I'm pleased to announce that the first Corona-made in-app purchase enabled app is now "Ready for Sale" in the App Store, and it's free! So please try it out and leave a rating/review in the app store if you have a chance.

Here's the link: http://bit.ly/beebecaverndrake

There are 11 premium in-app purchase items, but the game is fully playable without you having to purchase anything if you don't want.

Here are some screenshots:

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http://bit.ly/beebecaverndrake

That's so awesome!!! Congrats! I will download it later tonight and leave you a review!

Congrats Jon and Biffy.

And guess what folks, Apple just approved the first Corona SDK IAP app --- that means we are ready to ship within a matter of days.

Carlos

Thanks for your comments everyone, will be looking forward to reading your comments on it!

I look forward to playing this, it certainly looks interesting.

Congrats Jon!! Hope it does well in the App store!

It would be nice if you could blog a postmortem of the IAP results if possible :)

Carlos...tick.....tock....tick :)

Just left a review! Hope it helps you with sales! Good luck!

I noticed that the status bar is visible during your loading screen, you can hide that if you want by adding this line to the plist in your build.settings file:

UIStatusBarHidden=true

That will hide the status bar during the loading screen as well.

Excited to see how this does for you!

The game itself is nice, but I think you have a problem with your IAP pricing (unless I'm missing something).

$2.99 for an extra mode that all it does is limit the game to 1 minute doesn't seems like an all that great value.

$2.99 for each of the 4 powerups also seems a bit ridiculous, but I guess people that really want that high score might cough up the cash.

$.99 for each character when they're probably just different skins (no way of knowing without buying) and just make a difference scoring wise is also pretty expensive.

Finally $.99 for each of the extra stages, which while pretty we don't know if they offer any other than a new background image.

Now, don't feel like I'm attacking you, but think of it as feedback from a consumer POW. I'd also very much like to hear your reasoning on the pricing.

I think if you had released the game without IAP it would probably have been a $.99 - $1.99 game. If you want to get the same game now, it would cost over $20. I think a much better value proposition for your consumers would have been to pack up the content for a similar price to a paid app, instead of selling individual items (I assume that's possible).

Anyhow, I do wish you the best and do let us know how IAPs work out for you.

Jon - Also, developer to developer --- here is feedback:

I felt that you did not make it clear when you were charging "In App" and I felt like I kept getting bombarded with extra fees.

Suggestion - to make it clear what is free and what would be an extra charge.

Carlos / Corona / and Jon -

I am able to duplicate crashing all over the place. I can only imagine it is in the "In App" Purchase code.

Just wanted to let you know that I can duplicate this every time.

When I click on "No" I do not want to purchase in-game more than once, then try to click through and play the game, it crashes every time.

Also, from the home screen, when I try to play the :60 second version ... it takes for ever and never prompts me to purchase.

I left the game and went into another App and then it prompted me about 5-minutes later... this was a little annoying.

Again, not critical... just trying to be constructive and helpful.

Let me know if you need any help testing or if you have any questions.

Best of luck,
Scott

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Pricing and such was completely experimental, given this is a free title and things like that can be changed very easily if need be.

@ssinger: Great suggestion, I'll definitely make some kind of "lock" icon on all the purchase items.

As far as reproducing your crashes, what device are you running on? I followed your exact steps (click minute mode, say no, try to play the game) and it didn't crash for me.

The in-app purchase delay is definitely something in the in-app purchase side of things, as with the API we have no control over that so I'm sure Ansca engineers will be looking into that very soon.

Thanks again everyone... other than pricing, etc. hopefully everyone enjoys the game :-)

I'll have to issue an update soon to see what I can find/fix... since I'm having trouble reproducing your crash.

Update: Pricing changed... all in-game premium items are now 0.99.

Will be working on an update soon, so stay tuned!

I have tested on:
- iPod Touch 2nd Gen 16GB (this crashed)
- iPad 16GB (this was fine)

Let me try to outline steps:
- Click Play Now
- Click Survival
- Scroll all the way to the right (4th Cave selection)
- Tap continue, and click Cancel
- Scroll one back to left for Cave selection (3rd choice)
- Tap continue, and click Cancel
- go back to 1st Cave selection, click Continue, this is where it crashed out of game

Note: I just rebooted my iTouch 2nd Gen and retested and it seems to be working fine... probably just a memory issue.

Perhaps just make a note to reboot older devices in your description.

Also, all your games are $0.99... so, why not make your "Minute Mode" $0.99 too :-)

I kinda like the gameplay... good job and I will leave a review.

@ssinger: You're right, must be a mem issue because on my 4th gen iPod touch it didn't do it after following your steps.

Will definitely make a note in the description for older devices to reboot their device after installing to avoid potential memory issues.

I also made all in-app purchases 0.99 (as low as you can go) a little while ago :-)

Thankfully all that can be done WITHOUT an update... I'm working on an update now (which will show some kind of symbol clarifying what is purchasable and what is not). The update will also give the Ice Cave and the 'Destroy All' abilities for free, so don't buy those!

Ok thanks again for the feedback everyone...

P.S. Glad you like the gameplay! I'm thinking of adding another game mode that will change things up quite a bit (while leaving the existing game modes in-tact)...

I am able to duplicate crashing all over the place. I can only imagine it is in the "In App" Purchase code.

I experienced crashes that have nothing to do with in-app purchases. I am not able to duplicate these crashes however; I only experienced them once and then never again.

One crash was almost immediately on starting the game. It showed the intro menu fine and I tapped Play, but crashed when I hit the Survival button.

Then after restarting I got to the level select screen and it crashed after tapping on the level. I hadn't pressed the Continue button, this was from touching the level directly in an attempt to scroll through the list.

ADDITION: Just tried again and it crashed after touching the level again. Like yesterday though it didn't happen again not again after that first time.

Perhaps the in-app purchases in his steps were a red herring and the real problem is simply that selecting the first level can sometimes crash.

ADDITION2: So I scrolled to the 4th level to try his steps. When I hit Continue, the progress bar went for a few seconds and then just went away. I was still on the level select screen, nothing had changed, it just didn't ask if I wanted to purchase.

btw the sideways scrolling is really flaky. It keeps stuttering, moving in the wrong direction, and getting stuck halfway when I swipe. It takes me 4 or 5 tries to move to the next selection.

ADDITION3: aha the crash on level select may have to do with installing the app for the first time. On a hunch, I deleted the app and re-installed it, and it crashed again. Try that repro.

ADDITION4: gah the crash got weirder after re-installing again to test further. This time it didn't crash when I first selected the level, but on the drake selection screen I went back and then it crashed when I selected a level the second time. very inconsistent bug!

And then when I restarted the game it crashed when I selected Survival, just like the first time.

For the record, I have an iPhone 3Gs running iOS 3.1.3

The iPod Touch 2G is notoriously weaker than the newer idevices. I also had a crash in my game ONLY on the iPod 2G related to the sound engine (was loading music as sound instead of stream for better performance in other devices). So I feel your pain in getting it to work there.

As for the IAPs going $.99 is a step in the right direction, but still unlocking everything is a significant investment and I'm afraid that's just not gonna fly with players. I still think you'd do much better by packing up all the premium content and charge a one time fee for everything. (Of course that would require an update)

Hi Jon - I bought the In-App "Minute" mode --- I love :60 second beat your high-score stuff.

1] Anyway, is there supposed to be a timer counting down?

2] Also, just a note: when I purchased, it was successful, loaded into the game mode but the fire button did not work.

I exited entire App, went back in, and it worked.

Just an FYI.

Working things out and seeing what I can do about the bugs... It's very strange as these are the types of crashes that NEVER happen on the simulator, which leads me to believe it has something to do with memory.

It was happening on a 3GS though, so I don't really understand that... that device is almost as powerful as the iPod touch 4g.

I'm seeing that *most* of the crashes occur during screen-changes, so I'm assuming it has something to do with unloading so many large resources and then loading back up a lot of other large resources.

I'll try/test out lots of different things.

Also, I was unable to duplicate the level selection finicky scrolling thing. No matter how crazy I got with it, it worked... so I'm gonna have to do some tweaking to see if I can make that better though.

UPDATE: I was able to duplicate the selection problems. You must be sliding towards the bottom of the screen because if you release on TOP of one of the buttons, then it gets stuck... Easy fix, will be fixed in the next update (thanks for bringing that to my attention!)

On the flipside, I'm getting almost no complaints as far as gameplay, grahics, etc. goes so that's a good thing at least :-)

The IAP Crash ! Now you know why we have delayed the bits ! We had to get real world feedback and thanks to Jonathan Beebe and this thread, we can now go bug hunting and figure this out. Hopefully it won't be a bad bug and we can fix it and re-build-and ready to release in a few short days..

yes it is saturday and the stafff is here bug fixing !

Carlos

You must be sliding towards the bottom of the screen because if you release on TOP of one of the buttons, then it gets stuck

Good spot, I didn't even notice!

I know it's quite frustrating to release something and then get a flurry of reports of problems; hopefully you did some beta testing to at least try to avoid this situation. Happened when I released Memory Stacks as a web game, and I really really hope it doesn't happen to me again with the iPhone port.

The first time I launched the game, I pressed the Survival button. I saw the loading circle and then it immediately quit. I then relaunched the game and everything worked fine.

I am on an iPhone4. I did not have much running, and I did not need to reboot the device, just relaunch the game.

Perhaps on the first run, the game is looking for a file that hasn't been written yet? It didn't seem like a memory issue to me.

Sorry you are having issues! Regardless, congrats on releasing another game!

Somebody just pointed out a potential memory leak in my BeebeGames class, which I think has something to do with some of the crashes. I fixed the code, as well as a few other things. I will add a couple more things, and then package an update soon... thanks a lot for all your help everyone :-)

And I apologize for the bugs..

What was the leak you patched?

Read this reply by samlotti:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/beebegames-class#comment-16726

And my fix:

http://developer.anscamobile.com/code/beebegames-class#comment-16731

So far, my fix seems to address the issue, but I need to do further testing to make sure. Read the second link I gave you and modify your beebegames.lua file if you're using it ( to get it before I release a version 1.8 )

Version 1.0.1 submitted today, addresses unnecessary crashing, makes two of the premium items free, and a few other things...

Hopefully will be approved in 4-7 days..

Good job guys,

I am nearing completion of my first Corona game (first mobile app actually) and am currently contemplating whether to go with a 'Lite' version and a 'Full' version separately, or using IAP.

I would most like to use IAP for a number of reasons, so I'm kinda holding out for the next Corona build - however, Carlos are you able to confirm that there will be some solid documentation around how to use IAP with Corona?

In particular, how does your app know and/or retain the knowledge about which IAP transactions the user has made, even across their other devices? For example, if last week the user had purchased an extra level, how can the app always know that this has happened when it starts up?

Jon and Biffy, I'm guessing that you guys have already nutted all that out, so if you have any info or links to documentation around how you implemented it, that would be really fantastic....

I purchased one of Cavern Drake's IAP's on my iTouch and it retains what I purchased just fine.

I believe it ties it to my iTunes account because I had to login to verify the purchase just like purchasing a regular App via iTunes...

Very cool ---

Just my $.02.

Cool.

I'm most interested in what I'd need to do as a developer in my app to detect which IAPs the user has done at a code level.

Do you set some config setting in the app's documents folder or do you get your app to remote to the app store each time its launched to find out what purchases apply to it (then what happens if the user has no internet access at the time)?

Its very interesting stuff... keen to learn as much as I can about it - I've already read all the Apple docs, but am hoping that there will be a very Corona specific guide available when it comes out.

Cheers
Cel.

Hey, I was just wondering what software you used to design your graphics?

We use Photoshop CS5 and a Wacom Cintiq tablet for pretty much all of our graphics.

I did graphics for the main character in this game, and some of the menus. Biffy did the rest of the characters, backgrounds, environments, etc.

Ok, thanks for the info.

Version 1.5.0 is now available -- please go update now!

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This update addresses many bug fixes, provides two more FREE characters, makes a couple of the premium items available for free, and best of all, makes gameplay more fun by switching to 100% tilt-based movement, unlimited firing (as fast as you can tap!), and more.

So if you already have Cavern Drake, please update immediately! Otherwise, you can download it for free from the App Store →

P.S. Please leave a rating/review for this version when you get a moment! Thanks for all your support and initial feedback everyone, it's much appreciated.

The tilt controls aren't working right for me.

While the auto calibration is a great idea in theory I don't think it works all that well in practice. You'd be much better off "borrowing" the way Tilt to Live supports different orientations.

As it stands, the game is unplayable if I'm laying in bed holding the phone in front of me. The drake can go up, but doesn't come down, no matter which way I tilt the phone.

Hopefully it's a quick fix.

@IgnacioIturra: I've noticed quite a few tilt games don't work right while laying down in bed, especially facing upwards (even ones where you can calibrate).

The game works best if sitting up looking down, or holding the device diagonal as you would a playstation remote or other handheld. At least two of the Tilt-to-Live configurations work well, granted you remain in that position during the round.

Will most-likely be adding re-calibrate options to the pause screen in the next update.

Tilt controls worked great for me. Big improvement IMO. I've haven't tried it in the tub yet tho, so I'll let you know ;).
Nice work.

Updating now, looking forward to testing the tilt controls :)

// Ed.

Cavern Drake is crashing on me immediately on startup. I see the splash screen for a few seconds and then nothing - just get dumped back at the home screen.

Rebooted after install, no other applications running, same issue.

iPod Touch 2nd Generation
iOS 4.2.1

I'm gonna guess I just don't have enough RAM?
EDIT: Not just Cavern Drake, the same thing seems to happen with Bubble Ball, Eggroll Lite, and Tilt Monster.

Ah well, I need a new ipod anyway...

Great work. I have a newbie question about in app purchase. If a user purchased items, then uninstall the app. When the user re-install, are the purchased items lost? How can they be restored? Thanks.

@tuxzilla: You have a few options if a user uninstalls/re-installs your app (or installs it brand new on a different device).

The simplest method is do nothing. If they go to purchase the item, it'll say they've already purchased, and will ask if they want to download it for free. When they tap "yes", your app treats it as if it's a new purchase, though they are not charged again.

The more complicated method is to use the api to check what items they purchased upon the first time they launch the app. I find that the first method is easier, just be sure to put some kind of notice in your app letting them know that if they already purchased the item, they won't get charged again.

Hope that helps! Good luck :-)

Thanks, it is very helpful.