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LÖVE - 0.9.0 released!


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#1 Kingdaro

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Posted 02 July 2013 - 11:19 AM

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LÖVE

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Figured I'd make this topic to just have a general area for discussion of LÖVE related topics, such as recent updates, the kind of projects you're working on, and maybe to pass a couple tips between one another here and there. If you don't know about LÖVE (which I will be calling love2d from now on since it's easier to type), allow me to introduce you:

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Hi there! LÖVE is an *awesome* framework you can use to make 2D games in Lua. It's free, open-source, and works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Some games using love2d: Mari0, X-Moon, Snayke, Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne


A lot of you are learning and/or are very familiar with Lua, so I'm sure many of you will pick this up right away. I'll explain a couple of basic, important things to know before you get started.
  • Love2d is not a "studio" of any sort - simply running the program will give you the "baby inspector" screen, the default animation for version 0.9.0. This is only to show you that it works, and that you installed it correctly. A love "project" is nothing more than a folder with a main.lua, and a conf.lua. In order to run this project, you can either drag your project folder over the love2d shortcut/executable, or go to the command line and type love /path/to/your/project.
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  • The way love2d works is in "callbacks", where you have a main program loop (like you would in CC) that calls specific functions as the game runs. The three main callbacks used are love.load(), love.update(dt), and love.draw(). There is also love.keypressed(), love.keyreleased(), love.mousepressed(), love.mousereleased(), and a bunch of others. The game loop in a love game is in the love.run() callback, and is defined for you if you do not provide one yourself. For now, you don't have to worry about love.run or how it works.
    .
  • Do not make your own everything "just because". There are tons of libraries out there (on the wiki) that have already done the heavy lifting for you, including some utilities included in love2d itself. There's no shame in greatly increasing your own productivity and time spent prototyping and developing your project by using someone else's work that they made just for you. The only case in which you should create your own "libraries", is if existing libraries don't provide what you need them to do, or if you simply want to create a learning experience for yourself.


Keep in mind that love2d is in a bit of a beta stage, meaning it may not have every feature you need. However, the framework is constantly being developed and new features are always being added.

If you'd like to start learning to work with love2d, here's a nice tutorial, and a few more when you're ready.

Edited by Kingdaro, 14 December 2013 - 12:47 PM.


#2 Bubba

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Posted 02 July 2013 - 11:27 AM

Glad to see this topic. I enjoy using the LOVE framework on occasion to just mess around with basic game design. One thing I will mention though is this:

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Do not make your own everything "just because". There are tons of libraries out there (on the wiki) that have already done the heavy lifting for you, including some utilities included in love2d itself. There's no shame in greatly increasing your own productivity and time spent prototyping and developing your project by using someone else's work that they made just for you.

I don't wholly agree with that. Or really even partly. Just because someone else has done the "hard work" for you doesn't mean that you shouldn't attempt it. Doing the heavy lifting actually builds strength, and as such learning the fundamental concepts by creating your own libraries is a fantastic way to become a better programmer. For example, I could easily use any number of the APIs out there on the forum when making CC programs, but I refuse to do so because I don't think it makes me a better programmer. Do I look at them to understand how they work? Occasionally if I'm stuck, yes I do. There's nothing wrong with reading to understand. But if you walk into something *blind, then chances are you'll encounter some unexpected behavior along the way.

* By blind I do not mean "there is not enough documentation or you did not read the documentation well enough". What I mean is, you did not look at the actual code and make an attempt to understand it.

#3 Kingdaro

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Posted 02 July 2013 - 11:36 AM

I do agree with you there, that "doing your own heavy lifting" does help you to learn. This example is best applied in CC because the "heavy lifting" done in CC APIs is, more often than not, easily done on your own.

It can be radically different for love2d though. A lot of games require advanced collision detection algorithms, map loading systems, and a lot of general math where it's at the point that it's easier to simply use another person's work. Once you've grabbed the library for yourself, however, by all means, sift through it, understand it, and maybe recreate it for yourself with a couple more features. That's how a lot of existing libraries came to be, such as anim8, which borrows concepts from AnAL.

#4 ikke009

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Posted 02 July 2013 - 12:40 PM

Oh wow I didn't know we didn't have a love2d thread yet.. I tried some stuff with it a while ago but I wasn't very pleased with the quality of graphics I was able to create.. I figured if I sticked to computercraft with its limited colours and pixels, its so much easier :P

#5 PixelToast

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Posted 02 July 2013 - 12:42 PM

love2d is epic :3
been using it lately to code a bouncer for webinterfaces

#6 ETHANATOR360

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Posted 10 July 2013 - 09:00 PM

so you dont create the loop yourself love just runs a loop that calls all the main functions that exist in the code?

#7 Mads

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Posted 11 July 2013 - 03:33 AM

Look at the wiki. It explains everything.

#8 Kingdaro

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Posted 13 July 2013 - 12:36 PM

View PostETHANATOR360, on 10 July 2013 - 09:00 PM, said:

so you dont create the loop yourself love just runs a loop that calls all the main functions that exist in the code?
Precisely.

#9 Left4Cake

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Posted 19 July 2013 - 02:35 PM

I LÖVE Mari0.

#10 PixelToast

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Posted 19 July 2013 - 02:36 PM

mari0 is verry fun ^-^
playing it with a controller is fun too

#11 Kingdaro

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 01:11 AM

I suppose this is a better place to post this than anything. Recently finished up a game in LÖVE called Node Blaster: https://bitbucket.or...aster/downloads

It's an arcade style bullet hell space shooter.

#12 DeweySalt

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 03:17 AM

Very nice game Kingdaro, I got a high score of 4018 :P
I'd like to take on Love2D myself but I have no good ideas for a game. I mean, I have ideas, but I can't expand upon them enough to makeup a game.

#13 Engineer

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 04:54 AM

View PostDeweySalt, on 22 July 2013 - 03:17 AM, said:

Very nice game Kingdaro, I got a high score of 4018 :P
I'd like to take on Love2D myself but I have no good ideas for a game. I mean, I have ideas, but I can't expand upon them enough to makeup a game.
Haha, my highscore was around 12000 :P
Time to dive into the source!

#14 Tjakka5

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 02:28 PM

I Love this engine, I'm having so much fun with it already, made a small platformer, and now I'm recreating Pong!
Thanks for showing this!

Kingdaro: Very nice game, got a high score of 5678 (Nice number right?) Also, did you make the music yourself?

#15 ikke009

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Posted 22 July 2013 - 03:32 PM

View PostKingdaro, on 22 July 2013 - 01:11 AM, said:

I suppose this is a better place to post this than anything. Recently finished up a game in LÖVE called Node Blaster: https://bitbucket.or...aster/downloads

It's an arcade style bullet hell space shooter.

Nice work, waaay better than I expected. I didn't quite realise what exactly the powerups do, except increase the amount of bullets fired every few pickups, but I enjoyed the game nontheless.
Also why can I shoot with z and x, 2 keys that are next to each other, when I can just hold down either? :P

#16 Kingdaro

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Posted 23 July 2013 - 03:59 AM

View PostDeweySalt, on 22 July 2013 - 03:17 AM, said:

Very nice game Kingdaro, I got a high score of 4018 :P/>/>
I'd like to take on Love2D myself but I have no good ideas for a game. I mean, I have ideas, but I can't expand upon them enough to makeup a game.
I didn't either, which is why I went for something that's been done a million times already, and can still be fun. :lol:/>

View PostTjakka5, on 22 July 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:

I Love this engine, I'm having so much fun with it already, made a small platformer, and now I'm recreating Pong!
Thanks for showing this!

Kingdaro: Very nice game, got a high score of 5678 (Nice number right?) Also, did you make the music yourself?
Glad you like the game! Yeah, that's higher than any of my friends could get, haha. Also, no, the music is by Blitz Lunar, song is called "You Show" part of the Triptunes album.

And yeah, good luck to you on your pong recreation!

View PostEngineer, on 22 July 2013 - 04:54 AM, said:

Haha, my highscore was around 12000 :P/>
Time to dive into the source!
Good luck reading through my ass-backwards logic :P/>

View Postikke009, on 22 July 2013 - 03:32 PM, said:

Nice work, waaay better than I expected. I didn't quite realise what exactly the powerups do, except increase the amount of bullets fired every few pickups, but I enjoyed the game nontheless.
Also why can I shoot with z and x, 2 keys that are next to each other, when I can just hold down either? :P/>/>
Thanks!

The reason both Z and X are bound is because repeatedly tapping the both of them can generally give you a higher fire output than just holding either of them down.

Also, in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have left a majority of the game unexplained. :lol:/> The powerups, or "gems" just give you more score. You get an upgraded gun every three levels.

#17 Geforce Fan

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Posted 02 August 2013 - 08:14 PM

I LOVE LÖVE!

#18 lodukupandi

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Posted 05 August 2013 - 06:50 AM

Thats a great share ,any ways thanks for the link you have provided

#19 Kingdaro

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 08:55 PM

Bumping with some development updates.

Among others, some changes I'm excited as hell about:

#20 PixelToast

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Posted 09 September 2013 - 09:18 PM

im on the irc (#love on OFTC) and LÖVE 0.9 sounds pretty cool

oh and hai MudKipTheEpic, i see you down there





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