More than 15,000 developers are now using Ansca Mobile’s Corona SDK as a platform to develop rich and dynamic mobile games and apps for iOS and Android. As part of this milestone, Ansca Mobile is celebrating its growing developer and tool ecosystem with the launch of its Third-Party Tools page which highlights the work done by partners in extending the functionality of Corona SDK.
As part of this launch, two partners, X-Pressive.com and developer J. A. Whye, are offering holiday specials on their respective Particle Candy and Corona Project Manager tools. For a limited time, Corona SDK developers will be able to buy both these tools at a 50% discount to their regular price. Details on both specials can be found at the new Third-Party Tools page at http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/tools/.
In addition to the growing ecosystem of third-party tools, Corona SDK developers now boast a track record ofbuilding top-quality apps for the iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) and Android platforms. Examples of these top-selling and featured apps include:
- Rabbit and Turtle’s Amazing Race HD: This iPad children’s book – created by Unicorn Labs in just under eight weeks – initially peaked at #6 on the App Store’s free iPad books list with its Lite version. Later, the book was chosen by Apple to be a featured app in the App Store; the subsequent publicity pushed Rabbit and Turtle’s paid version to become the #12 top-grossing book for iPad to date.
Due to overwhelming demand, Unicorn then released a version of the book specifically for iPhone, crediting Corona’s™ ability to automatically rescale content across multiple devices as the primary reason for their speedy turn-around in rebuilding the app for an additional device.
Unicorn’s newest book release – BOY! A Wolf’s Tale for iPad – debuted late last week in the App Store atop the “New & Noteworthy” featured books list, while Rabbit and Turtle also was featured as the top book in the “What’s Hot” list.
- Winter Bells: A classic game built by Flash developer Ferry Halim (best known for his Orisinal games gallery), Winter Bells was featured last week in the App Store’s “Holiday Apps and Games” list, alongside heavy-hitters like Diner Dash and Angry Bird Seasons.
Halim originally created Winter Bells four years ago as web-based Flash game, and became a hit with the web gaming community for its simple yet beautiful graphics and addictive gameplay. He decided to build the game for iPhone using Corona™, citing the SDK’s efficiency and easy-to-learn API references for ActionScript 3 developers. Upon finishing Winter Bells for iOS, Halim deemed Corona™ to be “the perfect SDK for a Flash developer.”
- Holiday Advent Calendar HD: This “countdown to Christmas” app created by the Sentactio studio lets iPad users share a new surprise – scenes to a holiday story – each day with their children starting December 1 all the way up to the 25th. It also was featured in the App Store’s list of “Holiday Cheer” apps, alongside holiday staples like The Christmas Carol Songbook and the Toys ‘R’ Us holiday shopping app.
