Build-Love — One-Click LOVE 2D Build System

The problem

Every time you want to distribute your LOVE 2D game on Windows, you have to:

1. Zip all your game files into a .love archive
2. Copy love.exe and rename it
3. Somehow embed your game icon
4. Binary-fuse the .love into the .exe
5. Copy 7+ runtime DLLs next to it
6. Hope you didn’t forget anything

Build-Love does all of this in one click.

What’s included

Features

• Auto-detection — Finds your LOVE 2D installation automatically
• Smart bundling — Scans game folders, ignores build/tools/git
• Custom icon — Drop an .ico file, it’s embedded automatically
• Standalone output — Players don’t need LOVE installed
• Safe — Your original LOVE installation is never modified
• Configurable — Override anything via build.config.bat, or leave on auto
• Exclude folders — Need to keep docs or mockups out of the build? Just list the directories you want to include

How to use

1. Extract the folder anywhere
2. Replace main.lua with your game
3. Open build.config.bat, set GAME_NAME=YourGame
4. Double-click build.bat
5. Distribute the build/ folder — that’s your final product

Configuration examples

Minimal — just set your game name, everything else is auto-detected:

set "GAME_NAME=SpaceShooter"
set "LOVE_DIR=auto"
set "ICON=auto"
set "INCLUDE_DIRS=auto"

Full control — custom LOVE path, specific folders, extra files:

set "GAME_NAME=TheLastAdventure"
set "LOVE_DIR=D:\Tools\love-11.5-win64"
set "ICON=assets\icon.ico"
set "INCLUDE_DIRS=assets,engine,states,sounds"
set "EXTRA_FILES=version.txt,LICENSE"

Requirements

• Windows 10 / 11
• LOVE 2D (any version) — free from love2d.org

License

MIT — free for personal and commercial use.