FAQ

Common questions newbies might have about LÖVE

How did LÖVE come to exist?

rude wrote:

Actually, I don't remember how it started. Possibly it was just a challenge to myself. If someone forced me to make up a story, however, it could be something like:

Well, I was looking for a free 2D-centric game framework that was easy to get up and running, and that would work on all platforms without too much hassle, but I couldn't find any. There were many engines and frameworks available, but they were too focused on 3D, which made the API unattractive for use in 2D games. So I began to work on my own API; a glorious world blissfully ignorant of the z-axis, where the children could finally laugh and play freely, both as in beer, and as in freedom. *single tear*

And so forth.

Why doesn't LÖVE include a vector library?

slime wrote:

The main problem with LÖVE's APIs using vector objects is that in Lua, vector objects tend to create a lot of garbage if used heavily. So having them required for using LÖVE functions prevents optimal performance. Some engines go to extreme lengths to try to work around that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjyM7d7_YA#t=23m6s

I don't want to make vector-specific function variants either, as that would make the API a lot messier.

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