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Love2d (the lua engine used here) is really great. If I were teaching a newbie to programming, I'd probably have them start with love. It makes it super easy yo

Love2d (the lua engine used here) is really great. If I were teaching a newbie to programming, I'd probably have them start with love. It makes it super easy yo just get something on screen, and you're not screwing around with configuration, build systems and package managers etc (the death of productivity IMO, especially for a beginner). I used it on a recent jam game too (https://wheybags.itch.io/drilbert https://wheybags.itch.io/drilbert)

mikepurvis 5y ago
Seems like it could be nice next step up from Pico-8, especially for users who’ve moved on to using external art tools and text editors anyway.
spicybright 5y ago
Another good beginner game dev framework is kaboom.js https://kaboomjs.com/ https://kaboomjs.com/ Example project online: https://kaboomjs.com/examples#level https://kaboomjs.com/examples#level And just to add, if anyone has been using love2d or other frameworks like it, give GoDot a try. I started using it a few weeks ago and it's amazing how much I'm getting done with my game.
jmiskovic 5y ago
Been using Love2d for few years now, and you are right on point that it's great for education. You can get fun things to happen with few lines of code. The whole API fits into your head, and together with Lua's simplicity this is a powerful combo. Any complexity in code comes from your side. With live reloading, development happens in tight loop with running environment, and this easily drags you into the zone. At the same time the framework is low level. The included functions cover only interfacing HW and rendering graphical primitives. It's just a thin abstraction layer that greatly simplifies accessing OS features. Everything else like scene management, AI navigation, live code reloading, skeletal animation, common graphics shaders, tile maps, sound management, UI, that's all left out of the framework. Numerous Lua libraries were made to fill in the missing stuff. You get to pick from different solutions and glue them together with script code. This is very consistent with general Lua mindset. Neither functional constructs nor OOP are not included in Lua, but both can easily be brought in with any of dozen libraries. It creates fractured space and it's kind of bazaar of different tech stacks that are same but different. Other frameworks and engines (Defold, Solar2D, Roblox) that use Lua all take integrated approach where more of functionality is crammed into engine itself. This is a more closed solution where you aren't supposed to extend the engine much, just script inside it.
- canadianfella 5y ago
  > Neither functional constructs nor OOP are not included in Lua That’s hard to read.
  - Banana699 5y ago
    I think they didn't mean the double negative, since they continue with "both can be brought with libraries" which implies they are not included in the core language, which is the opposite of this doubly negated statment.
    - samatman 5y ago
      It's very likely, given the occasional dropped article, that the poster in question is not a native English speaker, and probably from a language where 'double negative' is agreement, as in "we don't need no education".
      - jmiskovic 5y ago
        You are correct that I'm not a native speaker, and also that my language uses double negatives. Alas, this mistake was due to editing small part of sentence and neglecting to re-read the whole thing. I won't try to avoid not making this error never again.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - jmiskovic 5y ago
        Also, thanks for pointing out the dropped articles. The gmail spell checker often wants to insert those into my texts. While in most cases it felt they were not necessary, obviously the omission gets noticed.
lc9er 5y ago
I really enjoyed this set of tutorials for Tic-80, which also uses Lua (or Fennel/Moonscript/Wren/JS). The series was a really great intro not just the tic-80 engine, but programming concepts in general. A friend of mine was able to take some of the concepts he learned and was able to improve the bit of spreadsheet/data munching that he has to do for his otherwise non-technical work. (https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOT6zBnJyYF3FzmfXz2QXMA8xk7JHA_b https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOT6zBnJyYF3FzmfXz2QXM...)
yonifei 5y ago
Flash with ActionScript 2/3 was incredible for this sort of thing as well.
- nicetryguy 5y ago
  People argue that Flash has been completely replaced with HTML5, but, there is no GUI / interface for designing games / animations for the web that even comes close to what Flash had. I miss me some movieclips =(
  - VWWHFSfQ 5y ago
    I learned to program with Flash MX 2004. I had no idea what I was doing but within a day or so I had made some pretty cool stuff that I was proud of. Was hooked from then on.
  - geswit2x 5y ago
    HaxeFlixel + FlashDevelop
  - emehrkay 5y ago
    The Flash IDE was top notch. And the fact that it made a one-file executable was pretty cool too. And their version of javascript with classes was damn cool (was it es6?). Flash had a nice dev-to-executable experience, too bad it was soured by its browser inclusion. It could've been a great alternative to Java/Electron as the build once run anywhere lang. Adobe was a bit too early with Air
    - ronyeh 5y ago
      AS 3.0 was ecmascript and similar to typescript! I loved actionscript 3.
      - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
        AS 3.0 was the closest we got to an ECMAScript 4 implementation.
grawprog 5y ago
Love2d was the first 'real' game engine I ever played around with. I made a bunch of silly little games with it. My only real problem is not really to do with love2d but lua itself. Debugging lua is a pain. There was one debugging addon I remember finding for love2d that was sort of hacky and didn't work that well. Otherwise, honestly it's a great little engine and like you say, if you're pretty new to programming and want to try making games for fun, lua and love2d is a great way to go.
seany 5y ago
Solar2d is also quite good. https://solar2d.com/ https://solar2d.com/ its technically older than love, but it started as Corona (not opensource)

mikepurvis 5y ago

Seems like it could be nice next step up from Pico-8, especially for users who’ve moved on to using external art tools and text editors anyway.

spicybright 5y ago

Another good beginner game dev framework is kaboom.js https://kaboomjs.com/ https://kaboomjs.com/ Example project online: https://kaboomjs.com/examples#level https://kaboomjs.com/examples#level And just to add, if anyone has been using love2d or other frameworks like it, give GoDot a try. I started using it a few weeks ago and it's amazing how much I'm getting done with my game.

jmiskovic 5y ago

Been using Love2d for few years now, and you are right on point that it's great for education. You can get fun things to happen with few lines of code. The whole API fits into your head, and together with Lua's simplicity this is a powerful combo. Any complexity in code comes from your side. With live reloading, development happens in tight loop with running environment, and this easily drags you into the zone. At the same time the framework is low level. The included functions cover only interfacing HW and rendering graphical primitives. It's just a thin abstraction layer that greatly simplifies accessing OS features. Everything else like scene management, AI navigation, live code reloading, skeletal animation, common graphics shaders, tile maps, sound management, UI, that's all left out of the framework. Numerous Lua libraries were made to fill in the missing stuff. You get to pick from different solutions and glue them together with script code. This is very consistent with general Lua mindset. Neither functional constructs nor OOP are not included in Lua, but both can easily be brought in with any of dozen libraries. It creates fractured space and it's kind of bazaar of different tech stacks that are same but different. Other frameworks and engines (Defold, Solar2D, Roblox) that use Lua all take integrated approach where more of functionality is crammed into engine itself. This is a more closed solution where you aren't supposed to extend the engine much, just script inside it.

canadianfella 5y ago
> Neither functional constructs nor OOP are not included in Lua That’s hard to read.
- Banana699 5y ago
  I think they didn't mean the double negative, since they continue with "both can be brought with libraries" which implies they are not included in the core language, which is the opposite of this doubly negated statment.
  - samatman 5y ago
    It's very likely, given the occasional dropped article, that the poster in question is not a native English speaker, and probably from a language where 'double negative' is agreement, as in "we don't need no education".
    - jmiskovic 5y ago
      You are correct that I'm not a native speaker, and also that my language uses double negatives. Alas, this mistake was due to editing small part of sentence and neglecting to re-read the whole thing. I won't try to avoid not making this error never again.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    - jmiskovic 5y ago
      Also, thanks for pointing out the dropped articles. The gmail spell checker often wants to insert those into my texts. While in most cases it felt they were not necessary, obviously the omission gets noticed.

lc9er 5y ago

I really enjoyed this set of tutorials for Tic-80, which also uses Lua (or Fennel/Moonscript/Wren/JS). The series was a really great intro not just the tic-80 engine, but programming concepts in general. A friend of mine was able to take some of the concepts he learned and was able to improve the bit of spreadsheet/data munching that he has to do for his otherwise non-technical work. (https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOT6zBnJyYF3FzmfXz2QXMA8xk7JHA_b https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvOT6zBnJyYF3FzmfXz2QXM...)

yonifei 5y ago

Flash with ActionScript 2/3 was incredible for this sort of thing as well.

nicetryguy 5y ago
People argue that Flash has been completely replaced with HTML5, but, there is no GUI / interface for designing games / animations for the web that even comes close to what Flash had. I miss me some movieclips =(
- VWWHFSfQ 5y ago
  I learned to program with Flash MX 2004. I had no idea what I was doing but within a day or so I had made some pretty cool stuff that I was proud of. Was hooked from then on.
- geswit2x 5y ago
  HaxeFlixel + FlashDevelop
- emehrkay 5y ago
  The Flash IDE was top notch. And the fact that it made a one-file executable was pretty cool too. And their version of javascript with classes was damn cool (was it es6?). Flash had a nice dev-to-executable experience, too bad it was soured by its browser inclusion. It could've been a great alternative to Java/Electron as the build once run anywhere lang. Adobe was a bit too early with Air
  - ronyeh 5y ago
    AS 3.0 was ecmascript and similar to typescript! I loved actionscript 3.
    - fiddlerwoaroof 5y ago
      AS 3.0 was the closest we got to an ECMAScript 4 implementation.

grawprog 5y ago

Love2d was the first 'real' game engine I ever played around with. I made a bunch of silly little games with it. My only real problem is not really to do with love2d but lua itself. Debugging lua is a pain. There was one debugging addon I remember finding for love2d that was sort of hacky and didn't work that well. Otherwise, honestly it's a great little engine and like you say, if you're pretty new to programming and want to try making games for fun, lua and love2d is a great way to go.

seany 5y ago

Solar2d is also quite good. https://solar2d.com/ https://solar2d.com/ its technically older than love, but it started as Corona (not opensource)