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Löve - Emotional programming for 2D graphics

29.Jan.2009

There’s a new platform in the race for developing graphics based experiences. It’s based on the LUA programming language and the SDL 2D graphics API, and comes with a brilliant name: Löve. As other similar projects (Processing or even Hackety Hack), the idea is to bring the power of programming to less technical hands. By removing all the complexity behind coding tools and environments and instead focusing on simpler platforms, they’re able to deliver a more instant satisfaction to the users.

I’ve already been into LUA, when I was programming some applications for the PSP console and, as most interpreted languages, is very easy to pick up and start playing with it. Additionally, SDL is a very mature API for 2D graphics, so the Löve project as definitely potential.

Here’s a quick example on how to load and print an image on the screen:

function load()
   image = love.graphics.newImage("image.png")
   x = 100
   y = 100
end

function draw()
   love.graphics.draw(image, x, y)
end

That’s the whole code: very straightforward. Löve already supports all 3 major platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac), although it’s not possible to generate executables for Mac yet. The creators took great care with the documentation (not only the presentation, though it’s quite nice).

I’ll leave you with screenshots of two projects: