Compiling Löve2d from SVN TRUNK

Since there are no docs on howto compile love from svn directly I though I would make this post quick to help those who are struggling with it. Automake / Autoconf is not all 100% setup for löve2d yet so you need to manually kick it off like so:

You need automake to get this right to install that if you dont have it

Checkout the code base:
svn co https://love.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/love/trunk love

Install the basics
sudo apt-get install build-essential libboost-dev libsdl1.2-dev liblua5.1-dev libfreetype6-dev libdevil-dev libphysfs-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libflac++-dev

The following will be installed by the autobuild script but this is for FYI:
ftp-upload libalut-dev libflac-dev libmodplug-dev libmpg123-0 libmpg123-dev
libopenal-dev libsdl-sound1.2-dev libspeex-dev libtiff4-dev libtiffxx0c2
liblua5.1-0-dev libsdl1.2-dev libfreetype6-dev libphysfs-dev libdevil-dev libmng-dev
libmng-dev liblcms1-dev liblcms1-dev libpng12-dev libflac-dev libmpg123-0
ibspeex-dev libtiffxx0c2

cd love
cd platform/unix
./autobuild

You will end up with:
love-r774-linux-src.tar.gz
love-r774-ubuntu-x86.deb
love-r774 - Binary on its own


FAQ

configure.in:6: error: possibly undefined macro: AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
you havnt run automagic yet!

Creating Sprites and Animating ( Vector Based )

One of the major problems I had was trying to find a solution to create Sprite Sheets without painfully hand drawing my actors. So I have documented what I am using for you so that you dont have to waste as much time as I had to to figure this out.

Applications:

Inkscape ( Vector based graphics app for Linux / Mac / Windows )

SynFig ( An amazing and free vector based animator for Linux / Windows )

Pixen ( Sprite editor and animator, export to sprite sheet support )
Gimp ( Cross platform OpenSource image powerstudio )

Since I am creating mostly very simple sprite based animations for my Platform game at the moment, I am using SynFig under Ubuntu to create my model and animate him. This consists of drawing a model, seting up keyframes and animating walk cycles and so forth.

I am then exporting the model to a bunch of PNG files and combining them with imagemagick under linux into a sprite sheet with the following command:

montage -background "transparent" -depth 24 -type TrueColorMatte *.png -geometry 256x256 -matte -transparent "transparent" -type TrueColorMatte -depth 24 spriteSheet1.png

The resulting sprite sheet works perfectly with Torque Game Builder.

If you are using Pixen to create your animation and exporting that to a sprite sheet, You will probably need to tweak it in Gimp before it will work with Torque Game Builder correctly. I found that I also needed to add a extra blank frame to the end of the animation before I export it otherwise the frame alignment goes out.

I cant seem to get Pixen to export sprite sheets with a transparent background either so I normally add a coloured background to a layer behind my sprite ( pick one that does appear in your sprite ) and then crop it out with Gimp afterwards and export to PNG with transparency.

Indie Gamming Setup

So its been a while but I have collected all the knowledge and programs needed for a serious Indie game project. I am developing on MacOS so its been a long and curvy road to finding all the tools I needed. Herewith the:

Kegans Indie Game Development App List.

Torque Game Builder ( 100 USD from GarageGames.com )
Platformer Starter Kit (50 USD from GarageGames.com )
2D Fantasy Character Pack ( 30 USD from GarageGames.com )
Pixen Sprite Editor ( FREE opensword.org )
Blender for Modeling to Render 2D Objects ( FREE blender.org )
Gimp Image Editor ( FREE gimp.org )
Cosmic Painter to create Tiles (FREE garagecube.com )
Smultron to Edit .CS files (FREE tuppis.com )
Pencil Animator ( FREE pencil-animation.org )

Wikkad Internet Resources for Textures
http://cgtextures.com/

Want to recreate your favourite games from the early gaming era? see:
http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/PC


GarageGames.com has some awesome forums and tutorials which you will have a lot of fun with and is a great way to kill the Winter! :D With these apps and resources you will be able to go nuts!

the Console - Closeup

Short video of the Console

Brik - with my Entity and Object Framework

Brik in my DaksFramework on top of love from love2d.org

Crappy low frame rate video...

This took about 2 hours to implement using my entity and object management system. I had to extend the framework to allow support for restitution (bounce) and surface smoothness.

The briks get mass only when the ball collides with them which then allows them to drop gracefully to the floor where a ground collision destroys them.

You can see the consol in action too! 

*DaksFramework does not support the use of the letter C in any of its application names.

The Framework

Getting it all together...

Ive been playing with LUA and LÖVE for a week and im very impressed with the potential. 

If im serious about this though, then I have to develop a framework to build my game around. 

So far I have:

• console dropdown via tilde key
• entity management
• entity save and load
• map save and load

Screen shots:

Here you can see my console where I can interact with the game environment, It it has functions to show bodies, start body motors, setting variables, collision detection logging...

The entity at the bottom is built with my new:Entity feature. 

Here is the construct:

This data is used when calling addEntity function and takes care

of assembling the body parts and creating the joints (separately defined for now).

The plan is now to start using my framework to create a series of arcade games during

which there will be a natural evolution of the framework. 

Hit-list:

1. Asteroids
2. Brick or Pong
3. Space Invaders
4. Rockford (or similar)

I guess ill see how it goes.

Starting Game Development

Starting Game Devel

So its friday morning, I have managed to catch some kind of nordic cold which has kept me home for the day, ( and the next few also ), and I have decided to scratch around the web for 2D game engines.

There are many commercial really easy to use alternatives, but I want something free and preferably open source!

After much searching in google and comparing I have selected the LÖVE engine from http://love2d.org

It offers the following in features:

LUA Programing Language

Physics from box2d (http://box2d.org)

OpenGL

SDL

Sound and Midi goodness

Getting Started:

LÖVE on has a integrated LUA interpreter, so it runs your game code in source form, meaning there is no compiling and waiting bullshit. So its just a matter of downloading it for Mac / Linux or Windows from love2d.org. I am using a Mac!

For code editing I have selected Eddie from www.el24.com, you can also use Smultron or eclipse with LUA syntax highlighting plugin.

For now im going to play with getting the structure of the code to familiarize myself with it.