Löve (game engine)

LÖVE (or Love2D) is an open-source cross-platform engine for developing 2D video games. The engine is written in C++ and uses Lua as its scripting language. It is published under the zlib license.

LÖVE

Initial release	January 13, 2008 (2008-01-13)[1]
Stable release	11.3[2] / October 27, 2019 (2019-10-27)
Repository	github.com/love2d/love
Written in	C++
Platform	Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, other
Type	Game engine
License	zlib license
Website	love2d.org

The API provided by the engine gives access to the video and sound functions of the host machine through the libraries SDL and OpenGL, or since version 0.10 also OpenGL ES 2 and 3.[3] Fonts can be rendered by the FreeType engine.[4] A version of the engine called piLöve has been specifically ported to Raspberry Pi.[5]

It also provides a basic "sandbox" management of the files in order to avoid giving access to all its disk to the executed games.

LÖVE is still maintained by its original developers.

This engine is frequently found in the compositions of video game development competitions, such as the international competition Ludum Dare.[6]

In July 2018, it was the 10th game engine most used by independents on the site itch.io.[7]

History

Version	Code name	Added	Release date
0.1.1	Santa-Power	Reading and displaying images Reading and playing sounds Load and use fonts	January 13, 2008
0.2.0	Mini-Moose	Added a screen that displays if no game is loaded Adding an animation system	February 6, 2008
0.2.1	Impending Doom		March 29, 2008
0.3.0	Mutant Vermin	Addition of the particle system	June 2008
0.3.1	Meat Space		June 2008
0.3.2	Lemony Fresh		August 29, 2008
0.4.0	Taco Beam	Added Physics engine Box2D[8]	July 4, 2008
0.5.0	Salted Nuts	Joystick support Support of protocols TCP/UDP using luasocket	January 2, 2009
0.6.0	Jiggly Juice	Removes the animation system	December 24, 2009
0.6.1	Jiggly Juice		February 7, 2010
0.6.2	Jiggly Juice		March 6, 2010
0.7.0	Slavic Game		December 5, 2010
0.7.1	Slavic Game		February 14, 2011
0.7.2	Slavic Game		May 5, 2011
0.8.0	Rubber Piggy		April 2, 2012
0.9.0	Baby Inspector		December 13, 2013
0.9.1	Baby Inspector		April 1, 2014
0.9.2	Baby Inspector		February 14, 2015
0.10.0	Super Toast	Supports Android and iOS[9]	December 22, 2015
0.10.1	Super Toast		February 14, 2016
0.10.2	Super Toast		October 31, 2016
11.0	Mysterious Mysteries		April 1, 2018
11.1	Mysterious Mysteries		April 15, 2018
11.2	Mysterious Mysteries		November 25, 2018
11.3	Mysterious Mysteries		October 27, 2019

Lutro is a Lua game framework for libretro, a partial port of the LÖVE[10] API. ChaiLove follows a similar path by offering an implementation in ChaiScript, an embedded and cross-platform scripting language for C++ (C++14).[11]

Features

These features come with the game engine:

• support of OpenGL pixel shaders GLSL,
• touchscreen support,
• support for UTF-8,
• supports image formats PNG, JPEG, GIF, TGA and BMP,[12]
• possibility to use the 2D physics engine Box2D (can be disabled, to lighten the library),
• luasocket library for network communications TCP/UDP,
• lua-enet library, another network library implementing Enet, a reliable protocol based on UDP
• native management of tiles created by the Tiled.[13]

Portability and usage

LÖVE is cross-platform.

Application compatibility is not ensured between different LÖVE versions.

Additional libraries

There are various libraries to improve basic functions, such as object-oriented programming with inheritance and overloading, interpolations, camera management, network multiplayer management, game state management, configuration, etc.

The Simple Tiled Implementation library allows users to load levels as tiles, edit using Tiled[14] and display them in games. It works in conjunction with Box2D for collision management with this decor.[15]

The anim8 library allows users to load animations, for characters for example, from an image grid into a bitmap file (PNG or JPEG).[16][17]

There is also a free platform (GPLv3) called LIKO-12, inspired by the PICO-8 fantasy console and using LÖVE, allowing to develop applications in a limited resolution, backup/restore in the modified PNG format, in the same way as the video game cartridges of the game consoles or some of the first microcomputers, and export them to HTML5 or to systems supported by LÖVE.[18]

Bibliography

• Damilare Darmie Akinlaja (2013). LÖVE2d for Lua Game Programming -master the Lua programming language and build exciting strategy-based games in 2D using the LÖVE framework. PacktPub. ISBN 9781461946038. OCLC 864886612.
• Jayant Varma (2012). Learn Lua for iOS game development. Apress. ISBN 9781430246633. OCLC 834071764.

References

1. "LÖVE version history". Retrieved 2019-06-01.
2. "LÖVE 11.3". Retrieved 2020-03-26.
3. https://love2d.org/wiki/0.10.0
4. Korben (January 14, 2011). "The power of Löve !". Korben.info.
5. "PiLove - LÖVE on RaspberryPI". mitako.eu.
6. "Posts Tagged'love2d'". Ludum Dare.
7. Rob Beschizza (July 17, 2018). "The most popular engines for indie games". Boingboing.
8. Florent Zara (September 1, 2008). "Löve Output 0.4.0 free game engine, 2D". Linux.
9. Christian Nutt (December 22, 2015). "New version of free LÖVE 2D game framework adds mobile support". Gamasutra.
10. "Lutro". github.
11. RobLoach (December 26, 2017). "ChaiLove - Another Take on 2D Game Development". libretro.
12. Marius Nestor. "An Open Source and cross-platform 2D game engine that provides dynamic gaming experiences". Softpedia.
13. Landon Manning (December 21, 2015). "Using Tiled Maps in LÖVE". lua.space.
14. "Tiled". mapeditor.org.
15. "Simple Tiled Implementation". github.com.
16. "Anim8". love2d.org.
17. "An animation library for LÖVE". github.
18. "[LIKO-12 V0.0.5 PRE] An open-source pico-8-inspired game dev environment for love2d". love2d.org. September 18, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• "Love repo". on GitHub.
• "Your First Love2d Game in 200 Lines - Part 1 of 3". osmstudios.
• Agam More. "How to Learn LÖVE (Love2D)". Envato Tuts+.