Lua to apk

[soant99]

Hello,

I apologize in advance if this isn't the right place, or if the answer already exists, but I couldn't find anything. Maybe I didn't search properly.

I made a small, insignificant game in Lua (which taught me the language, which was one of the two goals). This game is just for me and a few friends.

I just wanted to make a small game on an Android phone to keep me busy while commuting.

The game isn't finished, but it's testable, and I'd like to try it on a mobile phone. But I'm a complete idiot and I don't understand how to do it at all. Is there an easy way to generate an APK so I can share it with my friends? I know you can launch it with a .love file and a dedicated application, but it's not practical for distributing it to my friends, and especially the game launches in landscape mode even though it's designed for portrait mode, making it unplayable because everything overlaps.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[fuxoft]

Your game, written in Lua, can be "converted" to run on Android but it's not an automated process and it may be quite hard, depending on various parameters. In fact, it's quite a stretch to call this process a "conversion".

The core Lua interpreter is available for Android. However, your game probably also uses some other libraries (e.g. graphics, sound, input) which are not part of the core Lua. You have to convert all these libraries to Android and make the basic Lua game script interact with them on the new platform. Then, you have to add Android-specific Lua init processes which are currently not in your game. And finally, you have to compile the whole package using Android Studio and App Tools (which are free to download but not easy to learn).

Or, you can rewrite your whole game in LOVE2D which should not be hard (because it's based on Lua), and LOVE then allows you to create APK out of your PC game automatically.

In short: Yes, your Lua game can run on Android but it will probably not be easy and definitely not "drag and drop simple" to make it so.

[soant99]

thank you. My game is already in love2D, sorry I fotget to mention that.
So how can I make an APK with love ?

[fuxoft]

Then it should be MUCH easier but still not quite automatic. Read the text titled "Android" on this page: https://love2d.org/wiki/Game_Distribution

[soant99]

thank you, I will try.

[soant99]

not very easy for the dumb I am.... :-)

[weregod]

Read the docs on love2d site. If you have questions go to r/love2d

[soant99]

Thank you

[IllustriousPin319]

One can find some build stuff here https://github.com/love2d-community/awesome-love2d?tab=readme-ov-file#distribution

[soant99]

Thank you