I started a port of the popular Robotlegs framework for building Flash & Flex ActionScript 3 applications to Lua for the Corona SDK.

Why

Longer post here.

The short version: Lua & Corona and hardcore game development are new to me. I’ve dabbled and had a few projects, both professional and personal, over the past decade, but nothing like the full-time opportunities/gigs I’m getting now that mobile has legitimized an already legitimized industry. Utilizing Robotlegs has made the GUI/HUD development for games super simple in a foreign and strange land. It’s also helped me learn more about Lua & Corona by breaking out of my comfort zone from within a comfort zone. Motivation is a fragile thing that must be cared for & nurtured. This helps me not get frustrated when I hit brick walls with the limited time I have in researching new technologies.

Keep in mind this is one the design goals, and thus helpful features of PureMVC being ported to other platforms.

…also, I figured it’d help others.

Where

You can get it on Github; it has an example in there too to show you one way to use it.

How

You just require the classes in, and extend the rest. Some gotchas if you’re an ActionScript 3 Developer:

1. I haven’t figured out Lua’s annotations and metadata strategies. As such, you have to manually inject dependencies.
2. This includes manually mediating your Views via context:createMediator/removeMediator(viewInstance).
3. Another gotcha is put a classType property on your Views till I figure out how to do reflection in Lua.

When

Keep in mind this isn’t an official port, nor is it finished. I’m still learning and it’s a proof of concept. I’m finding I’m only using it for game GUI and HUD stuff; and that’s like only 5% to 20% of the game code… so while it’s helpful for both learning & development, I’m sure there are strategies/ideas I’m not thinking about that you’re welcome to add/modify, etc.

Hope this helps you!

Download/Modify – Robotlegs for Corona on Github.