Simple Platformer - Introduction

Introduction

This is my journey to learn Love2d by making a very simplistic and basic platformer style game.
I'll document and talk about the parts of the game and my design decisions along the way.
This will mostly be for my benefit, but i hope that others can learn or gain something from it as well.

Why this stuff in particular?

Why did i choose to use lua and love2d for game dev?

Why lua?

• I am fairly familiar with lua at this point.
• I generally like working with lua. Liking the language is important when working on a decent sized project
• I find the syntax of lua fairly easy to read. in general i like the syntax of lua.
• There is a pretty well developed game dev ecosystem for the language.
  • Love2d is made for using lua. Since it is the framework i am using, it makes sense to use the language for it.

Why Love2d?

so why did i choose Love2d when there are other options?

• I already have a tiny bit of knowledge and experience with Love2d.
  • Not much knowledge and experience though. Just what could be considered a hello world program for it.
• It is a simple and easy to use framework.
  • Does what i need it to, and not much more.
  • It seems pretty straightforward. Nothing that even i couldn't understand.
• Simple 2d games seem to be what it is intended for, and since that is what i'm making it seems the best tool to use.

Why a platformer

So why did i choose to make a platformer rather than a different genre of game.

• It needed to be a 2d game
• It needs to be more than a simple game that can be made in 200 lines of code or fewer.
  • If it is too simple of a game, I wont learn much or have much fun making it.
  • If it is too complicated, I will get burned out and not have fun making it.
• The object isn't to make the funnest or most mind blowing game ever.
  • It needs to be something which I can handle. I'm no expert game dev nor expert programmer
  • It primarily serves as a learning opportunity for me.

So with all those criteria for the game, i decided that a platformer is the one which best fits my needs.It will not be the most advanced game ever made.
Nor will it be particular fun game to play, nor any revolutionary or breakthrough mechanics.
I cant even claim it will be programmed well or efficiently.
But i can say that it will definitely teach me a thing or two about game dev, programming, and using love2d.

Conclusion

Thank you for checking out my series on game dev. Please check back for the following articles where i will start developing the game.

you can view part 1 here

You can also view my quick start guide to using lua here