Getting Started

Get LÖVE

Download the latest version of LÖVE from http://love2d.org/download, and install it. If you're on Windows and don't want to install LÖVE, you can also just download the zipped binaries and extract them anywhere.

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 must be a file called main.lua on the root. 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 you will be presented with the standard no-game screen.

On the command line, you can use love like this:

love mygame

For instance:

love /home/bob/mygame
love /home/bob/packagedgame.love
love C:\games\mygame
love C:\games\packagedgame.love

You can inspect the version like this:

love --version

On Windows, there is a special option which will attach a console to the Window. This allows you to see standard output.

love --console

If you are running Windows and you want an easy way to play your applications, you can create a shortcut to the LÖVE executable in the folder above your LÖVE game. When you want to try the game, just drag and drop the folder to the shortcut, and it will run.

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

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.

On Linux, you can use the command line. (Of course, you can use the command line in Windows too, if you prefer).

love /home/path/to/game