Corona: A Powerful and Free Cross-Platform 2D Game Engine
Corona is an exceptional 2D game engine that offers a plethora of features for developers. It stands out for its cross-platform capabilities, allowing you to create projects once and publish them on multiple device types, including mobile devices like Apple iPhone and Android phones, as well as desktop systems and even connected TVs.
Overview
The engine is unlimited in its potential. It's powerful yet free, with no hidden fees or royalties. Whether you're an indie developer or a large publisher, you can enjoy its core functionality without any cost. It's based on Lua, an open source scripting language known for being lightweight, fast, and powerful, which has been used in many popular game franchises.
Core Features
One of the key features is the availability of numerous plugins. You can select from a wide range of them to extend the Corona core for various functions such as in-app advertising, analytics, and media. Additionally, if you need to access a native library that isn't already in the core or supported by a plugin, you can call any native (C/C++/Obj-C/Java) library or API using Corona.
Another great aspect is its speed and performance. From the bleeding-fast OpenGL graphics to the lightweight scripting power of Lua, Corona is optimized at every core level. Your apps are automatically compiled at build time, ensuring performance and stability.
Basic Usage
Getting started with Corona is relatively easy. You don't need to learn a huge IDE like Visual Studio or Unity. If you know how your code editor works, you're basically good to go. You can update your code, save the changes, and instantly see the results in the instant-update Simulator. When it's time to test on real devices, you build and deploy your app just once and then see code/assets update automatically over your local network.
Compared to some other game development tools, Corona offers a more streamlined and efficient process. For example, it takes less time to make a game using Corona due to the highly iterative nature of using Lua, as noted by John Romero. Overall, Corona provides a great platform for developers to bring their game and app ideas to life.
