Lua programming language in Corona! You’re gonna be my language of choice for at least a year. Please treat me nice. 🙂
There are a lot of game apps in which I can make with Corona!
- Donut games
- Plague. Inc
- Infinite run game
- Stupidness
and many more!
For a start, the syntax is really easy. But I skipped through it alot because it’s too easy and find myself stumble and a few stumbling blocks is code is really turning you off. I should go through the tutorials, and follow the following steps to make me familiarise with it!
- supportforum/stackoverflow type
- sample codes
- config file – how to deal with various android screen size
- IDE – corona editor
- Test phone – Nexus 4
- 2hr of studying/developing in Corona EVERYDAY.
So far the progress seems to be OK. I’ve successfully added a few images. First step is better than no steps at all!
I was torn between posting this or the next post first. This post includes overview of current situation, what I’ve learn from the past and where can I go in the future. The next post is about CoronaSDK and Lua programming language, which acts as intermediate medium before I proceed to my future which is native gaming with XCode, Android and BlackBerry Cascades with a game company / self funded company.
Current, then long term or the other way round?
I went for the latter. Setting a goal and direction is important, and I can talk about where can I go from here. But it’s the first step that is the hardest, and it requires all your heart and soul to thread this path. Life is a journey inside a jungle. You yearn to reach the place that you wanted, but you need to take it one step at a time, putting all your effort in walking the road and hoping it’ll lead you to there. So here goes.
I’m more comfortable in iOS with XCode because the nature of my work, the devices that I have with provisioning profile, the tools, the mentor, colleague, job description, abundant sample code in stackoverflow, the richest ecosystem with the most return, and many more. There are so many reasons for me to develop in XCode.
But.
- 99USD entry price for Apple Developer, in which I think I’ll burn it off.
- Me against EA, Gameloft, Supercell? Not a chance.
- Me against Don Nguyen, Tiny Wings and many indie developer? I don’t even have a graphic designer!
- I’m terrible in drawing. Half of the app gone. I can try pixel art but there’s no guarantee.
There you go. So for the time being, my strategy is going after Amazon app store and BlackBerry World! Search for any apps that is missing inside those two platform, and clone it. Amazon app store I need to target Kindle Fire devices, and BlackBerry devices. Not too hard eh…
Anyway the first step is always the hardest. Before proceeding, let’s take Amazon App Store and BlackBerry World by storm!
Interesting times ahead! Following the announcement that Adobe AIR isn’t supported in BlackBerry OS 10.3, my app is gonna cease user install and coming along with it – revenue!
I HAVE TO REWRITE MY APPS TO SURVIVE! Which mean
- new programming language is needed
- new tools to familiarise
- R&D all of the shit
- 4 years plus of Adobe AIR experience down the drain
Well, not quite down the drain. It has given me foundation on how to code and write apps, which is extremely helpful. I still can recall my first app which is a Calendar app that transition Windows metro-like when select different month. It was cool and nostalgic. My first app that wins me a BlackBerry Playbook…;’) Will upload the pic here next time if I found it! And a post to thank BlackBerry and recap everything is definately needed 🙂
HUGE week at BlackBerry Live. Q5, BBM Channel AND BBM Cross-platform. BBM.Cross.Platform. Sounds crazy? You bet. Here I’m going to analyse what does all this means for BlackBerry.
I’ll start off with the negativity surrounding recent BlackBerry announcement:
Q: “BBM Cross platform means one less reason to buy BB devices”
Yes, it’s true. The idea of HTC One/ iPhone with BBM? Most users would be tempted, including me.
Q: “Announcement of Q5 would put many Q10 buyers on hold”
Yep, Q10 hasn’t rolled out globally and a cheaper version with not less capability phone announced? I suspect premium price of Q10 will generate more profit than the cheaper Q5. Why announce Q5 when IT’S NOT EVEN LAUNCHED?
It seems like the two announcements does more harm than good for BBRY. But in a longer term, it’ll be a wise move. Read on.
Hardware
-Corporate is still BBRY’s main customer
With each BB10 device sold to company, chances are it comes with BES as well. Normal users only contribute to hardware sales, with BIS now non existance on BB10. Focusing on corporate sales is a no-brainer.
-Z10 and Q10 triumph in corporate but not normal users
I would like to reiterate that most users will purchase iPhone/Samsung S4 instead of BB10. Everybody can argue of the pros and cons in all three of platforms, but the sales number don’t lie. However, in corporate world where security and connectivity triumphs, BB10 devices win hands down. Before the launch of BB10, phones of other platform dominates in BOYD culture. The launch of BB10 and now with BBM cross platform, corporates can employ their new BB10 devices which can BBM with existing BOYD device. Certainly a plus point for corporate.
-Corporate sales far outweighs normal user
Now this is my analyst based on the announcement and the timing of it. With the announcement of BBM cross-platform, more harm is done than good for non-corporate potential buyers. One less reason for them to buy BB10. HTC One with BBM? Sold. Sales for non-corporate buyers will be hurt.
But for BlackBerry willing to hurt the sales of non-corporate while adding value for corporate customer, this shows that the ratio of corporate purchases far outweighs non-corporate purchases.
-Q5 announcement is for the developing countries.
With Q10 hasn’t made it’s full global rollout, it’ll put off a lot of potential buyers as they wanna get a hold on Q5 to see how it works before deciding. Q10’s premium pricing means more profit for BBRY, why announce Q5 and most importantly, now why when it’s not yet even available?
It doesn’t matter, the Q10’s main target is corporate world. Imagine a Fortune top 100 company offered it’s employee Q5 instead of Q10, it will save their wallet but hurts their image. The Q5 is merely a signal for those loyal customers in developing country to hold off in buying cheap Android phones for the time being.
-But why hurt the sales of Q10?
The situation for Q10 and Q5’s market is different. For the Q10 they’ll have to compete with iPhone and Samsung. The Q10’s physical keyboard means that it wins hands down those who wanted a physical keyboard, but it stand no chance for users who prefer a bigger screen and more apps. Q5 IS Q10’s own enemy.
As for the Q5, in developing countries who are once BlackBerry’s stronghold is eaten up by cheap Android devices. Those devices even boost a smaller screen compared to Q5’s, so by announcing Q5 this would make them wait for it rather than jumping ship to Android for the time being.
Profit wise, corporate generates a huge chunk of it. Q10 generates too, but with the announcement of Q5, it means the sales of Q10 will drop slightly, in favor to –
BB10 market share.
Which brings us to the next topic.
Software
-Mobile first approach is winning
For softwares, mobile first approach is crucial. Facebook is developed with web on it’s mind, and now it struggles in terms of mobile revenues. I wouldn’t go as far as saying they failed in mobile apps, but it’ll be interesting to see if any social media is developed mobile first, then web later.
For desktop operating systems, a mobile first, touch friendly approach is going to replace them sooner rather than later. A windows 8 with reskinned touch interface isn’t proving to be much successful right now, while Mac OS does not have touch interface baked in. Mobile OS replacing Desktop OS is just a matter of time, and a matter of WHICH (iOS, Android/Chrome,BB10).
-BB10 is BlackBerry’s future. Period.
BB10 as a mobile computing has been mentioned countless of times by their CEO Thorsten Heins. So far it only meant embedding inside premium cars…but in the future BB10 has to be head and above Android and iOS, in all sense.
But look at the situation now, Android’s activation sky-high, iOS activation stable throughout. Real time, secure , stable OS of BB10 isn’t gonna cut it, they need APPS. As much as the developer’s relation team at BlackBerry evangelise, the default platform for most developer is still iOS and Android, where revenue comes first. Without substancial 3rd party apps, it’s only logical for BlackBerry to produce their own killer apps. And BlackBerry leverage the BEST piece of their app to date, the BBM.
-BBM as a killer-app
One of the things that BlackBerry done right is definitely BBM. BBM for BB10 with screen share, video chat, soon to come channels and groups are miles ahead of other social messaging competators. But locking it down on it’s own OS means that many users are being left out – what is a messaging app without it’s users? The timing of BBM cross platform announcement is rather planned, as CEO Thorsten Heins quote “time for BBM and BB10 flourish on it’s own”. BB10 launch last March needed BBM as one of it’s strong selling point, and 2 months into now BBRY has gain insights where corporate sales dominates, it’s time for them to move on.
Imagine what BBM will replace on all the mobile devices – Skype, Whatsapp, LINE, iMessage, and even social media like Facebook and twitter and instagram will be rendered obsolete if the BBM Channels are executed well enough together with extra features. It’s not a bad position to own a software worthy competitor of 8billion Skype and 100billion Facebook isn’t it?
Apart from dominating the social media front, cross-platform BBM can drive sales in BB10 as well. I think BBM will be fully integrated in BB10 while not so compared other platform(due to API constraint, sandboxing). This will only happens once BBM is the default social network for everybody, making it so strong that users won’t mind to adopt the BB10 platform even if it’s missing some apps such as Instagram.
-BB10 might be licensed out
License the OS means more adoption rate for BB10, but less hardware sales for BBRY. Revenue wise this doesn’t make sense currently, as hardware sales still make up most of the revenue. In the future where it’s software revenue exceeds hardware, this is the only logical step to do so.
To summarise, BlackBerry has seen themselves five years ahead. They cannot forgo their hardware sales at this moment, as they need those sales to keep the company afloat. But in five year’s time, with good execution, BlackBerry might see themselves as a software+hardware company, competing head to head with Apple and Google. Execution is most crucial, and exciting times for BlackBerry.
**UPDATE**: It does not. This post was written before Playbook is launched, and poor execution coupled with various reasons make it one of BlackBerry’s flop.
After the announcement of iPad 2 on march 2, together with Motorola Xoom, Samsumg Galaxy Tab and Dell Streak (plus all the cheap made in china tablets) we’re now entering full force into the tablet era. In the midst of carrier backed Google and electronics giant Apple, there’s a new tablet which is rumored to be shipping at April. The Blackberry Playbook. While it isn’t running in Android nor iOS, it’s running on system based on the newly acquired QNX. And it could prove to be a winner. Here’s why: Read more…
There’s just too many stuff in my mind I wanted to share it out, so I created this blog. Hope you all enjoy it!
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