Today the device controls needed to be fixed. I had previously used the gyroscope for control in the GameDev Journey game I made for MeatlyJam, but I wasn't happy with the gyroscope drift. The controls didn't feel right.
I opened a few of the default Corona sample projects until I found Shape Tumbler and saw that accelerometer events should do the trick. I added the accelerometer code and tested it on device, and I discovered that the accelerometer Y axis was the only one I should need for back and forth ship movement. I also found that the ship was moving too quickly on device when compared to the precision of the keyboard, so I added a check that slows ship movement when the game is running on device. I also added a transparent rectangle over the entire screen that will capture touch events and cause the ship to fire.
Now the device controls are fairly easy: tile left and right to move, tap to fire.
Simple shmup with a space theme