How do people create their .loves and .exes? (Discussion)

[gestaltist]

I’m on a Mac so I made an Automator script. I select the files I want to include with the mouse and press Command+Shift+L and it creates the Love file for me.

[Positive07]

What are the reasons for creating .love's or .exe's so often, that there is a desire to automate it?
Or asked different, what are the occasions where you do it?

I do it when I need to share with friends or in a jam. Also I used to create love files all the time when I needed to test something but I dont do that anymore

[SkymarshallHeff]

I wanted to make a game run on Android, so I've got two batch files for compiling the APKs, as well as one for making a .love -and- another that spins up an EXE w/the required DLLs so I can make a release package - a total of 4 batch files (plus another that runs the game without a .love for quick testing). Here they are:

The simplest - a simple run batch (aptly named run.bat):

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
..\love-0.9.1-win32\love.exe --console "%CD%"

The next simplest - makes a .love file (adapted from the first post):

Code: Select all

"C:\PATH\TO\7z.exe" a -tzip builds/game.love * -xr!*.love -xr!*.bat -xr!*.apk -xr!*.ini -xr!*.exe -xr!*.7z
pause

Moving on - compiling an EXE:

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SET wd=%CD%
SET lovedir=C:\PATH\TO\love-0.9.1-win32

CD %lovedir%
copy /Y %wd%\builds\game.love %lovedir%
rmdir /s /q make
mkdir make
copy /b love.exe+%wd%\builds\game.love .\make\game.exe
copy *.dll .\make\*.dll
copy make %wd%\builds\exe\
pause

Up next is compiling a debug APK with love-android-sdl2:

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SET wd=%CD%
for %%* in (.) do SET pkg=%%~n*
SET love=%wd%\builds\game.love
SET builddir=D:\PATH\TO\love-android-sdl2
SET assets=D:\PATH\TO\love-android-sdl2\assets\game.love
SET dbg=D:\PATH\TO\\love-android-sdl2\bin\love_android_sdl2-debug.apk

copy /Y %love% %assets%
cd %builddir%
call ant debug
copy /Y %dbg% %wd%\builds\debug.apk
pause

Lastly, the most unpretty of them all - compiling a release mode APK (this one could be less ugly, but it was 3AM and I was in the zone):

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
SET wd=%CD%
for %%* in (.) do SET pkg=%%~n*
SET love=%wd%\game.love
SET builddir=D:\PATH\TO\love-android-sdl2
SET assets=D:\PATH\TO\love-android-sdl2\assets\game.love
SET dbg=D:\PATH\TO\love-android-sdl2\bin\love_android_sdl2-release-unsigned.apk
SET jdk=C:\PATH\TO\jdk1.7.0_60\bin
SET unsigned=%wd%\builds\release-unsigned.apk
SET signed=%wd%\builds\release.apk

del builds\release.apk
copy /Y %love% %assets%
cd %builddir%
call ant release
copy /Y %dbg% %unsigned%
cd /D %jdk%
call jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore D:\PATH\TO\your.keystore %unsigned% KEYSTOREALIAS
call jarsigner -verify %unsigned%
call zipalign -v 4 %unsigned% %signed%
pause

I've got these all sitting in the root directory of my game folder. When they run, a subfolder is made called "builds", which all up will have these files:

• debug.apk
• release.apk
• game.love
• release-unsigned.apk (by the end of the process I think this one actually is signed, but not aligned
• directory: /exe (contains game.exe and the love dll's, ready for packaging)

As for why I have them: convenience, mostly. I'm an enterprise developer by trade, so having the ability to compile and go without screwing around fits neatly into my development practices. I plan to make another batch file to rename the EXE/APKs and package them for release as well.

[murks]

I've used method one, manual. I've only done one release so far. Due to a last minute change I had to re-package the game for Linux, OSX and Windows just before the deadline. It was done within a few minutes without any problems, so I don't see the need to automate this process. For rare releases I don't think it's worth it. Chances are I would spend more time writing and adjusting the script than I would save by using it.