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Which Games Use Lua? Recognizable Titles, Modding Tools, and Game Engines

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Many games use Lua, but usually not as their entire programming language. It most often runs inside a game engine as a scripting layer for gameplay rules, interfaces, missions, mods, or user-created content. Roblox is a notable qualification: it uses Luau, a Lua-derived language, rather than unmodified Lua.

What does it mean for a game to use Lua?

“Uses Lua” can describe several different things: Lua may be embedded in a shipped game to control selected systems, exposed to players for mods or addons, or used by a development framework to write a game’s logic. Those cases do not establish that the entire game was written in Lua.

Lua is designed to be embedded in larger applications and to interoperate with native code such as C and C++. In a common arrangement, native engine code handles rendering, physics, networking, memory management, and platform integration, while Lua scripts handle behavior that benefits from fast iteration or customization. Lua’s overview describes its embeddability and portability.

Well-known games and platforms that use Lua

Game or platform What Lua does Language qualification Can players or creators script it?
World of Warcraft Supports UI customization and addons through a game-specific API. Lua-based addon environment. Yes. Addon authors can script against the available UI API.
Roblox Scripts control events, input, saved data, leaderboards, enemies, and other experience behavior. Luau, derived from Lua 5.1, with additional features. Roblox says valid Lua 5.1 code is valid Luau, but the reverse is not necessarily true. Yes. Creators write scripts in Roblox Studio.
Garry’s Mod Addons, gamemodes, scripted entities, weapons, menus, and server functionality. GLua, a game-specific environment based on Lua 5.1. Yes. The API covers a broad addon and gamemode ecosystem.
Factorio Mods and scenarios define prototypes, recipes, entities, interfaces, GUIs, and runtime behavior. Modified Lua 5.2 environment. The current API documentation identifies version 2.1.14. Yes. Players can install mods and creators can build them against the API.
FiveM for GTA V Custom multiplayer resources, including client and server scripts and exports. CfxLua, a modified Lua 5.4 runtime with additional features. Yes. Resource developers and server owners can write Lua scripts.
Angry Birds Lua has been used in its scripting and development technology. This does not mean the complete game was written in Lua. Not established here as a player-facing scripting system.

Lua.org names World of Warcraft and Angry Birds among Lua game examples in its language overview. For practical, documented scripting ecosystems, the clearest cases are Roblox, Garry’s Mod, Factorio, and FiveM.

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Roblox uses Luau, not plain Lua

Roblox’s documentation calls its scripting language Luau and describes it as derived from Lua 5.1. Luau adds features such as optional typing, string interpolation, and generalized iteration. Lua fundamentals can help, but Roblox scripts also depend on Roblox-specific APIs and Luau behavior. See Roblox’s scripting documentation.

FiveM is a GTA V multiplayer framework

FiveM is a multiplayer modification and framework for GTA V, not a separate conventional game. Its scripts can be written in Lua, JavaScript, or C#; its Lua runtime is CfxLua, a modified Lua 5.4. FiveM resources can include client scripts, server scripts, and exports. Details are in the FiveM Lua runtime documentation.

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Games made with Lua-focused frameworks

A different category is games created using a framework whose game logic is written in Lua. These frameworks are tools for making games, not games themselves, and “made with” does not necessarily mean every component is Lua.

  • LÖVE: A Lua-focused framework for making games. See the LÖVE site.
  • Defold: Game logic is written in Lua; the engine supports Lua 5.1 and LuaJIT depending on target platform. Native extensions remain available for platform-specific work or demanding calculations. See Defold’s coding documentation.
  • Solar2D: A Lua-oriented framework for creating games and apps. Check a particular game’s development history before describing it as entirely Lua-written. See the Solar2D site.

Why developers use Lua in games

  • It embeds in native engines: Developers can connect scripts to systems written in C or C++ without writing the whole engine in Lua.
  • It supports quick iteration: Designers can adjust missions, rules, or events without rebuilding every native component.
  • It makes extension practical: A game can expose a controlled scripting API for addons, mods, scenarios, or custom servers.
  • It is portable and small: Lua is designed for portability and a small footprint, though a game’s total size and performance depend on much more than its scripting language.

Lua is not automatically the right choice for every performance-critical task. Defold, for example, documents native extensions as an option when Lua performance is insufficient. Lua’s design overview and Defold’s coding guide describe these complementary roles.

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Which Lua option should you learn?

Your goal Best-fit starting point Why
Create and publish experiences within Roblox Roblox Studio and Luau The editor, language, APIs, and publishing environment are integrated.
Mod Factorio Factorio’s Lua API Its API supports content definitions and runtime behavior through distinct stages.
Develop GTA V custom multiplayer resources FiveM and CfxLua The framework is built for custom multiplayer resources and server systems.
Build Garry’s Mod addons or gamemodes GLua and the Garry’s Mod API The documented API covers addons, entities, weapons, UI, and networking.
Make a code-first standalone 2D game LÖVE It is a Lua-focused framework rather than a full visual editor workflow.
Use an editor-driven, cross-platform game workflow Defold or Solar2D Both provide Lua-oriented tooling; compare their deployment targets and project workflows for your needs.

These options are not interchangeable. Their APIs, asset workflows, networking models, deployment constraints, and platform rules differ. A general Lua tutorial teaches syntax, not the host game’s API or the rules governing its mods.

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What Lua usage does—and does not—tell you

  • It does tell you that Lua or a Lua-derived runtime has a role in a particular game, framework, or extension system.
  • It does not tell you that the entire engine is written in Lua, that players can access every system, or that the game will be easy to mod.
  • It does not guarantee that a script for one platform will work on another. Lua versions and custom dialects differ, and each host supplies its own APIs and permissions.
  • It does not predict performance or hardware needs: graphics, assets, engine code, networking, and platform implementation matter too.

Lua.org’s maintained uses directory points to a community-maintained list of Lua-scripted games and engines and notes that the full list is too large to track completely. Accordingly, claims about less-documented commercial games should be checked against game-specific documentation rather than inferred from a broad list. Lua remains relevant in 2026 in embedded scripting, modding, user-created content, and Lua-focused development tools.

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