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Rendering

All functions for drawing images, text, shapes, and managing visual output in Like2D.

Screen & Images

`clearScreen(red, green, blue)`

Clears the screen with the specified RGB color.

Parameters:

red (integer): Red component (0-255)
green (integer): Green component (0-255)
blue (integer): Blue component (0-255)

clearScreen(0, 0, 0)        -- Black
clearScreen(255, 255, 255)  -- White
clearScreen(100, 149, 237)  -- Cornflower blue

`loadImage(filename)`

Loads an image from file; the filename is used as the key. Automatically tries encrypted files first (with L2DE header), then game.like archive, then the project folder.

Parameters:

filename (string): Path to the image file

Returns:

success (boolean): true if loaded successfully, false otherwise

if loadImage("assets/player.png") then
    print("Player image loaded successfully")
else
    print("Failed to load player image")
end

`renderImage(key, x, y, width, height)`

Renders a previously loaded image at the specified position.

Parameters:

key (string): The filename used when loading the image
x (integer): X position in pixels
y (integer): Y position in pixels
width (integer): Render width in pixels
height (integer): Render height in pixels

Returns:

success (boolean): true if rendered successfully, false otherwise

renderImage("assets/player.png", 100, 200, 64, 64)

Advanced Image Rendering

`renderImageEx(key, x, y, w, h, angle, flipX, flipY, alpha, originX, originY)`

Renders image with rotation, flipping, transparency, and scaling.

angle: degrees
flipX, flipY: boolean
alpha: 0-1 (default 1.0)
originX, originY: 0-1 (0.5 = center)

renderImageEx("player", 400, 300, 64, 64, 45, true, false, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5)

`renderImageRegion(key, dx, dy, dw, dh, sx, sy, sw, sh, angle, flipX, flipY, alpha, originX, originY)`

Renders a sub-rectangle from a sprite sheet.

renderImageRegion("spritesheet", 400, 300, 64, 64, 0, 0, 32, 32, 0, false, false, 1.0, 0.5, 0.5)

`getImageSize(key)`

Returns loaded image dimensions (width, height).

local w, h = getImageSize("player")

Text Rendering

`loadFont(filename, size)`

Loads a font file for text rendering; the filename is used as the key.

Parameters:

filename (string): Path to the font file
size (integer): Font size in points

Returns:

success (boolean): true if loaded successfully, false otherwise

if loadFont("fonts/arial.ttf", 24) then
    print("Font loaded successfully")
end

`drawText(text, fontKey, x, y, red, green, blue)`

Draws text at the specified position using a preloaded font.

Parameters:

text (string): The text to render
fontKey (string): The filename used when loading the font
x (integer): X position in pixels
y (integer): Y position in pixels
red (integer): Red color component (0-255)
green (integer): Green color component (0-255)
blue (integer): Blue color component (0-255)

drawText("Hello World!", "fonts/arial.ttf", 10, 10, 255, 255, 255)

`setDefaultFont(filename)`

Sets the default font used by drawTextDirect(). If you don't call this, Like2D will automatically try to find a system font (Segoe UI on Windows, DejaVu on Linux).

Parameters:

filename (string): Path to a .ttf font file (relative to project folder or absolute path)

setDefaultFont("fonts/myfont.ttf")

`drawTextDirect(text, x, y, size, red, green, blue, alpha, anchor)`

Draws text without preloading a font. Uses the default font set by setDefaultFont(), or automatically detects a system font if none is set. Easiest way to render text.

Parameters:

text (string): The text to render
x (integer): X position in pixels
y (integer): Y position in pixels (top of text, ascent is added)
size (integer): Font size in points
red (integer): Red color component (0-255)
green (integer): Green color component (0-255)
blue (integer): Blue color component (0-255)
alpha (integer, optional): Alpha component (0-255, default 255)
anchor (integer, optional): Anchor point (0-8, default 0). See Anchor System below.

drawTextDirect("Hello World!", 10, 10, 48, 255, 255, 255, 255)
drawTextDirect("Score: " .. score, 10, 50, 24, 255, 255, 0, 255)

-- Center-aligned text
drawTextDirect("Centered!", 400, 300, 32, 255, 255, 255, 255, 4)

`getTextSize(text, size)`

Returns the pixel dimensions of a string when rendered with the default font at the given size. Useful for centering text, positioning UI elements, or checking text layout before drawing.

Parameters:

text (string): The text to measure
size (integer): Font size in points

Returns:

width (integer): Width of the rendered text in pixels
height (integer): Height of the rendered text in pixels

local w, h = getTextSize("Hello!", 48)
drawTextDirect("Hello!", 400 - w/2, 300 - h/2, 48, 255, 255, 255, 255)

Anchor System

The anchor parameter controls text alignment relative to the (x, y) position. It uses a 3x3 grid:

0=top-left     1=top-center     2=top-right
3=mid-left     4=mid-center     5=mid-right
6=bot-left     7=bot-center     8=bot-right

Anchor 0 (default top-left) means (x, y) is the top-left corner of the text. Anchor 4 (mid-center) centers the text exactly on (x, y) both horizontally and vertically.

-- Anchor examples
drawTextDirect("Top-left",     0,   0, 20, 255,255,255,255, 0)
drawTextDirect("Top-center", 400,   0, 20, 255,255,255,255, 1)
drawTextDirect("Mid-right",  800, 300, 20, 255,255,255,255, 5)

Primitives

`drawRect(x, y, w, h, r, g, b, a, filled, angle)`

Draws a rectangle. Set filled=true for solid, false for outline. angle in degrees.

drawRect(100, 100, 64, 64, 255, 0, 0, 255, true, 45)

`drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, r, g, b, a)`

Draws a line between two points.

`drawCircle(x, y, radius, r, g, b, a, filled)`

Draws a circle at the given position.

See also: Animation for sprite-sheet animation with loadAnimation().