The order of resources you see below has no meaning.
Let’s face it… Programming is complicated, and it’s more difficult if you have no resources to follow your desire to study. I never programmed before I picked up Lua, but I immediately fell in love with it, and I’m still learning so much about it and programming so, by all means, I’m no pro. However, I wanted to share a list of resources I’m using to learn Lua, Love2d and programming with you.
Please bear it in mind that there will be few resources that you have to pay for and I think they’re worth every penny, after all, if we genuinely want to learn something we have to sacrifice some money for it.
Resources:
[Lua & Love2D] nova-fusion.com – Not only does it have excellent learning resource on Lua, but it also has few Love2D tutorials. However, be warned that they’re slightly outdated, but you should be okay with Lua side of things.
[Lua] tutorialspoint.com – Probably the best… Text written tutorial on Lua you can find on the internet. It explains every single part and the concept of Lua.
[Lua] pikuma.com [PAID] – Pikuma is one of the paid courses that I highly recommend. It’s taught by Gustavo Pezzi. Pikuma’s teachings focus on fundamental concepts of computer science and mathematics which essentially boils down to being perfect for beginners. You’re provided with exercise tasks, and Gustavo explains every single part of Lua and programming in an excellent slow-paced manner. You can also purchase it from udemy.
[Lua & Love2d] gamefromscratch.com – Mike from GFS offers his tutorials in a video format and teaches the fundamentals of Lua and Love2d. While you don’t go deep hands down into every single aspect of the language, it’s a perfect tutorial to get you started.
[Lua & Love2d] udemy.com [PAID] – This course is made by Kyle Schaub, and it’s one of my favourite courses I ever found on udemy, in fact, the only udemy course I bought without a regret. This course is probably one of the courses I highly recommend you buy. The course is currently re-written and updated for 2020, and it’s projected to be released on the 30th of August!
This course is a project-based approach to understanding the basics of programming and its role in game development. The lectures assume no prior technical knowledge, and whether or not you have programmed before, there is content in this course that can be utilized by anyone.
[Lua] developer.roblox.com – Yes… Roblox… However, not Roblox itself! While Roblox uses a different type of Lua, it still has a plethora of Lua resources for you to read through that explains the primary usage of Lua. As long as you search for “Articles” and look for an article with a Lua logo on it, you should be able to find a considerable amount of study material.
[Love2d] simplegametutorials.github.io – This website has a fantastic amount of simple game tutorials for Love2d. If you know how to program, but unsure how to implement the code to make a working game, these tutorials are intended for you!
[Love2d] sheepolution.com/learn – Sheepolution provides simple to follow, reading or video format tutorials on Love2d that I recommend you visit.
[Lua & Love2D] Youtuber – DevJeeper – It’s always great to see up to date content on youtube teaching Lua and Love2d. DevJeeper provides precisely that. While there aren’t many videos yet, his pong tutorial is more than enough for you to get your hands wet.
[Lua] flamendless.github.io – Website ran by an indie game developer with some handy information. This website primarily focuses on Lua. I highly recommend going through their “Lua Coding Style Guide” to get a hands-on understanding of how to write perfectly clean Lua code.
[Lua] Programming in Lua [FREE OR PAID VER] – When I first posted this list, I was hesitant on adding PIL regardless of how great it is… To me, it feels like they’re focusing more on people with experience in programming while stating otherwise. Nevertheless, PIL is a must. Its creators have written the book themselves. Therefore you know that the resource you’re reading through is worth it.
You have two options, buy fourth edition PIL, or you can use the free online first edition. While the first edition is outdated, it won’t matter that much. Despite the new versions, Lua barely changes its structure. Therefore you will still learn a lot from it. I recommend buying the fourth edition.
That concludes my resource on learning Lua and Love2d! I kind reminder that this is my personal opinion and list of what I use to learn Lua & Love2D, not preaching or recommendation that you should use it. Explore each one of the links, see what sits with you and enjoy your ride studying!
I will most certainly keep the list updated if I do find resources furthermore.
Updates:
23rd of August 2020 – Updated list with one additional source.
Theory 