LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua • Hacker News Board

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#51

Post by Sardtok » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #16

__s wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

too bad universe doesn't ship with unobfuscated source so that you could see whether you're unlucky, or just skill issue

The source is right there, you just have to grok it.

Well, it's kind of a machine code for a self-modifying compiler, so there's that.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#52

Post by CyberDildonics » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:00 PM UTC

raincole wrote: post #8

Btw, Love2D is based on SDL2. If you hate Lua but needs the same cross-platform capabilities, you can use an SDL2 binding in other languages or make your own.

There is a lot more that goes into Love2D than just SDL. It uses many other libraries for sound, image loading, etc as well as using luajit so that the lua runs very fast and has a super easy C FFI.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#53

Post by jtolmar » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:01 PM UTC

alprado50 wrote: post #36

Is Love2D a decent option for gamedev compared to Godot? I finished a really simple game using Unity3D and it was fun, but it sucks to use a closed source engine.

Yeah, Love2d is a great option for gamedev. It doesn't have the same built-in tools as Godot so you'll need something else for putting together maps (use Tiled [1]), and you'll need to write your own main/render loops (these are just two for loops, nothing fancy).

[1] https://www.mapeditor.org/

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#54

Post by krapp » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:03 PM UTC

wiseowise wrote: post #47

usrnm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Browser engines are probably some of the most optimized pieces of software in existence, so it doesn't surprise me at all.

Explain this to electron haters.

Browser engines are optimized for displaying web pages, not for applications.

60MB+ for a calculator is not optimal.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#55

Post by krapp » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC

onsclom wrote: post #50

onehair wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now why would you hate lua of all things?

I don't necessarily hate Lua, but I prefer C and Raylib for game dev. Lua is garbage collected, dynamically typed, strays far from standard syntax patterns, and has less existing tooling than C. I see why people might hate Lua. Especially for game dev!

Lua is extremely popular for game dev though?

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#56

Post by Sardtok » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:04 PM UTC

VorpalWay wrote: post #39

How is it supposed to be pronounced? Is it just gratuitous diacritics? Or should I pronounce it in my native Swedish (where the names makes me think of leaves rather than love)? (Throwing diacritics on English words look extremely silly to me, since I know how åäö are supposed to be pronounced. It makes something like Motorhead just sound laughable rather than metal.)

The project was started by Norwegians. So I feel like you should apply juuuust the right amount of cheesiness and sort of push that Ø-vowel looong. Not sure if Ruud would agree, though.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#57

Post by anthk » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

UXN can be interesting for 2D games too.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#58

Post by andrepd » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:10 PM UTC

brooke2k wrote: post #14

KeplerBoy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Balatro ships with the entire unobfuscated Lua source by the way. I once checked if the odds stated on a card were implemented wrong. Turns out no, the code checks out, I'm just that unlucky.

hahaha, I did the exact same thing after the game came out to see if wheel of fortune was really a 1/4 chance

Neat example of cognitive bias, the brain perceives the Nope as being much more prevalent than it actually is!

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#59

Post by Kaliboy » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

PacificSpecific wrote: post #19

I generally very much dislike dynamic languages but for some reason I've always really liked Lua. I'm not exactly sure why to be honest. Maybe because you can fit the whole language spec on a single sheet of paper and adding more advanced features is pretty easy. Love looks really cool. I never got into it personally but I still might

Lua will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was the first programming language that I actually managed to learn, instead of just attempting to learn it.

It was chosen around 2008 or so to be the scripting language in Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas.

We build entire worlds in Lua, there were many gamemodes, but my favorite was Roleplay.

Good old carefree times.

Re: LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua

#60

Post by Levitating » Sun, Apr 05, 2026, 11:26 PM UTC

raincole wrote: post #8

Btw, Love2D is based on SDL2. If you hate Lua but needs the same cross-platform capabilities, you can use an SDL2 binding in other languages or make your own.

SDL3 should get more love in general.

The SDL3 GPU API[1] provided a cross-platform GPU API even before WebGPU.

In Rust it's a good alternative for winit/wgpu. For that reason I added it to areweguiyet.com[2] last week, where apparently it wasn't even listed before.

I am currently using it to develop a space game[3] inspired by the original BBC Elite. Using emscripten to get on the web and QUIC/Webtransport for networking.

[1]: https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL3/CategoryGPU

[2]: https://areweguiyet.com/#ecosystem

[3]: https://git.levitati.ng/LevitatingBusinessMan/elite/src/bran...