Awesome

YALG

Yet another Löve2D GUI framework

My goal was to make a simple way to build GUI interfaces with Löve2D. My goal was NOT to build a fancy or extensive GUI lib, just a quick way of building simple menus with a few buttons. Of course, it can be "abused" to do more (just look at the config example!).

About the framework

Where it shines

• cross-platform - no external libs, just plain old Löve2D + Lua
• simple - just a few basic widgets, no need to search a very long documentation
• reactive - no manual placing of elements, the framework handles it
• hackable - just look at the config-example or the games I used it in
• retro look - simple looks with edges and corners

It's perfect for gluing in a play game / highscores / exit menu at the last minute.

Where it fails

• simple - it does not even have a textbox, you have to hack that together
• reactive - placing the elements where you want them can be hard
• retro look - it might not fit your game's theme

You might want to try something else if you want the best-looking UI with complex features.

Look at the screenshots folder for some example looks!

Project goals:

• Simple
• Flexible
• Not TOO resource heavy
• Finish project quick (I tend to abandon my projects, so before I got bored on this...)
• "Reactive" GUI - no manual placement of the widgets should be required
• Easy to extend
• pure LÖVE2D - no external dependencies, portable even to android

Project status

I consider this "finished", I do not plan any more features in this project. I am still open for issue reports & maybe even to some ideas. I used this lib in two other projects, 13 and crossfire sucessfuly.

Documentation

Check out the tutorial for a quickstart!

Check out the internal api documentation for implementation details.

Known gotchas

• spaces in the beginning or end of lines count to the size required
• if you re-use styles in a table, modifying that table later does NOT modify the styles (this is intentional, this way you can modify each individual element separately)

Conclusion - what'll I do differently next time

(note to self and a lesson for other idiots doing stuff like this) I'm already planning another framework in my head, so expect it in the next 1-5 years. It might not be in Lua and Löve at all. Some things I'll do differently:

• do NOT pullute global namespace
• somehow make owerflows work
• more, MORE event handlers - update, resize, focus in/out, selected, deselected, create, destroy...
• maybe move from declarative style to layout description files (or might as well just write a HTML renderer)
• more built-in widgets
• built in colors
• easier style switching
• widget protoyping
• better container division - the fractional pattern I used does not work that well