Making Money with Corona SDK

I’m always looking for ways to monetize my knowledge and skills and had an idea today that was sparked by the release of SpriteLoq, a new tool that turns Flash SWF graphics into sprites for Corona SDK.

Here’s the idea…

If I were a Corona SDK developer looking to make some money I’d start seeking out Flash devs who have existing games online and offer to create an iOS version of their game for a 50-50 split (adjustable).

They’d kick in the existing assets and code, I’d take those and “clone” their game and get it into the App Store. (Cloning an existing game when you have all the assets is soooo much easier than building something from scratch it’s not even funny.)

The way I see it, it’s a win-win — they get a new revenue stream without any extra work, and I get a chance to increase my revenue and exposure by cranking out more and more games.

And with the info Ansca has released recently about porting from AS3 to Corona, and with tools like the new SpriteLoq, porting could be dead easy for a Corona Dev.

I wish I wasn’t swamped because that’s exactly what I’d do starting today.

Just to head them off at the pass, here are the Top Two Reasons This Won’t Work:

1. Flash developers can create iOS app themselves so they don’t need this service.

While that may technically be true, the reason Flash experts like Ferry Halim switched to Corona SDK is to get a performance increase. I’d target Flash apps that are arcade types with a lot of action, not solitaire games or word puzzles.

2. Corona SDK is so easy to use they’d just do it themselves and keep all the money.

Yeah, they could, but most game developers aren’t looking for a new language to write in — they want to leverage what they already have, and your proposition fits that perfectly. Why should they take focus away from what they already do when you’re sitting there willing to do it for them?

Some Flash devs will NOT got for any kind of proposal. So what? They aren’t the ones you’re looking for. Ask enough Flash game devs and I’ll bet you could get enough work to make a full-time income starting right away.

There are roughly a bazillion Flash games online right now so it’s not like there are slim pickings. Start looking for the ones you think are cool — and that could benefit from a performance increase on iOS devices — and make some overtures to those Flash devs.

If someone takes this idea and runs with it, please let me know how it works out for you.