Love Game Maker

[bobbyjones]

I would imagine the contributions for a lua based one will be a lot more. Hardly anyone here can write c#

[arampl]

Not only that, but C#... Beautiful language, really easy to learn, wonderful class library. But I don't like it anymore. Besides you need Mono on other platforms. After C# was Python and in the end it becomes Lua. Only Lua.

[Radfordhound]

That's cool!
But there does have a lot of works wating you...

Thanks!

Am I the only one who thinks love game maker should be made in lua?

Nope. There's one more.

I would imagine the contributions for a lua based one will be a lot more. Hardly anyone here can write c#

Not only that, but C#... Beautiful language, really easy to learn, wonderful class library. But I don't like it anymore. Besides you need Mono on other platforms. After C# was Python and in the end it becomes Lua. Only Lua.

I've thought about writing it in Lua. While I've wrote code in Lua many times previously, I've never really written full-blown applications in it. Only plugins/LOVE 2D games. I looked into it some more and it seems like this is a much better option as Lua has been ported in it's entirety to pretty much anything LGM would run on (Plus more!) and would be much easier to edit for users of the Love 2D engine, which just so happens to be pretty much anyone who'll use LGM anyway.

You also couldn't have mentioned this at a better time as I was just beginning to re-program LGM from scratch with a better design (Mentioned in the first post.) to fix all my temporary sloppy code.




To cut to the chase, I'll definitely look into this! Sounds very promising. I love the idea of a game editor being written in the same language as the game engine!




My only questions to anyone who's programmed full-blown GUI applications in Lua are the following:

How well does Lua support multiple platforms? I obviously know it supports them, but how much so? As in, how reliant is it on each platform? For example, if I use a function to copy a file from one folder to another, does this just auto-matically work on every Lua platform? Or do I have to change it to, for example, use a different path or function? (Since Mac/Linux, for example, use a different style of file paths then Windows. Dem' forward slashes...)

How hard would it be to add GUI elements? I.E. How long does it take to make a basic window with a textbox/how is it done in Lua? Does Lua have native support for these (I doubt it), or is a GUI library necessary? And, if so, which one should I use? (Preferably one with a lot of support that's easy to use and supports multiple platforms.)

I'll mess around with it and'll probably know the answer a few seconds after posting this anyway (Google/self-experimentation.). Just want an experienced Lua coder's opinion.

EDIT: Never mind! Sure enough, just like I said, I messed around with it for a bit and found making GUI elements is actually pretty easy as Lua comes with a GUI library called iUP! I played with it and got some basic windows forms and, surprisingly, not only was it pretty doggone easy... but I'd venture to say it may even have been EASIER than C#! And that's coming from ME! I still have yet to play around with it some more, so we'll see, but for now this looks totally do-able! As long as it remains as easy as it is now, I'm in! This application's TOTALLY going to Lua!

Thanks for the suggestion, all! That's a great idea! ...I really can't believe I didn't think of that, to be honest. xD

[SneakySnake]

You could take a look at ZeroBraneStudio as an example for a cross-platform GUI application written in Lua. [GitHub]

It uses wxLua as a GUI framework.

[arampl]

What of Löve Frames? Did you looked into it?

[SiENcE]

I suggest to take a look at the opensource project GoDot!

It's already a fullblown "Unity" alternative. GoDot is not that professional, but it works and the overall concept is very similar.

During my way through the web I found this: https://github.com/volvis/HaxeFlixel-Godot_Parser

HaxeFlixel lacks a common IDE for managing objects. Godot, while a fully functional game engine, is at the time of writing still in its infancy. However the IDE offers plenty of attractive tools for content authoring. The idea here is to read in Godot scene files, which can be saved as plain text XML, and recreate the Node2D items in HaxeFlixel.

Now exchange HaxeFlixel with Love2D.

You catch my point. Why not use the 2D Part of GoDot as Editor base and just write an Love2D loader for the XML definitions of GoDot scene files. Additionally you also need a function wrapper and minimal runtime.

GoDot normally uses GScript, but I have a variant with Lua ;-).

So basically instead of writing your own full blown Editor....use this and just write a 2D runtime with Love2D to interprete the 2D part of GoDot.

[Radfordhound]

IMPORTANT: Seems like a lot of you all have various wonderful ideas on how the engine should be programmed! Huge thanks for contributing in this way! Since there are multiple ways to do this, I constructed a small poll here: http://www.poll-maker.com/poll274304xDfB94E3a-10 and would love for you all to stop by and choose which method would be the best! The poll ends March 31st. It would really help me out as I'm currently in a phase of not being sure which option to go for. Thanks again for the help!

What of Löve Frames? Did you looked into it?

Yeah, actually. Seems impressive! Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated for a long time now, and I haven't dove deep enough into it yet to learn how to actually use it as the site was removed for some reason and the examples are gone.

I could use it, but seeing as it's already no longer supported and the site is... well.. gone... idk. :/ It's on the poll! You can vote for it!

You could take a look at ZeroBraneStudio as an example for a cross-platform GUI application written in Lua. [GitHub]

It uses wxLua as a GUI framework.

Thanks! I looked into it. Looks pretty cool! Serves as a real nice example of how to do a lot of GUI related things with wxLua.
Not sure if I should use WxLua or not, tho... looks like a nice option, but again, idk. :/ You can vote for it on the poll if you wish!

I suggest to take a look at the opensource project GoDot!

It's already a fullblown "Unity" alternative. GoDot is not that professional, but it works and the overall concept is very similar.

During my way through the web I found this: https://github.com/volvis/HaxeFlixel-Godot_Parser

HaxeFlixel lacks a common IDE for managing objects. Godot, while a fully functional game engine, is at the time of writing still in its infancy. However the IDE offers plenty of attractive tools for content authoring. The idea here is to read in Godot scene files, which can be saved as plain text XML, and recreate the Node2D items in HaxeFlixel.

Now exchange HaxeFlixel with Love2D.

You catch my point. Why not use the 2D Part of GoDot as Editor base and just write an Love2D loader for the XML definitions of GoDot scene files. Additionally you also need a function wrapper and minimal runtime.

GoDot normally uses GScript, but I have a variant with Lua ;-).

So basically instead of writing your own full blown Editor....use this and just write a 2D runtime with Love2D to interprete the 2D part of GoDot.

I checked it out. Seems really cool! I don't know about using it instead, though, as it seems a little complex for the target audience I had in mind for LGM. I want it to be real simple, so kids can make games with it without having to learn a huge amount of stuff that only applies to one/a few IDEs. That and I want it to be really really flexible so people can use it/modify it to fit their needs without a ton of hassle. I don't know how easily GoDot can be modified, but I imagine it's a little trickier than opening the folder the editor is located in and changing/adding a few Lua files. You'd have to AT LEAST download the source, modify it, and compile it... right?

I'll add it to the above-mentioned poll, but I'd still prefer to make a custom one instead for more control.

Thanks anyway, though! It looks like an awesome project! I don't think I'll use it for this... but I'll use it for other things! I never heard of it before! So, thanks for that!

[bobbyjones]

I think a better question will be who will contribute if you start it using a certain method

[bobbyjones]

I myself will be making something like a game maker with wxLua hopefully. I started playing with it now. But I have a lot to learn.

[SiENcE]

@Radfordhound: I think you missunderstood me . I do not suggest to change or edit Godot. I suggest to use it as your GameMaker (but with lua and not Gscript).

The thing you have todo is to write the runtime code in lua for love2d (loading the godot scene files and implementing the most common api calls for 2d).