: Brian G. Burton, Ed.D.
Foreword by: Carlos Icaza, Co-founder, Ansca Mobile, Inc.
Publisher: Burtons Media Group
Pages: 436

Formats: eBook price: $29.99 (ePub, mobi, pdf)
ISBN: 978-1-937336-00-4
Contact sales@BurtonsMediaGroup.com for volume purchases.

Download a Sample Chapter

Download Code Samples & Resource Files

Description:

Corona SDK allows the mobile app and game developer to create for multiple platforms at the same time.  With the ability to develop for Apple iOS and Google Android, you can turn your idea into the next best selling app! Create apps in less time for multiple markets and mobile devices without tedious rewriting. Includes multiple app examples and how to make top-down and tower defense games!  Mobile App Development with Corona: Getting Started is designed to be used as a guide to learn mobile app and game development on your own.
Current Version: 1.07

Code Samples and Resource Files

NOTE: This book is also available on Amazon, Kobo, and Apple’s iBookstore.
Due to Amazon & Kobo pricing policy it was necessary to break this book into three parts.  Each part is available individually for $9.99 USD.

Updates:
Version 1.07- Corrected some formatting issues with ePub & mobi editions.
Version 1.06-  Updated name change from Ansca Mobile to Corona Labs.  Removed references in chapter 14 to Papaya and Virtual Credits that have been depreciated in current version of Corona SDK.
Version 1.05- Minor textual corrections (no program changes) to fix typos.

Chapters:

1) Hello World: Setup and Get Going!
Getting Started
Software: Corona
Software: Android
Software: iOS
Development Hardware: Corona
Development Hardware: Test Devices
Publishing Considerations
Lua
Programing in Corona: Editors
Configuring Corona
Programming in Corona: Hello World V1.0
Project 1.1: Hello World V2.0
Summary

2) Buttons and Text
Know your Boundaries
Project 2: Button Fun
Functions
Project 2.1: Button Fun V2
Summary

3) Animation, Alpha & Orientation
Animation
Project 3: Basic Animation
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Project 3.1: Alpha Fun
Orientation change
Project 3.2: A New Orientation
Summary

4) Fill in the Blanks
Textfield
Project 4: Simple Calculator
Device Builds
Summary

5) All Thing Graphic
Vector Graphics
Project 5: Vector Shapes
Bitmap Graphics
Resolution
Scaling
Masking
Sprite Sheets
Project 5.1: Uniform Sprites
Project 5.2: Non-uniform Sprites
Summary

6) User Interface
Resources
Build.Settings
Config.lua
UI.Lua
Adding Sound
Project 6: Beat-box
Summary

7) MultiView Applications
Hiding the status bar
Groups
Project 7: Group Movement
Modules and Packages
Project 7.1: External Library
External Libraries
Project 7.2: Creating a Splash Screen
Summary

8)  Phun with Physics
Turn on Physics
Scaling
Bodies
Project 8: Using Force
Gravity
Project 8.1: Playing with Gravity
Collision Detection
Joints
Project 8.2: Wrecking Ball
Summary

9)  Creating a Game with Corona
Game Design
Dragging Objects
Collision Detection
Reducing Overhead
Game Loop
Summary

10)  Star Explorer Continued
Splash screen
Performance Improvement
Building for Multiple Devices
Playing on Multiple Levels
Summary

11)   Media Makes the World Go Round
Working with Sound
Sound File Types (Revisited)
Where Did I Put That File?
Multimedia API
Project 11: Simple Audio Recorder
Video Playback
Camera
Project 11.1: X-Ray Camera
Summary

12)   File Storage & SQLite
File IO Considerations
Reading Data
Implicit vs Explicit File Manipulation
Writing Data
JSON
SQLite
Project 12: Reading a SQLite Database
Project 12.1 Writing to a SQLite Database
Summary

13)  Waiting on Tables
Table vs. Table: Clearing up the Confusion
Tools for Tables
Project 13: Creating a Simple Table View
Project 13.1: Table View from SQLite
Summary

14) It’s Who you Know: Networking
Web Services
HTTP
Project 14: Picture Download – Via Network Library
Socket
Project 14a: Picture Download – Via Socket Library
Tracking Network Status
Uploading to a Webserver
Connecting to Propritary Networks
Facebook
OpenFeint
inMobi
Pubnub
Project 14.1: Multi-User App
Summary

15)  Working with Widgets & Popups
Widgets
Widget Themes
Widget.newButton
Widget.newTabBar
Widget.newSlider
Widget.newTableView
Widget.newScrollView
Widget.newPickerWheel
Removing Widgets
Project 15: Longitude and Latitude
Web Popups
Summary

16)   Building a Tower Defense Game
Rotten Apples – Inspiration and Resources
Adding Sprite Animations
I Need a Map!
Two Roads Diverged
Space, The Final Frontier
Rat Race
On Your Mark…
Reducing Collisions
Take the Shot – Taking Care of Collisions
Are We There Yet? – adding the clubhouse
Adding Towers: Dragging Towers to the Screen
What’s the Score?
Let’s Get this Game Going!
Closures
Initialization
Loop-De-Loop!
Level and Wave Control
Noises Off!
Suspense is Killing Me!  - adding suspend/resume/save options
It’s a Splash – add splash screen
Summary

17) Additional Resources
BBEdit
Corona Comic
Corona Project Manager
Corona Remote
CoronaUI
Crawlspace
Director
Icon robot
Kwik
LevelHelper
Lime
Physics editor
SpriteHelper
Spriteloq
Texture Packer
Tiled
Useful Websites

Appendix A: The Lua Language
Appendix B: Advanced Lua