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Learn Lua for iOS Game Development

Learn Lua for iOS Game Development

by Jayant Varma
Publisher: Apress
Release Date: December 2012
ISBN: 9781430246626
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Book Description

So you have a great game idea for iPhone or iPad, but Objective-C just seems a bit daunting. What are your alternatives? The App Store is very picky about languages, but there is hope: Lua is a versatile, lightweight, fast, and easy to learn language that you can use to build your iOS games and get them accepted into the App Store.

Learn Lua for iOS Game Development walks you through the Lua basics, then shows you how to create games using the top Lua frameworks like Corona SDK, Gideros, Moai, and even how to create games on the iPad (not just for the iPad) with Codea.

You aren't tied to Xcode and Objective-C -- you can create all sorts of amazing games with Lua. But if you already have an existing iOS game, you'll also learn how to integrate Lua to extend the game. If you're an aspiring or current iOS developer, you need to know Lua, and Learn Lua for iOS Game Development will give you just what you need to do that.

What you'll learn

  • Lua basics for iOS

  • How to choose a Lua framework depending on your needs

  • How to use Corona, Gideros, Moai, and more

  • How to use Lua to create a game faster and easier than with Objective-C

  • How to use Lua libraries, wrappers, and third party tools

    • Who this book is for

    Beginning iOS developers who find Objective-C difficult but HTML5-based tools too limiting; more advanced iOS developers who want to integrate and open their apps to extension via Lua scripting.

    Table of Contents

    1. Title Page
    2. Dedication
    3. Contents at a Glance
    4. Contents
    5. About the Author
    6. About the Technical Reviewers
    7. Acknowledgments
    8. Chapter 1: Introduction to Lua1
      1. What Is Lua?
      2. The History of Lua
      3. Lua Timeline
      4. Starting with Lua
      5. Setting Up Lua
      6. Features of Lua
      7. Lua Operators
      8. Summary
    9. Chapter 2: Lua Libraries
      1. Basic Functions
      2. System Libraries
      3. Tables: A Quick Overview
      4. Functions: An Advanced Look
      5. Summary
    10. Chapter 3: File Operations
      1. Implicit Functions
      2. Explicit Functions
      3. Uses of File I/O in Gaming
      4. Saving a Variable
      5. Grabbing the Data
      6. Saving Data to a Variable
      7. Writing Data to the File
      8. Saving a Table
      9. Dynamic Variables
      10. Summary
    11. Chapter 4: Math with Lua
      1. Introduction to Math in Lua
      2. Practical Uses of Math in Gaming
      3. Boolean Math
      4. Summary
    12. Chapter 5: Strings
      1. What Is a String?
      2. Patterns
      3. Using the String Functions
      4. Level Management
      5. Summary
    13. Chapter 6: Threading
      1. Coroutines
      2. Working with Tables
      3. Object-Oriented Lua
      4. But What’s the Object?
      5. Summary
    14. Chapter 7: Tips and Tricks
      1. Generic Lua Functions
      2. Collisions
      3. Other Generic Functions
      4. Parameter Handling
      5. Vector 2D
      6. Summary
    15. Chapter 8: Corona SDK
      1. Setting Up Corona SDK
      2. How Corona SDK Works
      3. Hello World for Corona SDK
      4. Beyond Hello World: Creating a Rectangle on the Screen
      5. Timing Is Everything
      6. Animating Using enterFrame
      7. Creating Sound
      8. Working with Videos
      9. Creating an Elevator
      10. The Internet Browser
      11. Nothing Lasts Forever
      12. Enterprise Edition
      13. Summary
    16. Chapter 9: Gideros Studio
      1. License
      2. Installing Gideros Studio
      3. Architecture
      4. The Gideros Engine
      5. Plug-Ins
      6. Summary
    17. Chapter 10: Moai
      1. What Is Moai?
      2. Obtaining Moai
      3. The Moai SDK
      4. Hello Moai
      5. Displaying Text
      6. Drawing Vector Primitives
      7. Drawing Images
      8. Animation
      9. Tile Decks
      10. Threading
      11. Groups
      12. Handling Input
      13. Sound
      14. Displaying a Dialog
      15. Displaying Video
      16. Device Orientation
      17. Notifications
      18. Networking
      19. Using JSON
      20. Using Base64
      21. Compressing Data
      22. Physics
      23. Moai Cloud
      24. Summary
    18. Chapter 11: LÖVE
      1. The Architecture
      2. Installing LÖVE
      3. Running LÖVE
      4. The Callback Functions
      5. LÖVE Namespaces
      6. The Graphics Module
      7. Application Settings – conf.lua
      8. Creating Effects
      9. Physics
      10. Displaying Text
      11. Shaders
      12. Making Sound
      13. Sample Game Code
      14. Summary
    19. Chapter 12: Codea
      1. Getting Codea
      2. Codea Architecture
      3. Hello World
      4. Parameters
      5. Drawing with Codea
      6. Displaying Images
      7. Recording Video
      8. Touch
      9. Making Sound
      10. iOS Hardware
      11. Downloading Data
      12. Displaying Web Pages
      13. Physics
      14. Vector Math
      15. Summary
    20. Chapter 13: Libraries
      1. Particle Candy
      2. Text Candy
      3. Widget Candy
      4. Corona AutoLAN
      5. Corona Profiler
      6. Director
      7. Lime
      8. RapaNui
      9. Gideros Illustrator (SVG Library)
      10. TNT Particles Library
      11. Busted
      12. Moses
      13. Allen
      14. BhWax
      15. Summary
    21. Chapter 14: Third-Party Applications
      1. IDEs
      2. Text Editors
      3. Snippets Collectors
      4. Versioning
      5. Bitmap Editors
      6. Sprite Animation and Level Creation Tools
      7. Sound Tools
      8. Summary
    22. Chapter 15: Sample Source Code
      1. Graphics
      2. Setting Up the Environment
      3. Making the Chopper Fly
      4. Using the Accelerometer
      5. Moving the Helicopter
      6. Making Sound
      7. Shooting Bullets
      8. Moving the Bullets
      9. Spawning Enemies
      10. Moving the Scenery Objects
      11. Losing a Life
      12. Let There Be Some Color
      13. Displaying Information
      14. Game Over; Play Again?
      15. Collisions
      16. Putting It All Together
      17. Summary
    23. Index