Alternatives to LOVE

Framework for making 2D games in Lua. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as LOVE.

  • Godot Engine

    A 2D and 3D game engine that is completely free under the MIT licence, with no royalties and no revenue thresholds.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

    Godot is a full MIT-licensed 2D and 3D engine with an editor and one-click export, instead of a code-only Lua framework without scene tools.

  • GDevelop

    Build games with a visual event system instead of writing all the logic as code.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxWeb

    GDevelop replaces Lua code with a visual event system and editor, is MIT licensed, and adds hosted cloud publishing services with plan limits.

  • GB Studio

    Make Game Boy-style games with a visual editor.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    GB Studio is a visual editor for Game Boy-style games, so projects must fit that system's graphics and gameplay constraints.

  • Bitsy

    Create small games and stories with a browser-based pixel-art editor.

    FreeOpen sourceWeb

    Bitsy is a browser-based pixel-art editor for small narrative games, with a deliberately small feature set compared with a Lua framework.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.