Difference between revisions of "Getting Started"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | == LÖVE | + | == Get LÖVE == |
| − | + | Download the latest version of LÖVE from [http://love2d.org/#download the website], and install it. If you're on Windows and don't want to ''install'' LÖVE, you can also just download the zipped executables and extract them anywhere. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | You can inspect what Version of Löve you have installed like this: | |
<code> | <code> | ||
| Line 10: | Line 9: | ||
</code> | </code> | ||
| − | == | + | == Making a Game == |
| − | + | To make a minimal game, create a folder anywhere, and open up your favorite code editor. Notepad++ is a pretty good one for Windows, and it has Lua support built in. Create a new file in the folder you just created, and name it main.lua. Put the following code in the file, and save it. | |
<source lang="lua"> | <source lang="lua"> | ||
| Line 19: | Line 18: | ||
end | end | ||
</source> | </source> | ||
| − | + | == Running Games == | |
| − | + | LÖVE can load a game in two ways: | |
| − | + | * From a folder. | |
| − | LÖVE | + | * From a .love file (a renamed .zip-file). |
| − | * | + | |
| − | * | + | In both cases, there has to be a file called <code>main.lua</code> in the root path. This file will be loaded when LÖVE starts. If this file is missing, LÖVE will not recognize the folder or .love file as game, and it will complain about a wrongly packaged game. A frequently made mistake is zipping the folder rather than its contents. This stems from very old practice (because when you unzip a folder you don't want it to splash out all over your current directory), but for LÖVE doing that doesn't make sense: you need to zip the game folder's contents '''only''', to get a correct .love. |
| − | |||
| − | In | ||
===Windows=== | ===Windows=== | ||
| − | + | On Windows, the easiest way to run the game is to drag the folder onto love.exe, or a shortcut to love.exe. Remember to drag the folder containing <code>main.lua</code>, and not <code>main.lua</code> itself. | |
| + | There's also the [[Scite]] option. | ||
| − | + | You can also call it from command line: | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| + | For instance: | ||
<pre> | <pre> | ||
love C:\games\mygame | love C:\games\mygame | ||
| Line 42: | Line 39: | ||
</pre> | </pre> | ||
| − | + | On Windows, there is a special option which will attach a console to the Window. This allows you to see standard output. | |
| + | <code> | ||
| + | love --console | ||
| + | </code> | ||
===Linux=== | ===Linux=== | ||
| − | Linux | + | On Linux, you can use the command line: |
<pre> | <pre> | ||
| Line 54: | Line 54: | ||
</pre> | </pre> | ||
| − | + | If you have installed the .deb, you can double click on .love files in your file manager as well. | |
===Mac OSX=== | ===Mac OSX=== | ||
| − | + | On Mac OSX, a folder or .love file can be dropped onto the Love.app application bundle. On the Mac OSX Terminal (commandline), you can use love like this (assuming it's installed to the Applications directory): | |
<code>open -a love mygame</code> | <code>open -a love mygame</code> | ||
| − | In | + | In some cases it may be faster to invoke the love binary inside the application bundle directly via the following: |
<code>/Applications/love.app/Contents/MacOS/love mygame</code> | <code>/Applications/love.app/Contents/MacOS/love mygame</code> | ||
| − | + | You can setup an alias in your Terminal session to call the binary when you use <code>love</code> by adding an alias to your ~/.bash_profile (<code>open -a TextEdit ~/.bash_profile</code>): | |
<pre> | <pre> | ||
| Line 73: | Line 73: | ||
</pre> | </pre> | ||
| − | + | Now you can call love from the commandline like Linux and Windows: | |
<code> | <code> | ||
| Line 79: | Line 79: | ||
</code> | </code> | ||
| − | == | + | == Next steps == |
| − | * [[Tutorial:Callback_Functions]] | + | * [[Tutorial:Callback_Functions]] will teach you the basic structure of a love game. |
| − | * [[:Category:Tutorials]] | + | * [[:Category:Tutorials]] are the next piece of reading |
[[Category:LÖVE]] | [[Category:LÖVE]] | ||
Revision as of 05:04, 12 August 2010
Get LÖVE
Download the latest version of LÖVE from the website, and install it. If you're on Windows and don't want to install LÖVE, you can also just download the zipped executables and extract them anywhere.
You can inspect what Version of Löve you have installed like this:
love --version
Making a Game
To make a minimal game, create a folder anywhere, and open up your favorite code editor. Notepad++ is a pretty good one for Windows, and it has Lua support built in. Create a new file in the folder you just created, and name it main.lua. Put the following code in the file, and save it.
function love.draw()
love.graphics.print("Hello World", 400, 300)
end
Running Games
LÖVE can load a game in two ways:
- From a folder.
- From a .love file (a renamed .zip-file).
In both cases, there has to be a file called main.lua in the root path. This file will be loaded when LÖVE starts. If this file is missing, LÖVE will not recognize the folder or .love file as game, and it will complain about a wrongly packaged game. A frequently made mistake is zipping the folder rather than its contents. This stems from very old practice (because when you unzip a folder you don't want it to splash out all over your current directory), but for LÖVE doing that doesn't make sense: you need to zip the game folder's contents only, to get a correct .love.
Windows
On Windows, the easiest way to run the game is to drag the folder onto love.exe, or a shortcut to love.exe. Remember to drag the folder containing main.lua, and not main.lua itself.
There's also the Scite option.
You can also call it from command line:
For instance:
love C:\games\mygame love C:\games\packagedgame.love
On Windows, there is a special option which will attach a console to the Window. This allows you to see standard output.
love --console
Linux
On Linux, you can use the command line:
love /home/path/to/game love /home/path/to/packagedgame.love
If you have installed the .deb, you can double click on .love files in your file manager as well.
Mac OSX
On Mac OSX, a folder or .love file can be dropped onto the Love.app application bundle. On the Mac OSX Terminal (commandline), you can use love like this (assuming it's installed to the Applications directory):
open -a love mygame
In some cases it may be faster to invoke the love binary inside the application bundle directly via the following:
/Applications/love.app/Contents/MacOS/love mygame
You can setup an alias in your Terminal session to call the binary when you use love by adding an alias to your ~/.bash_profile (open -a TextEdit ~/.bash_profile):
# alias to love alias love="/Applications/love.app/Contents/MacOS/love"
Now you can call love from the commandline like Linux and Windows:
love /home/path/to/game
Next steps
- Tutorial:Callback_Functions will teach you the basic structure of a love game.
- Category:Tutorials are the next piece of reading
