What is Lua?

[JaxDragon]

I have heard a lot about lua, but I don't know what it is. I know it is used in WoW private servers, Roblox, and Elysian Shadows(to name a few), but I think I would benefit from someone explaining to me just what Lua is.

[trufun202]

Lua script is a scripting language. Basically it can invoke methods exposed by C++. So your engine can expose a method, such as GetPlayerHP(). Lua can then call that method to retrieve the player's HP and use it as needed.

So, essentially, your entire "game" can be written in script files, rather than the actual engine. Its powerful, trust me.

I think Falco explains it best in this video:

Falco's Game Development Marathon: Day 2