And when it arrived, I loved the iPhone.  But, just like millions of others through the next few years, I was eventually disenfranchised.  Not with the phone, mind you, but with the carrier that Apple partnered with.

• AT&T started us out at a decent $20 per month for unlimited 2G data plus 200 text messages, but increased to $30 per month for unlimited 3G data and made you pay separately for text messages.
• When the iPad came out, there was a 3G version with AT&T.  Separate device, separate monthly fee.  Did you know that other carriers allowed sharing the data plan for customers who had both an iPhone and an iPad 3G?  Not AT&T, not anytime soon…  that’s just too much good money to pass up on.
• $30 per month for unlimited 3G data soon keeled over and got replaced with $25 per month for just 2GB data, or $15 per month for a paltry 200MB of data.  Most customers, so they say, fall in the 200MB category.  Try surfing to CNN.com or WSJ.com a few times, and see how quickly 200MB gets eaten up.  That tier is rather insulting.
• When tethering was introduced to the iPhone, I could literally hear and feel AT&T salivating over the idea of charging an additional $20 per month just to flip a switch.  Only with enough outcry did they add an extra 2GB allotment to that charge, but I bet you even that amount was given with AT&T kicking and screaming all the way to the dotted line.
• On top of it all, their service and performance just got worse and worse as every year of their exclusivity passed.  They were chastised by the masses, ridiculed by the media, and the punchline of many jokes.  Mind you, AT&T laughed all the way to the bank each quarter, until the vitriol got so deafening that they had to act.

True to their core, they didn’t “act” in the right way – as in, using their billions in profit to quickly and properly expand their network to handle all the influx of new customers each month, but with public relations damage control.  WTF?  We were mistreated with douchebag “Seth the Blogger Guy” (even with a stupid name, he must be one of us, so it’s cool, right? *wink*) and a absolutely pointless multimillion dollar “Rethink Possible” campaign.  All this simply fueled the idea that they just never understood the customer, or at least as much as they understood their balance sheet.  Sure, we could all get AT&T 3G MicroCells at our own expense to augment their overpriced, overburdened network, but believe it or not, they have the audacity to charge additional for unlimited use on it as well, and that’s going through the internet connection you have to provide!

Granted, Verizon quelled the hurt of many customers who wanted the iPhone when the CDMA version came out, but even with their own pricey plans, they began to limit paying customers by throttling grandfathered unlimited data users, while also generously handing out overage charges, just like AT&T is doing right now.

Enter Sprint: the latest U.S. carrier to get the iPhone.

Apple almost gave everyone in the United States the ability to use the wireless carrier of their choice for the next generation of iPhone.  Why T-Mobile was left out remains a mystery, but we now have the choice of three carriers: AT&T, Verizon, and now Sprint.

As you probably have seen, there are comparison charts popping up all over the internets speculating the costs to own an iPhone 4/4S on the various carriers.  But, I’m a family guy with five iPhones on my account.  How does it stack up for a guy like me?

Let’s backtrack a bit.

My kids, 9, 6, and 4, love the iPhone as much as I do.  They are all technically savvy like their daddy.  But, I’m not about to have them deal with an iPod touch as well as a dumb phone with an even dumber user interface.  Apple made the phone simple enough that my youngest was able to use it at the age of 2.  So, I handed them the older model as the new ones came out.  But, herein lies a problem: my kids don’t really need data, and I definitely don’t need to pay $15 to $30 per child per month just to have a smartphone.

On multiple occasions, I had to fight with AT&T customer service to remove the data plans off my kids’ hand-me-down iPhone 2G’s, and they finally budged if and only if it was the original iPhone.  As soon as I slip that SIM card into an iPhone 3G or better, it’s that instant $15 to $30 per month tacked onto my bill, no questions asked.  To add injury to insult, AT&T refuses to this day to legitimately unlock any generation of their iPhones, i.e. for use on T-Mobile (the only carrier that doesn’t require a data plan on smartphones), regardless if you satisfied the terms of your contract period.

Not-so-impressive results for AT&T's 3G network. Not so impressive for smoke signal communication either.

But, none of that matters when I can’t make a simple phone call on AT&T.  What good is a killer app if you can’t use it?! Even with full bars, I experience the dreaded “Call Failed” screen on a daily basis (I’m convinced that the firmware update to “recalculate” and reshape the signal bars was nothing more than a placebo effect).  People call me and my phone doesn’t ring.  I get voicemails hours later.  I open up Safari and it can’t pull up a simple web page.  Of course, all of this usually happens when I need it most.  Apple blamed AT&T, AT&T blamed Apple.  I replaced my iPhones, my SIM cards, I called and got credit off my monthly bill every so often when they occasionally tell me things like “there are downed towers in my vicinity.”  Seriously, should this be the status quo for a typical AT&T customer?

The time has come.  My children’s iPhone 2G’s are also just too old and slow to use, forever stuck in iOS 3.1.3.  I could just upgrade them to the 8GB iPhone 4′s for an easy $99 with contract, but they’ll be forced into three horrible choices: a $15 data plan for 200MB or a $25 data plan for 2GB, both of which are very trigger-happy for overages by AT&T, or $30 for an unlimited data plan (since I may actually be able to go the “grandfathered iPhone data plan” route), but they’ll be subject to throttling at AT&T’s sole discretion.  I’m already paying in excess of $175 per month for our 700-minute family plan, which does not include any text plans, only two unlimited data plans, and AT&T’s FamilyMap service for all five phones.  I’ve purchased a couple of iPhone 4′s last year, so I may be in a similar “upgrade pricing” boat to tech blogger Erica Sadun, based on her experience.

Verizon’s lowest 5-family member plan with the only data plan they offer $30 for 2GB totals around $280 per month (maybe $250 with my company’s 12% corporate discount).  And, even if I did jump in before their tiered plans, the unlimited data is also subject to throttling at Verizon’s sole discretion.

Sprint gives me 1,500 minutes for the whole family, plus truly unlimited 3G data for all five iPhones, unlimited calls to any other wireless carrier, unlimited calling starting at 7PM, and unlimited texting for a lot less than both carriers.  Wow, that’s a lot of good stuff.  How much?  Just over $205 per month with my company’s 12% corporate discount!  With Apple’s free “Find My iPhone” and new “Find My Friends” feature, I can forgo any similar feature like AT&T’s FamilyMap for $15 per month.  I wish Sprint had a cheaper plan without unlimited texting since Apple now has iMessage, but I’m still faring much better with Sprint’s plans.  And, they’re signal strength, call quality and reliability, and data throughputs are just fine.  What a concept!

While I’ve been against wireless carriers for imposing data plans on smartphones, especially those equipped with Wi-Fi, I’ve temporarily surrendered to the idea of having data plans on all my family’s phones, especially if they’re truly unlimited, and the price difference from what I’m paying now for AT&T’s shitty service is negligible.  I just don’t want to have any worries about having to go over a tier and getting charged for it.  I don’t want any worries about being throttled and waiting until the next billing period to get back to regular 3G speed.  I’m not going to jailbreak my iPhone and install MyWi to pull 20GB a month like some pricks who ruin it for others, but if I want to enjoy a movie on Netflix or watch Real Time with Bill Maher with the SlingPlayer app every now and then, I really shouldn’t have to stop and think and calculate against some arbitrary usage counter.

Which also brings up another good point:  AT&T snobbishly released a statement saying that their iPhone is better than other carriers’ iPhones.  Well, with all this talk about utilizing blistering 14.4Mbps 4G HSPA+ speeds, stop and ask yourself this:

What good is that speed if you’re going to hit a limit that much faster?!

Try buying a Ferrari that you can drive 200 mph only for the first 20 miles, to which you’ll be forced to drive at 35 mph until you reach the state border.  Or, if you’re of the tiered flavor, how would it feel if you have to pay hefty tolls every 20 miles to be allowed to maintain that speed?  Is it still worth it, month after month?  The device is only as good as it’s carrier.  Since all the iPhones are the same, their notoriously dropped calls, unworthy data plans, and piss-poor reliability easily makes AT&T the worst choice possible for a carrier of the iPhone, let alone any other device on their network.  Skewed surveys and select people will say otherwise, but real-world experience tells me otherwise and that it’s a hit-or-miss, something that I’m no longer willing to tolerate. AT&T’s network is like driving with an annoying kid in your passenger seat of your Ferrari, yanking on the parking brake at his every whim.  It isn’t fun and downright frustrating.

• I choose reliability over inconsistent speed.
• I choose a better value for my money.
• I choose better customer appreciation.
• I choose a better experience overall.
• I choose Sprint.  So should you.

I got on the horn with Timothy Rupp, Account Manager in Sprint’s Business Marketing Group, who quickly set me up with a preorder on Friday morning for five new iPhone 4′s and 4S’s.  He was incredibly professional, patient, and polite, and I couldn’t be more happy to enter into the world of Sprint in this manner.  If you’re looking to get iPhone 4/4S’s or any products or services, you’re welcome to give Timothy a call at (347) 596-0488 or email him at timothy.rupp@sprint.com.  You’ll be happy you did.  I know I am.  I can’t wait for next Friday.

However, my need for an iPad 2 came a little bit later, as I needed a dedicated device for continued game and app development with Corona SDK. So, when Radio Shack announced their “Earth Day Trade and Save” Giveaway (the grand prize was a 2011 Nissan LEAF) as well as being an additional authorized retailer for the iPad 2, I thought it would be a no-brainer to buy it there. Thus begins my adventure.

Heading over to Radio Shack over the next few days, I was able to trade in a bunch of old phones to ultimately end up with a generous store credit of just over $300. “Not bad,” I thought. “Just $200 more plus tax and I’ll have me another 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2.”

However, finding an iPad 2 at a Radio Shack store proved a bit more difficult than I had initially anticipated, and the fact that the iPad 2 was selling out at Apple stores and other retailers would only exacerbate the problem.

Radio Shack has over 5,000 locations across the United States, but only 500 of those stores are authorized to carry the iPad 2. When you go to their website and search for the iPad 2, you’re brought to this page where it shows a drop-down state list of participating stores, which then updates the page with the stores separated by cities or general areas. Locations only. No telephone numbers. How inconvenient.

So, after Googling and calling almost three dozen stores in New York and New Jersey, I found a store in New Brunswick, NJ that had a 32GB Wi-Fi model in white. “Ok, $100+ tax more for an extra 16GB. I suppose I can make do with that,” I thought to myself.

“The total will be $725,” the store manager responded.

That number seemed a bit high. $599 plus 7% tax is only about $641.

“It’s bundled with AppleCare,” he added.

“I don’t want to buy it with AppleCare now, I just want the iPad 2.”

“I’m not selling it without the AppleCare. It’s a bundle,” he responded arrogantly.

Not looking to lose the opportunity, I made my way down there, thinking maybe I’ll just return the unopened AppleCare box at a later time. Maybe there would be a case, Bluetooth keyboard, or Smart Cover instead I could exchange it with. But the idea of being forced into an additional accessory was something I wasn’t initially prepared for, nor was I generally happy about it.

Quickly, it dawned on me that Radio Shack is a different sort of animal. They’re commission-based, unlike the Apple store. I’m a business guy. I get it. At the same price point, they’re obviously not making any significant profit in selling the iPad 2. They would probably get more profit in selling the warranty. But, not having their phone numbers on their own approved store list seemed just like a mean attempt at getting people into the store for additional and unexpected purchases. None of that mattered when I showed up, as I found out that it was already sold to someone else – as a forced bundle as well, I gathered.

My Radio Shack receipt for the iPad 2 "bundle"

It only took two days before a store in Paterson, NJ had the same model in stock. Same stipulation, though – iPad 2 is sold as a bundle with AppleCare. I raced up the Garden State Parkway and an hour later (nearly twenty minutes of it was looking for any parking spot in the jammed streets of Paterson), and walked into the store.

Mind you, other tablets and devices were sold at many Radio Shack locations as well. The Motorola XOOM was there. So was the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook. There was also some Android-based Pantech e-reader. Then, there were other Apple products, like the iPhone 4 and iPod touch. None of them required an additional warranty nor was part of a bundle not to be sold separately. So, what gives?

The sales representative Stephanie was polite and helpful, but said they couldn’t even ring it up separately. I offered to get another item, such as a Smart Cover, but they wouldn’t budge. Spending more than I anticipated, I reluctantly bought the bundle: 32GB iPad 2 Wi-Fi in white, with the AppleCare warranty, and after $678.99, I was out the door. But, if you know me, you know I wasn’t going to sit quietly. In my opinion, this whole thing felt shady. And I honestly doubted Apple was aware of it.

One of the first things I did was power up the iPad 2 to set up MobileMe. I immediately fired off a detailed email to Steve Jobs at Apple, as I usually do when I come up with something I think is clever, or if have a legitimate complaint about something such as this. I do this “sparingly,” so as to not to seem like some spammer or annoying fanboy. On a side note (and in case Cupertino is reading), some of the things I emailed him in the past four years (in no particular order) that I thought were quite valid:

• adding an LED indicator to the iPhone (with something to the effect of “why waste the energy to power 153,600-614,400 pixels, when one multicolored LED could tell me almost everything I need to know?”)
• enhancing FairPlay DRM protection to better protect iOS binaries
• timer shot in the native Camera app
• native Clock app with alarm clock on the iPad
• better parental controls on the iPhone, including blocking data and restricting calls to approved contacts
• influencing AT&T to stop mandatory data plans
• customizable sounds for email and SMS (ack!)
• investing in GooderVideo MotionPerfect technology for FaceTime over 3G
• better preorder and purchasing experience after the iPhone 4 launch day fiasco (and most iPhone launch days before that)
• “playlist” or categorizing apps in iTunes (I’ve bought or downloaded over 1,500 apps!)
• folders to organize apps and icons on the iPhone (got it!)
• printing from the iPad (got it!)

Needless to say, in those four years, I’ve never received a single reply email from Steve Jobs. I would like to think that some of these ideas managed to make its way to some engineer or developer’s “to-do” list. But, nothing surprised me more than when I received a call from a 408 area code two days after sending that email to sjobs@apple.com.

That phone call came from John Brandon, Apple Vice President of the Americas and Asia Pacific. “I got an email forwarded from Steve Jobs that you sent regarding your shopping experience at Radio Shack and would like to talk to you about it,” was pretty much how it started off.

First, he apologized for my experience and wanted to get all the details. He was absolutely committed in making things right and asked if there was any way he could make it up to me. I’m not a dick – I didn’t want a free iPad 2 or something. I told him that, if anything I would have rather gotten a Smart Cover at purchase than AppleCare, since we usually have the opportunity to buy it within the first year of the purchase date. He offered me a leather Smart Cover with the color of my choosing and told me that he will contact the powers that be at Radio Shack regarding this matter.

Within the next day, I got a call from Radio Shack’s Regional Sales Manager Tom Maria who also apologized for my shopping experience at their stores. I told him that I’d rather not keep the AppleCare and get a refund for the time being, but more importantly, that other potential customers should not be Googling up each store for their phone number, calling them for iPad 2 stock, driving there, only to be forced into buying it as a bundle. He completely agreed with me and told me that it wasn’t company policy to mandate a bundle. He then coordinated with a local Radio Shack store in my area to process a refund, which requires a special override with a manager. Apparently, purchases of AppleCare are immediately funded directly to Apple, so refunds are not usually permitted at the stores. The refund process was smooth and my adventure was finally coming to a close.

So, I got the iPad 2 I sorta wanted (the additional 16GB turned out to be more useful than I thought). I received the tan leather Smart Cover in the mail overnighted by Apple, which I happily gave to my wife in exchange for her grey non-leather Smart Cover (Eschet Chayil, I say). A week passes, and an envelope arrives in the mail from Apple. Enclosed is an AppleCare certificate stating that my iPad 2 would be covered anyway until May 2013. Nice touch, guys.

For Apple to have gone above and beyond the call of duty like this, from getting direct phone calls from the Vice President (and Account Executive Dominic Rapini) at Apple, to the Regional Sales Manager at Radio Shack, plus email correspondences that were CC’ed all over the place including Steve Jobs himself, and complete assurance and follow-up from both sides, it really shows how much it is all about the customer, from the technological aspect in the hardware and software to the consumer aspect in the retail stores. In regards to Radio Shack, I’ll take Mr. Maria’s word that there was no imposed bundle (I actually called other stores in New York, and they never made any mention of a bundle with their iPad 2 sales). So, I’ll chalk it up to the likely effort of some “enterprising” or “aggressive” managers or directors at the store level who wanted to ensure additional sales with those iPad 2′s. And, it’s nice to see that they updated their iPad 2 page with phone numbers next to their store locations, too.

On top of it all, at least I know that people’s emails to sjobs@apple.com are actually going somewhere. The only icing on the cake would have been getting that Nissan LEAF from the Radio Shack giveaway, and/or a direct reply from Steve himself, but nevertheless, it’s mission accomplished: I’m happy with my iPad 2 with its bonus leather Smart Cover and AppleCare warranty, and I’m still an active customer at both Apple and Radio Shack. I had faith they would listen, and they did. I didn’t want anyone to be losing their job over this, unless it was malicious or intentionally deceptive. So, hopefully it’s no harm, no foul.

It didn’t even dawn on me that the sales tax in Paterson was only 3.5%, too. Every little bit helps. All’s well that ends well!

For those in the know, software development is a passion of mine, but, at this time, it’s only at the level of being a hobby to a side-business. It moderately provides supplemental income to my full-time employment as a desktop support technician at a financial services firm in New York City. Of course, my dream would be to create the next hot seller on the App Store so that I could either retire early, develop more software in the comfort of my home around my family for the rest of my life, or reverse the roles to make it a full-time endeavor and just take a part-time job for the advantage of having group medical benefits or something (not like we need it, but damn, it’s expensive!).

Unfortunately, the 87-year-old company I’ve been working at for the last five years has been acquired by another company, so I am keeping my options open in the unlikely event that my position gets nixed in the process. One of the companies I applied to was none other than Apple, Inc. Why not?

Let’s rewind. I should have you know that I switched to a MacBook back in February 2007 as a result of a free Windows Vista upgrade for my Dell XPS M1210 notebook. Needless to say, it was a technological disaster and the final straw that broke this camel’s back. So, thank you, Microsoft, for making me a switcher. (On a side note, AAPL was around $82 a share back then! Doh!) Literally, within a few days, my love for Apple was solidified, and over the years, I’ve picked up the iPod nano, iPhone, AirPort Extreme, iMac, Apple TV, iPhone 3G, mac mini, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G, MacBook Air, iPhone 4, 2G Apple TV, iPad 2, and so on. I figured the next evolution could eventually be being a part of Apple as a bonafide employee. After all, it’s not just the technology we love about them – it’s their synergy, their philosophy, and their attitude towards people that we love just as much. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Mind you, I’m not even touching on the fact that Apple tops many charts from Fortune 500 to the “best companies to work for.”

So, I sent in my resume sometime late last year, and I have been courted by them a few times over the past few months, attending interviews, Hiring Events, and so forth. With my technical support background coupled with customer service and sales experience, I figured that a Genius position would suit me fine. Because they’ve been in contact with me several times, I believe they saw the potential in me, and I mutually showed that enthusiasm by keeping the channels open at various levels.

But, there were a few clouds hanging over me from taking a plunge. For one, the salary is just not there. After all, it is ultimately a retail environment, and it’s just no competition against a corporate salary, especially if I am the sole breadwinner for a family of five in one of the most expensive states in the country. The other big issue is a potentially big one. If I were to become employed at Apple, my ability to create and submit new apps and games on the App Store would definitely be affected, or more likely prohibited. As an employee of Apple, one would have to assume that any creative works made by an employee would be considered intellectual property of Apple, Inc. Also, there could be conflicts of interest, as Apple employees might be privy to additional information or resources that would put them at an unfair advantage over other App Store developers.

As much as I love Apple, it would appear that this is far I could go if I want to continue creating apps or submit songs to iTunes (which I also hope to do in the future). The creative juices that flow will remain mine, and I know that I have a lot of potential as a software developer, especially as Corona SDK continues to improve and expand. All’s well that ends well, I guess.

It’s a bit of a misnomer, but for the iOS platform, Corona can help you produce a “universal binary” app that works beautifully across the iPhone and iPod touch series with or without a Retina Display, and the iPad family. That one feature alone can significantly boost sales for your app, since many iPad users don’t want to use a blown-up iPhone app, and many iPhone 4/iPod touch 4G users don’t like apps that are pixelated. So, when developing, always work in the higher resolutions, and then downscale to accomodate the previous generation devices. Oh, and don’t forget about the extra available screen width on the iPad display! But, that’s just the beginning…

Easy integration with Facebook and OpenFeint (and now Game Center through the OpenFeint system) are great ways to add even more dimension to your app by including the “social” factor. Other platforms don’t offer anything more than an isolated app, making a good experience a rather lonely one. By simply adding a few lines of code, you can connect with other players, see and share your scores, and create challenges through achievements. Did you know OpenFeint offers your loading/saving data to their cloud, a feature custom-built chat room and forums, all inside your app? Don’t forget about that little “Game Center” flag next to your app’s title in iTunes, and also having it listed in other gamers’ rosters of Game Center-enabled games. More exposure, more sales.

Have some web development skills? Tying them into your Corona app can be a cinch with features such as Asynchronous HTTP support that allows you to easily download data from a web server, whether it be an MP3, image, video, a full web page, or even simple results to be read into a variable to a barrage of values to be read into a table. The possibilities become endless, from making a multiplayer trivia game that pulls down questions from an ever-growing web-based database, to downloading additional voiceovers and graphics in other languages as an add-on while keeping the initial “purchase and download” size at minimum. You can also post values back, which can be great for loading/saving your progress to the cloud without having to rely on the device for storage. Even uploading binary files via FTP is possible in Corona. Take a picture or record your voice and send it up to a server! My game Rico: Mercenary for Hire features creating your own assignments and uploading them (with custom backgrounds from your camera!) to our server, where they can be approved and downloaded live to all other users who have Rico: MFH installed, and no running back to the App Store for an update either!

Video playback is great for cutscenes and introductions. Getting the exact model of the device your app is running on and setting the minimum OS version requirement can be crucial in determining what it can and can’t do. There’s nothing more aggravating for a new buyer of your app to be struggling with features their device can’t handle. Instantly get the orientation, not just for games, too. Determine if your app was suspended and resumed, and have your app react accordingly. Make your app look native to iOS with Corona UI. Lastly, add more value to your app and more revenue for your bottom line with in-App purchases.

Got your juices flowing yet? Good! But, we haven’t even scratched the surface yet, as these and many more features are already available to you as soon as you fire up Corona on your Mac or Windows desktop!

Yet, a number of innovative developers have taken Corona even a step further with tools that can make good apps great, and great apps fantastic. Here are a few of these notable add-ons and utilities:

• PhysicsEditor. If you do any sort of game with physics, this is a fantastic utility from code’n'web. It will take your image and fine-tune the shape for more precise collisions, even smartly segmenting it for concave/convex polygons. I have used this application in my upcoming game Feather, where lightning bolts with its unique twists and turns can be easily mapped out for precise collision detection.
• TexturePacker. Another great utility from code’n'web. In fact, they are selling it optionally as a bundle with a reduced price, even though each program’s price tag is a steal in itself. If you do even just one animated sprite in your app, this utility is for you. Taking a bunch of frames and strategically placing it in a large spritesheet for memory optimization and easy access becomes streamlined with TexturePacker and its full-featured GUI. Honestly, I’ve tried a few of these types of utilities out there, and this one beats them all.
• Particle Candy. I literally fell out of my chair the first time I saw this add-in for Corona users. From fire and explosions to water and weather effects, this compact but powerful library is just the thing to add some serious visual pizazz to your game. The guys at X-PRESSIVE.COM have been wowing gamers since the mid 1990′s, and this version is specifically geared for Corona users. So, don’t just take my word for it, check it out for yourself and grab a copy today.
• SpriteDeck. If you are used to a more visual (read: drag & drop) method of development, this utility may be a great jumping point to help that transition towards understanding the programming behind it all (and find out it’s not as difficult as you think). Their website may not offer a lot of details on the product, but much of it is summed up in video tutorials that might answer a few questions.
• Lime. If levels and tile maps are your thing (or could be your thing) for game development, this is the premier utility for it. From RPGs to side-scrollers, Lime is so versatile, you’ll be finding yourself expanding your original game idea bigger and faster than you thought possible.
• Corona Project Manager. This utility just ties all your work together in one proficient workflow. It includes a built-in, powerful code editor to boot, and whether you’re creating a series for a game, or you simply reuse valuable code and assets, you can easily refer back to them for all your projects without dealing with duplicates all over the place. While Corona makes developing in Lua easy, Corona Project Manager makes developing in Corona efficient. See for yourself with their video tour here.
• PubNub. Multiplayer gaming (and multiuser apps) is a reality in Corona with PubNub’s cloud-hosted broadcasting service. Again, with just a few lines of code, your app can listen for broadcasted messages and send up messages, full of any kind of data you want. With it, you can make a simple chess game to a full blown massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). And, it’s all through the internet, so your online gamer buddies can be in the next room across the hall or the next continent across the ocean. I’m personally itching to use this service in the worst way – perhaps one of us can make the next FarmVille?

So, if you’re a newbie to the world of Corona, all this can be a little overwhelming. But, if you take the baby steps, from the “Hello world” application, to getting the gist of the Lua language, to experimenting and structuring code to your liking, to using one or more of these add-ons and utilities to take your project to the next level, you’ll soon realize how fun it can all be and how proud you will feel when it’s all put together.

Always remember that you are never alone in the Corona world either. In addition to the official forums on Ansca’s site, Techority, for one, is a great starting point for Corona users, and the new CoronaForums where they just compiled the “Ultimate Tutorial List” is a becoming more and more useful each day. Don’t forget about LearningCorona.com that also puts all of the great tutorials in one place. Lastly, you’ve got me.

Good luck and happy programming to all current and future Corona users. If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, perhaps now is the time.

Get Corona SDK today and get started on real mobile app development.

Besides offering development for iOS and Android, they are offering a “Moai Cloud” solution that is a “cloud-hosted Lua script and a dedicated mongodb database used to provide web services for your game.” This includes, but is not limited to “Lua game logic, databases, unlockable game content, store persistent player and world state, and write multiplayer logic in the scripting language you’re already using.”

What is interesting about their engine is that they’re offering the SDK as open source. As easily as they put it, “If you ever hit a wall with Moai SDK you can easily look at the source code, write your own plug-in to extend Moai, or alter the Moai runtime and libraries as needed to make your game great.”

As with most of the other current SDKs, the games and applications you make with the engine are royalty-free.

Corona SDK users might be familiar with their development cycle, since they also use Lua as its scripting language, but Moai does warn, “At this early stage, Moai is not ideal for people just getting started in game development. If you aren’t already familiar with writing code in Xcode, Eclipse or Visual Studio, then Moai is probably not for you at this point.” It will be interesting to see how this SDK develops (pun intended), especially the interesting “cloud” feature that can open the doors even further for massive multiplayer games. You can get some more questions answered in their FAQ page.

I haven’t gotten a hold of Moai’s SDK yet, but I remain confident that Corona SDK, backed by a strong, coordinated force of developers, will continue to improve and impress the iOS and Android developer community.

So, it an aptly titled article on Lifehacker, read up on the top 10 ways to get your creative juices flowing.  I think you’ll find the list quite informative and inspirational, and I’d love to hear if you are able to make a difference on the App Store and on your bottom line.

One year ago, I was a die-hard GameSalad fan, and they had just released beta version 0.8.5 of their game creation tool for iOS. The iPad just came out a few weeks before, and just in time: I was able to release my first iPad game using GameSalad, Archangel: Vengeance of the Makuzi Ascendancy. Things were looking up, but I knew I already hit a ceiling with what I could do with GameSalad.

Archangel: VMA was an arcade version of my previous game, Archangel: Fate of the Galactic Commonwealth, which was made with iTorque 2D from GarageGames in the summer of 2009. With the lack of support for arrays, along with other specific programming concepts I required, I couldn’t make anything more than a simple shooter. Personally, I believed my game deserved more than that.

Going back even further, iTorque 2D, in my personal opinion, was so difficult to work with, that I was honestly barely able to get my binary to compile and run successfully. From being thrown into the fire with the poor and incomplete documentation and sample apps, to a creator/editor that looks and feels like a wall that was painted over a dozen times, to discombobulated Xcode flags that needed to be set which had to correspond to another set of discombobulated flags set inside my TorqueScript code, to the frustrating slowness, crashes and lockups of my game on the device, I felt I was just trying to complete the game just to get my then-$750 investment back (it’s $99 now, ouch!). I couldn’t even fathom trying to go back and perform updates and tweaks without pulling my hair out again. That, plus the fact that the iTorque engine was basically abandoned for several months until the company regrouped themselves and very recently started to update the engine and started to get some decent documentation going. For me, my iTorque 2D license is a permanent one, so if I have some free time, I’ll download it and see what it can do. But, until they really clean up their code (hell, the app is still labled “Torque Game Builder” and TorqueScript is notoriously slow enough that they recommend using C++ instead), it may be too little, too late.

Which brings me back to GameSalad and Archangel: VMA again. Ever since they quietly gave me the pinkslip from being a Sous-Chef (I logged into the forum one day to do my share of the basic forum cleanup, to which I found all my admin privileges gone), and haven’t been contacted via email or Skype regarding betas or pre-public announcements, I believe I’m no longer under the restriction of their NDA. While I was never going to be a jerk and spill my guts out, I can say that almost everything I know is already public on their forums, especially with a recently revealed corporate roadmap for everyone to see. What took them so long, I still have no damn idea. But, now that the CEO of GameSalad just rang my virtual doorbell, I hope he can finally shed some light inside that company that I’ll be able to repeat here in an upcoming blog post, especially why development and communication has been so slow or non-existent over the past year.

The corporate roadmap of GameSalad looks promising, but still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of how much more they’ll offer, and more importantly, how long it will take to get it. Even though they’ve grouped it in seasons or quarters, I’ve read a disclaimer somewhere that the timeframes could slip even further. Three of the most critical features (in my opinion): Game Center, universal binaries, and tables/arrays – are not going to be around until “spring,” “summer,” and “winter,” respectively. Thankfully, they’ve backtracked from the requirement of a GameSalad logo splash screen, but I can’t update Spellcaster because it doesn’t run properly with their latest version. So, if I’m going to have to rewrite the game, then I might as well do it with another engine.

In retrospect, here’s a sample of what they were able to accomplish in the last year:

• 0.9.2: (1 month ago) – bug fixes
• 0.9.1: (2 months ago) – Mac App Store, Pause
• 0.9.0: (4 months ago) – updated GUI, additional fonts, new splash screen, faster loading times
• 0.8.9: (8 months ago) – new blending modes, bug fixes
• 0.8.8: (9 months ago) – Retina Display and “resolution independence,” iAd support (Pro only)
• 0.8.7: (10 months ago) – more touch attributes for iPad, bug fixes
• 0.8.6: (11 months ago) – gravity as a vector, global sound controls, bug fixes
• 0.8.5: (1 year ago) – preview player updates and various fixes

That’s really not a lot of progress in a competitive world like this is, but we were on the playing field during that time, so it was probably hard for us GameSalad developers to see the big picture. That whole “GameSalad Direct” fiasco didn’t help either. Keep in mind that I’ve already paid my annual $99 “early adopter” Pro subscription a while back, but that will likely expire and go up to $499 before I get to see the features that I will really appreciate.

On the flipside, Ansca Mobile’s Corona SDK just released their latest update three days ago to the public, even though paid subscribers like myself have been toying with the daily builds up until that point. In the past year, they’ve merged Corona Game Edition into the full package, split up the annual subscription prices for iOS, Android and both ($199, $199, and $349, respectively), not to mention the addition of a Windows-based SDK as well! I’d like to write out a bullet list for Corona SDK’s added features and fixes as well, but frankly, it would be way too long.

I really can’t give enough praise for these guys, since they’ve been churning out updates and bug fixes faster than I can compile my games and apps to utilize them. They’ve had OpenFeint support a while now, but with Game Center in the picture, it just makes any good game even more appealing to buy and play. The only critical thing missing – in my opinion – is support for the Mac App Store. I’m sure they’ll get around to it, but I’m hoping it’ll be sooner than later, and at least throw it into their product roadmap.

So, with the iPhone four years old now and its little big brother (eh?) iPad now a full year old, Apple is definitely on the move (I’m sure Apple TV will have an App Store soon, too – hint-hint, guys!). The move is working for Android as well, though devs are complaining there’s just not enough money to be made there yet. Either way, we’ve got to be on the move with them, too. Just look at the recently posted chart on Flurry Analytics’ blog regarding the growth of mobile games over the past year.

If the last 12 months are any indicator of how things are progressing in the mobile gaming world, you might be able to make an educated guess how the next 12 months are going to play out. Same goes for your middleware or game development kit. GameSalad has had its shakeup and their new roadmap shows some signs of progress. GarageGames had their shakeup as well, and also looks like they’ve resumed course with iTorque 2D (iTorque 3D had fallen victim as a result of their shakeup). But, if you had to compare, Corona SDK is far ahead of the pack already with the most integrated features out of the box. 2011 is already 25% done and it’s going to continue to be a crazy ride.

So, what’s in store for BeyondtheTech over the next 12 months? Ultimately, I want to get out of my full-time job and become a full-time app/game developer. Maybe one or a combination of these games and apps out there and in the pipeline can make that happen. With that in mind, I plan to rewrite all my existing games and apps with Corona SDK.

• Archangel: Fate of the Galactic Commonwealth will be a completely redesigned tactical combat simulator game. Now that Corona SDK allows me to use the CAF (compressed audio files) format instead of the bulky WAV format, I also plan to add a lot more dialogue and multiple language support, as well as video cutscenes. Multiplayer could even be a possibility thanks to PubNub’s implementation.
• Raphael Salgado’s Spellcaster will also be a completely redesigned arcade game with gesture control using a gesture recognition library implementation.
• Archangel: Vengeance of the Makuzi Ascendancy will either be a completely redesigned arcade version of Archangel: FGC or a sequel to the original story.
• Sci-Fi Prop will be reimagined and have even more interactive functionality.
• Tipster will be rewritten to use the new Corona UI module.

That’s it for now. Sorry for the long read, and I hope you can share some of your dev stories as well on what’s to come.

Thank you to Anthony B. for alerting me to the issue. Because the assignment data is built into the app, the patched version that’s now saved on the server is ignored. I have therefore submitted a new binary to the App Store, which should be due out in a couple of days.

In the meantime, users have been uploading their custom assignments and having fun with the editor. Of course, the range of assignments submitted have ranged from “huh?” (meaning “Too easy or empty!” with one beam and one target) to “WTF?!” (meaning “I can’t even play this!” with over 100 targets and beams that completely block everything to make the assignment impossible to complete). I don’t think I should even get started with the pictures some people have uploaded!

With that being said and this website just about done in its revamp, I hope to continue to sift through the tons of custom assignments and handpick the ones that will be added to the official roster very shortly.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope you help me continue to make Rico: MFH an awesome game and experience that keeps on giving.

I’m going to have to chime in here. It’s been a while for me here because I’ve simply moved on to Corona, but I check back to see if there has been any decent progress on GameSalad’s front. But, I agree with Jon in that fair comparison without posting videos or recruiting should be the limit of these posts.

So, here’s my take:

As a Sous-Chef, I supposedly had an inside track to the dev cycle and better contact with people inside the GameSalad company. When I was occasionally able to get the momentary attention of an actual person, I felt there was way too much red tape and closed doors for it to be useful. There’s not much more I can say without violating NDA, so I’ll leave it at that.

I bought Corona over six months ago, but I actually shelved it for a while because I was both very hopeful for GameSalad and because I felt that I had a “programmer’s block,” especially with a “new” language like Lua. However, once I started playing around, I was determined to take it on, full-speed ahead.

Forgive my memory, but it may have been Photics who mentioned that it’s been six months since GameSalad issued an update to their game development kit (GDK). For those doing their math, that’s half the length of your paid subscription. If you still feel comfortable in coughing upwards of $499 a few months from now with little new to show for it, other than a new GUI, a new logo, pause, and a few other tidbits, well, then, more power to you. My situation is unique where my family and financial situation is involved, and I couldn’t wait any longer.

Mind you, I used to be loyal to the point where I wasn’t loyal to myself. Not that I’m hating on GameSalad, but I do have one goal: to get out of a failing full-time job and freelance instead. The company I am working for full-time, has just been acquired, and I am due to lose my job within three months. But the idea of freelancing and the booming careers in mobile development have shifted my sails to end the rat race once and for all.

Like a few of you, I, too, have been approached by publishing companies, financiers, and just people with ideas, but the limit I had was the tools I was working with, particularly GameSalad. As I stated before, I even applied to GameSalad in the dual hope that I could make a difference in the company for the direction and speed of the platform, and also to land a stable job. Yes, that would have included uprooting my entire family, wife and three kids, as far away from New Jersey to Austin, TX, because I believed. But, like many correspondences to and from GameSalad, even talks with executive members just fell by the wayside without nary a word. If I got as high as that and still couldn’t get any headway, I had to seriously rethink my future with GameSalad as a developer and paid subscriber.

So, I dusted off that purchase of Corona and played with it for the last two months. My previous coding experience was many flavors of BASIC: QBASIC, QuickBASIC/QBX, NS/BASIC, Visual BASIC, and then I ventured off with C in Game Editor, and into TorqueScript in iTorque 2D. In honesty, Lua didn’t seem that far off from what I already knew, and the rest is just syntax. The juices started flowing, and with the sample code, I was off and running.

But, as I inevitably hit a few roadblocks on the way, I reached out to Ansca, the people behind Corona. To my surprise, I was able to speak with the support team directly! From group webcasts, to email correspondences, to private Skype chats for hours at a time, I never felt that they were more than arms-length away to assist me. That doesn’t even include the active forum and often updated code exchange section, where lots of bits of goodies are just waiting to be used. While that’s the tip of the iceberg…

• There’s also a bug tracker database.
• There’s a detailed roadmap.
• There’s a blog.
• There’s tweets of progress, teasers, snapshots, and the like.
• Lastly, there are daily builds of the engine. Daily. And their development methods are smooth enough that adding or fixing one thing doesn’t end up breaking another.

But, as it’s been debated above, it’s not *just* the number of features that a game development platform has. It’s also the content of your game. You can’t blame the dancing shoes if you’ve got two left feet. But, I also know that some core features are required if you’re going to compete with the big boys.

So, I started with a simple premise for a game about a month ago, and all the coding is basically done. Now, all I’m doing is levels and tweaking. But, I’ve got a ton of features that I’ve always wanted to incorporate into a game, nearly all of which cannot be done with the current GameSalad engine. Sometimes, I felt like I kept tacking on these features almost out of spite that I couldn’t do it before, but as I stated, I want these features, not as a developer, but as a gamer. Thankfully, Corona’s SDK allowed me to do that, and with Game Center on the horizon, that’s just another valuable bullet point on my product page on the App Store.

I will always have a cozy place for GameSalad in my heart, and it will be interesting to see what has come about in a few months’ time. I’ve given my remaining GameSalad Pro license to my daughter so she can learn basic game development and programming logic, but as for me, it’s been quite an interesting ride here, and I do wish the best for the folks behind the engine, as well as those who continue to use the engine to the best of its abilities.