Better Tutorials for Löve

[Jack5500]

This thread represents a subjective believe, get over it.

Lately I've tried to teach and friend Löve and it took me about 5 hours to get him the basics of how Löve even works. That was not so complicated, since nearly all I said, was easily attested with the wiki. But beyond the very basics, it got hard for him and I realized that I don't know much more either. I could now either ask at the forums for every single thing, which I did for some time, but which isn't that helpful at all (no offense), since you don't get the big picture or I would continue with advanced tutorials. The problem just is: There are nearly none.

A first step into the direction I mean is this (https://github.com/kikito/love-tile-tutorial) for example.
It goes beyond the basics, which are wonderful stated in the wiki and shows a more advanced usage of Löve, but explaining it very detailed at the same time. And I think, like stated above, it might just be me, but we need more of these. Some topics could be:

- Gameturn handeling
- Advanced Sidescrolling
- Bot Programming
- Parenting
- Main/Pause menu programming
- Collision

That would be a spontaneous list by me and I'm sure you could add something to it. These Tutorials would be for the advanced learners and some of them will be very helpful to get further with Löve. So maybe you got a topic by yourself, that you think could be useful for "advanced beginners": Why not write a tutorial about it?

Oppinions? Voluonteers? Aggree? Disaggree and better idea? let me know

[nevon]

The things is, none of those things have anything to do with LÖVE. LÖVE just helps you draw things, play sounds and emulate physics. All those things you mentioned are generic game development topics, and a tutorial for Unity will probably give you all the skills you need to implement it in LÖVE, assuming you know what the different methods are called.

[Jack5500]

Then we could supply links to good resources for learning these or other interesting topics

[kikito]

Parenting?

[Jack5500]

Parenting is a word in 3D engine like Source, interesting you never heard of it. When an object is parented to another object, both objects will move the same way. Meaning: When you parent a tire onto a carrousel, the tire will move with the caroussel.

[MarekkPie]

I'd have to agree with nevon. LOVE is a tool. You learn how to use LOVE like you would any tool. The manual for a hammer doesn't tell you how to make tree house.

[Jack5500]

You are comparing programming to graphical work. Doesn't it seem right to you, to make it as easy as possible for new users?

[MarekkPie]

Programming is not using a tool. Using LOVE is using a tool.

[Santos]

In my uninformed opinion, I think Lua and LÖVE are in a unique position for teaching game programming. I've never seen a language/framework so clear to understand and "to the point" (although I guess I haven't seen many actually. ).

Where does one go to learn game and general programming concepts? As a beginner myself, I'm genuinely curious. I do understand the other posters, LÖVE is just a tool, but it's a pretty awesome tool which seems better suited to beginners than anything else I've seen. And to hijack the previously used analogy, I'd love to find a complete guide to building tree houses.

Also, thank you Kikito for your LÖVE tutorial and Lua Missions, they are stellar.

On a related note, does anyone have any suggestions for other tools to use for the purpose of learning (game) programming? Unity? ActionScript? Any tutorials/books you've found really helpful?

[TechnoCat]

The things is, none of those things have anything to do with LÖVE. LÖVE just helps you draw things, play sounds and emulate physics. All those things you mentioned are generic game development topics, and a tutorial for Unity will probably give you all the skills you need to implement it in LÖVE, assuming you know what the different methods are called.

I'd have to agree with nevon. LOVE is a tool. You learn how to use LOVE like you would any tool. The manual for a hammer doesn't tell you how to make tree house.

So here is the thing. I don't think anybody thinks the LOVE developers should be spending time creating officially supported game programming tutorials.

This is a job for the community. Which some people have stepped in and done for a lot of things already.

But here is my beef: nobody programs the same way and nobody wants to make the same kind of program. This is why I don't care for tutorials after beginner level. After those beginner tutorials, I expect you to be able to solve your problems through programming and reading high-level Wikipedia articles of what you are trying to achieve. This is essentially what programming is all about.