Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
• You are stuck with iOS. There is no native support for Android, so you will
have to port to JavaScript.
• Objective-C has a fairly steep learning curve; so previous experience with
C++ is recommended.
Being approved by Apple and with almost 3000 titles available on the Apple Store
developed with this tool, Cocos2D is definitely a good choice for any indie mobile
team interested in making 2D games.
You may want to check the following link for a list of best practices when using Co-
cos2D:
Corona SDK
Corona SDK is another mobile-oriented engine, which allows developing 2D games
for the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It is based on OpenGL libraries and C++
programming language, though it also integrates scripting with Lua.
Corona's advantages are as follows:
• The use of Lua makes it easy to compile for iOS and Android from the same
code base. This saves time and money for multiplatform development. Lua
is a very efficient scripting language, resulting in a fraction of the number of
lines of code than needed in Objective-C for example.
• It supports standard physics libraries such as Box2D.
• It has a strong community of people to help with development issues.
• Corona offers built-in support for the distinctive hardware features of today's
smartphones, such as the accelerometer, the GPS, the compass, and the
camera.
• This engine offers a very interesting licensing policy, you can download the
engine and use all of its features for free, and then pay only if you wish to
create builds for the iOS or Android (though they have separate costs).
And now the downside of Corona SDK:
• Android support is pretty bad, causing any kind of flaw you can imagine.
