Lua. My 5th favourite language (after python, typescript, go and javascript). While not that powerful, it's the language of choice for roblox and some 2D gamedevs (via Love2D). Coded in C with easily readable syntax and good for beginners. Lua is going to put up a good fight.

Ruby. Not that popular in gamedev but useful in webdev (via ruby on rails) it is the language that just so happens to power DEV! Much more powerful than lua at the expense of speed and effectiveness as a first programming language for absolute beginners.

Lua

Let's see what we have here:

• ✔  Fast
• ✔  Game engine support
• ✔  Simple syntax
• ✔  Dynamically typed
• ✔  Compiled
• ❌ Not very powerful
• ❌ Compiles to .out files unless you use srlua
• ❌ Have to download the package manager.

Ruby

And rivalling lua:

• ❌ Not as fast as lua
• ✔  Game engine support (Ruby2D)
• ✔  Simple syntax
• ✔  Dynamically typed
• ✔  Interpreted
• ❌ Very powerful
• ✔  Webdev
• ✔  Built in package manager

And there we have it! Ruby wins by 1 point. This brings me to the end of my article but I would love to hear what you think! Comment down below to share your thoughts 💬.