CODEA -> Cocos2dx and Love

[Alnaumov]

It might be the wrong place to ask this question, but I need some advice.

I have some prior experience with CODEA, Processing and C++, though, not much. And I was thinking of making the next step.

I was thinking between Cocos and Love. I got a number of books on Cocos, but it has too many things I can't quite understand - "listeners", and other stuff. Probably, I just need to get over It.

My main objective is to create some simple 2D games and models.

The questions I am asking are:
- is there much difference between Processing and Love? Or am I just trading one thing over another which is pretty much the same.
- in terms of making a STEP forward, is Love just a playground to start with, so as to move to something more serious?

Thanks for your advice:)

[Muris]

I've been doing some searching other way around like what does cocos2d have that love2d doesn't. Cocos2dx is not same as love2d btw. I don't really know anything about processing but judging the processing site, it looks like a language with types.

First I could probably start with a fact that I am not a good programmer, and I myself started with C++ (which I have mostly forgotten) then I've used Java, more C# (my favourite language), then bits of Javascript and now finally a bit of Lua. Love2D uses LUA which is dynamic language, so the type isn't really instantly visible to user unless you use type(variable). Personally for me this is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. Secondly and imo bigger thing is that variables are global unless otherwise told. Personally I think this is one of the most annoying part about Lua, and I can't really fully understand why such thing exists. So you have to use word local when defining variable to make it's scope correct. Also Lua uses garbage collector unlike c++, so you probably wanna be careful for not doing something bad that leaks memory or uses tons of memory in rapid reserve-release cycle. It can cause some hic ups/slowdowns if misused.

What imo Löve2d offers:
++ Really nice forum community. In my personal opinion out of all of the programming communities that I have seen, Löve has the most helpful community I've seen. It is quite liberal as well imo.
+ I truly believe and think that the write once run on other platforms works with löve at least it works really well. I was a bit sceptical when I first booted my android with löve2d and tried to run löve programs, but boy was I surprised, most stuff ran on my phone with 0 changes needed in code. Arguelably I might not use some of the more special features of lua, but for me it has yet to not work. Although some things like UI libraries might be a bit problematic with android.
+ Löve2d is really well documented.
+ It is really easy to start with löve. You basically just need few functions and thats it.
+ There are quite some amount of libraries to use.
There are probably some other positive things that I forgot to mention

What löve doesn't offer imo:
- Löve is more like what I basically would consider a framework, so besides the bare bones of stuffs, it doesn't offer much more. Like there is no gui editor or so, unlike cocos2dx has. So when you want to use something more special, you'll end up browsing a lot of other peoples libraries. Usually most common stuffs do have libraries tho.
- Debugging. Although you can use ZeroBrane IDE for debugging and it works pretty well, I just sometimes feel that dynamic languages and debugging are really painful combination.
- The performance might take a bit of a hit when having to code logic in lua aswell.
There are probably some other negative things that I forgot to mention.

[zorg]

What löve doesn't offer imo:
- Löve is more like what I basically would consider a framework, so besides the bare bones of stuffs, it doesn't offer much more. Like there is no gui editor or so, unlike cocos2dx has. So when you want to use something more special, you'll end up browsing a lot of other peoples libraries. Usually most common stuffs do have libraries tho.
- Debugging. Although you can use ZeroBrane IDE for debugging and it works pretty well, I just sometimes feel that dynamic languages and debugging are really painful combination.
- The performance might take a bit of a hit when having to code logic in lua aswell.
There are probably some other negative things that I forgot to mention.

On the other hand, what these mean is that:

• You get to implement your own custom stuff, instead of being restricted to one thing that an engine would offer
• Lua does have a debug library, though using it will slow down things (it wasn't made for efficiency); still, it can be very useful if one looks into how it works. PIL is always recommended
• I don't know about this one; i haven't really encountered any performance issues with logic, though this is my own observation; bottom line: it depends on what you want to do.

I could also turn the positives into negatives, like some of the library names are... a bit questionable, or that some (really, just a few) things are indeed missing from the docs, but hey; it's a wiki; go and fill in the gaps!

All in all, i can see löve as a framework that can stand on its own, and not just be used as a bouncing board to a more serious language... i mean, if you wanted to, you could use the FFI interface to code parts of your game in C(99) even, that may make it faster / use less ram, or whatever.

[Foxcraft]

Hello Alnaumov,

I've never heard of Processing before. (Thought such a vague/common name would make it hard to look up, but guess not. ) It seems interesting, and I have to give them props for taking part in Hour of Code.

I think anyone interested in making video games, especially if going from a more programming end, should give LÖVE a shot. Just try it.

I came to LÖVE looking for something to start prototyping with (after being pumped up from this). I was moving from XNA (didn't like how tied down to Microsoft stuff it was) and hadn't decided on just what to use yet, and so I wanted to just get working and figure out what to use for "real" later on. I read that LÖVE was really popular for prototyping. I gave it a shot, and I was hooked. Something clicked, and I loved it. I personally see no reason to use anything else at this point in time for what I'm doing.

I don't know if it's Lua or how LÖVE is structured, or some combination of the two, but I feel like it really simplifies what you need to think about doing so you can focus on figuring out what you actually want to do.

You really can get something up and running very quickly. Even if you decide to go with something else for your game, LÖVE might be just the thing for your prototypes leading up to said game. If you don't know Lua, it's a great way to start learning it, or at least it's how I did.

At the end of the day, your ultimate choice will come down to your own personal preferences and situation. I've found something that seems to work for me, and I wish you the best in finding what fits you.

[Alnaumov]

Hi,
Thanks for all the feedback, it is very valuable for me. As for the question, I also decided to give Love a shot, I looked through the showcase and some of the examples look very similar to what I would like to do.