LÖVE 2D
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 2 of 8 game frameworks by recommenders
Free Lua framework for 2D games, liked for simplicity, speed of starting and staying out of your way. Caveats: limited networking and few built-in preset tools.
Free Lua framework for 2D games, liked for simplicity, speed of starting and staying out of your way. Caveats: limited networking and few built-in preset tools.
45 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 41
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 41 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for hobby and prototype games
“For me this is a plus. All the games I've made are small and hobby stuff, and I much prefer writing code to playing around with a UI.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “I've been building some stuff with love2D for a while now, more a hobby than anything else, and I've really enjoyed the process.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)” “I use this framework to build prototype applications and it's always a delight.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” - Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua”
- Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua”
Minimal abstraction, full control
“love2d is better if what you love is coding, everything is code, love2d just executes Lua.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “For me it sits at the perfect intersection between high and low level abstraction.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “won't hide anything from you, or bury you under tons of bloated abstractions”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)” - Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Childhood Computing”
Simple and easy for beginners
“the developer experience is so smooth for beginners, just drag a zip onto the exe and it starts”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “it’s simple, efficient, and really easy to get productive with”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “the developer experience is so smooth for beginners”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” Light on CPU, runs fast
“The CPU usage should be far better for 2D games”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “it‘s rarely perceivably slow”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Too few built-in preset tools
“Still gives you freedom. Just too much freedom and not as much helpful preset tools.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “just doesn't feel that helpful”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “open-slopware – Alternatives to FOSS projects choosing to use LLMs/AI”
Other game frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other game frameworks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 8 game frameworks, rankedWhat people said
39 of the 48 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“just doesn't feel that helpful”
“easy programmability from tinker-friendly stuff like pygame or processing.org or löve”
“you can freely share games made with PICO-8, Löve, Godot, Rpgmaker, Game maker and the like”
“I've heard it's very good”
“give full control over the whole game”
“there are many great free methods, like LÖVE (also uses Lua)”
“Love is really nice to use.”
“one of the better ways to do a GUI in Lua”
“I would have prefered löve to be plain and simple C coded instead of this abomination which is c++”
“For me this is a plus. All the games I've made are small and hobby stuff, and I much prefer writing code to playing around with a UI.”
“you can require libraries or even use LuaRocks if that is what you prefer, and everything just works”
“the developer experience is so smooth for beginners”
“I use this framework to build prototype applications and it's always a delight.”
“rewriting to LÖVE meant much simpler code”
“The main weak points of LÖVE that we hit were mainly around embedded video playback though”
“it’s simple, efficient, and really easy to get productive with”
“love2d is better if what you love is coding, everything is code, love2d just executes Lua.”
“This engine has really come a long way”
“I love this framework, pun intended.”
“just downloading SDL is not going to get anywhere close to what love2d has included”
“The CPU usage should be far better for 2D games”
“There is also, at least for Android, an official Löve2D Launcher app that can open any love-file saved to the phone and execute it.”
“Yeah, Love2d is a great option for gamedev.”
“it‘s rarely perceivably slow”
“building for Mac from Windows was a nightmare since my end user was not technically literate”
“Still gives you freedom. Just too much freedom and not as much helpful preset tools.”
“i think it's a great fit for game dev”
“Never met a more awesome and welcoming community in my whole life.”
“the developer experience is so smooth for beginners, just drag a zip onto the exe and it starts”
“I've used this for many projects that are still working to this day.”
“For me it sits at the perfect intersection between high and low level abstraction.”
“I really like love2d and used prior but lua isn't compiled and network support is limited”
“I've been building some stuff with love2D for a while now, more a hobby than anything else, and I've really enjoyed the process.”
“won't hide anything from you, or bury you under tons of bloated abstractions”
“things built in Python or Lua (like love2d)”
“both LÖVE and my Carousel work great on it”
“Because Stardew Valley uses MonoGame, not LOVE.”
“use the Linux build of LÖVE to run the game natively”
“There is an active Lua Love porter”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.