Here’s an interesting project. Cargo Bot is an iPad-only game that was created entirely using Codea, a LUA-scripting game-maker application that runs on your iPad itself.

The game, in which you enter strings of commands for a shelf-stacking robot (think Shenmue but without the undercurrent of homoerotic voyeurism) was created in conjunction with Simeon Nasilowski, who runs Two Lives Left, the studio that also made Codea itself.

The original game concept was created by Rui Viana, a Codea user who developed his initial prototype and shared it with the Codea community. Two Lives Left then wrote to Rui in order to turn his prototype into a published App Store game.

In that sense, it’s something of a proof-of-concept project – showing how games created with Codea can be turned into commercial releases, although the level of attention to detail and design thought that’s gone into it makes the game worthwhile in and of itself.

There’s something programmer-like about cuing up commands for the robot and, after playing through its levels you may find yourself inspired to download Codea itself and have a crack at coding something.

At $9.99 it’s a snip compared to many other game-creation packages (let alone LUA-based ones) and is described by Two Lives Left as “the most beautiful code editor you’ll use… designed to let you touch your code.”

Take a look here to see some of the other (non-commercial) games that Codea users have created, and, if you’re inspired, download the tool here.