Lua for Game Development — Complete Book
Leeting Yan
Welcome to the complete Lua Game Development Book.
This series takes you from Lua basics → game loops → AI → netcode → ECS → engine architecture → release pipelines, all written in a practical, production-oriented style suitable for real games.
Use the navigation sidebar to explore each chapter.
Below is the full table of contents with links and descriptions.
Chapters
01 — Introduction to Lua for Game Development
/books/lua-game-dev/01-introduction/
High-level overview of Lua, why it’s used in games, where it shines, and how it integrates into engines.
02 — Lua Basics: Syntax, Tables, Functions
/books/lua-game-dev/02-lua-basics/
A clean, example-driven introduction to the core language.
03 — Tables, Metatables & OOP Patterns
/books/lua-game-dev/03-metatables-oop/
Full explanation of Lua’s powerful table system and object-oriented patterns.
04 — Modules, Packages & Project Structure
/books/lua-game-dev/04-modules/
How to structure a large Lua project with modules and reusable components.
05 — Coroutines & Game Loops
/books/lua-game-dev/05-coroutines-gameloop/
Building a coroutine scheduler and integrating it into a real game loop.
06 — Math, Vectors & Collision Helpers
/books/lua-game-dev/06-math-vectors/
Everything needed for movement, physics helpers, timers, easing, interpolation.
07 — Rendering & Scenes (Engine-Agnostic)
/books/lua-game-dev/07-rendering-scenes/
Scene graphs, object rendering, sprite management.
08 — Input Handling & User Controls
/books/lua-game-dev/08-input/
Full input system including keyboard/mouse/gamepad and input buffer.
09 — World, Levels, Tilemaps & Regions
/books/lua-game-dev/09-world-levels/
Chunk loading, map data, triggers, world scripts, region definitions.
10 — Entities, Movement & Physics Light
/books/lua-game-dev/10-entities/
Actor objects, entity update cycles, physics helpers, collision handling.
11 — Inventory, Items, Equipment & Stats
/books/lua-game-dev/11-inventory/
RPG-style items, crafting ingredients, equipment slots, stat modifiers.
12 — Dialogue, Story Flags & Quest Systems
/books/lua-game-dev/12-dialogue-quest/
Dialogue trees, branching storylines, quest state machines, triggers.
13 — NPC AI, Town Simulation & Factions
/books/lua-game-dev/13-npc-town-factions/
NPC schedules, merchants, economy, gossip simulation, factions, reputation.
14 — Combat AI, Behavior Trees & Boss Design
/books/lua-game-dev/14-combat-ai/
BTs, Utility AI, FSMs, threat/aggro systems, squad tactics, boss phases.
15 — UI Systems, HUD, Menus & Data Binding
/books/lua-game-dev/15-ui-hud/
Widget system, UI manager, data binding, HUD elements, UI animation.
16 — Multiplayer, Netcode & Lag Compensation
/books/lua-game-dev/16-netcode-sync/
Lockstep, snapshots, client prediction, reconciliation, interpolation, anti-cheat.
17 — Save Systems, Persistence & Replays
/books/lua-game-dev/17-save-persistence/
Serialization, world persistence, save migrations, replay system, mod loading.
18 — Engine Architecture, ECS & Optimization
/books/lua-game-dev/18-engine-architecture/
Full ECS, module/plugin system, memory optimization, coroutine scheduler, profiling.
19 — Packaging, Deployment, Localization & Release
/books/lua-game-dev/19-packaging-release/
Build pipelines, asset bundling, patching, DLC, CI/CD, localization, Steam/itch.io releases.