Famous Love2d games?

[xNick1]

Hi guys!

When looking out for a 2D framework or game engine, you're often recommended to use stuff like GameMaker, MonoGame, Unity, Love2d, Construct2, ClickTeam Fusion and so on.
However it's common for me to look in which engine/framework, 2d games I like are made in.

Recently many famous and awesome games were made in GameMaker (Hotline Miami 1/2, Undertale, HyperLight Drifter), or ClickTeam Fusion for Five Nights At Freddy's.
Personally I think any of those products could've been made in Love2d as well, right?

The only semi popular professional game made in Love2d and sold on steam (as far as I know) is "Move Or Die".

I once tried to use Unity, but I felt like I could do things more rapidly in Love2d, so I ditched Unity.

The question is: "Why people choose those other frameworks instead of Love2d?"
As a beginner I feel like I'm doing good with Love2d, I already made a lot of progress.
Plus the community seems great, the wiki is also great and you can learn by other people's code.

[kikito]

I think Mari0 might be more known than Move or Die - http://stabyourself.net/mari0/

Personally I think any of those products could've been made in Love2d as well, right?

Yes.

Why people choose those other frameworks instead of Love2d?

For me the reasons for using LÖVE were Lua, the community, and being completely open-source.

[Fenrir]

I think Mari0 might be more known than Move or Die - http://stabyourself.net/mari0/

Hmm according to Steamspy Move or Die is a huge success (http://steamspy.com/app/323850), and I've heard of it in many gaming websites/podcasts/magazines, I think that it's definitely the most famous Love2D game around, at least for non developers.

[ivan]

Hyper Light Drifter (http://steamspy.com/app/257850) did pretty well and I believe it was made in Love2d.
I wouldn't call these games "famous" compared to AAA titles but are certainly noteworthy on the indie scene.

"Why people choose those other frameworks instead of Love2d?"

3D

[xNick1]

I think Mari0 might be more known than Move or Die - http://stabyourself.net/mari0/

Personally I think any of those products could've been made in Love2d as well, right?

Yes.

Why people choose those other frameworks instead of Love2d?

For me the reasons for using LÖVE were Lua, the community, and being completely open-source.

Yeah I know you like lua, I stalked you on your website.
I know about your Love3D project, STI, the lapis imageboard etc eheh =)
I didn't know anything about Lua before starting, and I still don't know much about it,
but I started using LÖVE because I could just download the zipped folder from the main page, create a text file and create a basic game.
Maybe people are not using it because it's "harder" than other frameworks?
The wiki is well written anyway, there are quite a few libs around and the community is good.
It's very low level for me, (I'm a .net web dev) but I'm liking it so far and I'm learning how to do stuff.
Very positive experience so far.

Someone should make a big project so that LÖVE becomes more popular.
I think it's pretty unknown, no one of my "nerd" friends know about it.
Hey let's use LÖVE, they made blablabla with it!

[Jasoco]

Mari0 isn't on Steam for obvious reasons, but when it was released it was definitely huge with the gaming blogs.

And Move or Die is cool, but I'm disappointed they moved away from Concerned Joe to work on it. (I paid for access to CJ right before they dropped it)

[RagingDave]

There is also the consideration of target platforms. Monogame and libgdx (don't know about Unity or Gamemaker) support more build targets out of the box. So it would probably be easier to build & package your game for platforms such as consoles or mobile targets.

Also many game creators are not really developers in a sense and like to have some visual editor for maps and pipeline tools for assets.

So there are quite some reasons to choose other solutions. Why there are so few commercially successful games made in Love? I don't know.

[zorg]

...

Yeah I know you like lua, I stalked you on your website.
I know about your Love3D project, STI, the lapis imageboard etc eheh =)

That's Holo/Karai, not kikito.

I didn't know anything about Lua before starting, and I still don't know much about it,
but I started using LÖVE because I could just download the zipped folder from the main page, create a text file and create a basic game.

For some people, the fact that you don't have an application that you use to create a game makes frameworks like löve "hard"; even though Unity or something may be more complex, but "at least it has a GUI".

Maybe people are not using it because it's "harder" than other frameworks?

I digress from my above paragraph, not really fair to compare Unity with löve... i guess löve would be somewhere between Construct and Gamemaker XP, though this again is a meaningless comparison; but maybe people see löve as akin to construct, a child's toy instead of a legit serious option for game development... that said, there are games made with game maker that don't resemble the "typical" GM-like games (quite a few are noticeable in many regards), like Undertale or OneShot; i couldn't tell i was playing a "Gamemaker Game", since they were made in such ways that it basically completely hidden/got rid of all that would make me tack that stigma on them.

Someone should make a big project so that LÖVE becomes more popular.
Hey let's use LÖVE, they made blablabla with it!

There were/are quite a few, as discussed above, and they're still coming out as we speak; e.g. Warlock's Tower will be on steam, that's a löve game too (unless they changed frameworks since, but i doubt that)

I think it's pretty unknown, none of my "nerd" friends know about it.

A small group non-indicative of a framework's fame. Only one of my "nerd" friends know about Construct, one about Ren'Py and one about the Touhou games... do all a favor and spread the word though!

[ken.athomos]

I believe that the reason most people choose (as per your example) GameMaker and ClickTeamFusion above ones like LOVE2D is because it "looks" way easier to handle (I'm assuming stuff here, I have never used these two. I've had some time with HaxeFlixel, after that I moved to LOVE2D) and as RagingDave and Zorg said, the visual editors are a huge bonus for some.

I think it's best to remember that not everyone who makes games starts out or are programmers or programming savvy. Some of them are people who have ideas for games and are like "I want to make this a thing".

Also, I would like to add that LOVE is a game framework and you as the creator of your game, need to code stuff for things to happen. That one sentence is kind of a turn off to some people. I think it's something about the stigma that "programming looks complicated" or "I heard programming is hard, I'd rather not...". I know it doesn't sound like a good point but that actually does happen.

[Santos]

See josefnpat's list of notable LÖVE games.