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.
LÖVE can load a game in two ways:
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 <game>For instance:
love /home/bob/mygame love /home/bob/packagedgame.love love C:\games\mygame love C:\games\packagedgame.loveYou can inspect the version like this:
love --versionOn Windows, there is a special option which will attach a console to the Window. This allows you to see standard output.
love --console
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.
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