Corona raycasting

Working on Corona and Lua for first time, and taking on a new type of a game is proving to be challenging, and at the same time rewarding. In the game, there is emphasis on connecting objects with a straight line, without any obstacles in-between. The technique used to determine there is nothing in between is called Ray Casting.

The information about API is here: http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/library/physics/rayCast.html, but it does not quite describe how useful the API is. My previous attempt at solving the problem was to use collision detection by drawing a line between two objects, which was a wrong approach, but it seemed like a good solution at the time, because other parts of the game use collision detection.

Ray casting returns all the objects which are on the line from x1,y1 to x2,y2. I almost want to call it line of sight, however line of sight is more of a cone than a single ray.

Working in the background.

The game is progressing.  A lot of images are in place, so is a lot of logic.  Greatest problem lately had been what happens when user exits application - it has been hanging, until earlier today.
I wish I could share more, but keeping it under wraps for now.  The main target for the game is casual gamers, and if there's a more specific target-group it would be girls my oldest daughter's age.
Now that previously-mentioned problem is fixed, I can dive into the game-play, there still needs to be a goal - currently it's playable, but there's no goal.  And there are features to be added - most importantly sound.

Making sense

Today's effort was two fold:

1. Moved functions which should execute only onee per thread into their own class; function such as the ones to get current time (we don't want different objects on screen to think the time is different, even by millisecond) - it can only lead to confusion
2. Added 'bullets'.  As the main object moves, by clicking anywhere else on screen fires off a bullet.

No picture today, but making an effort to have it checked in, as now the project is getting more complex.

Getting it moving.

Added ability to move object around on android, it required a lot more effort than I expected, but works pretty well now.  Next stop is to add menus, and make everything configurable - start with the size of the box.  Following step is to think through the actual game, and the following step is to implement it.