
PICO-8 - jmduke
http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
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modeless
See also [http://puzzlescript.net](http://puzzlescript.net) which is even more
minimalist but has some very interesting games, such as Heroes of Sokoban:
[http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=6860122](http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=6860122)

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sspiff
They also have a pretty interesting Voxel fantasy console:
[http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php](http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php).

This was funded through a Kickstarter, and a lot of backers are pretty bitter
over the progress and direction of the project - just check out the forums.

I love the idea, but I'm very sad that this isn't open source.

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kraftman
The lexaloffle forums? I don't see much bitterness there?

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dennisnedry
Read this -
[http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2074](http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2074)

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dan00
So literally one guy is pissed on the internet.

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Rabidgremlin
I put together a tutorial on writing a simple game in PICO-8
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuaLuMhwcc8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuaLuMhwcc8)
its really a fun platform to play with

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fit2rule
Excellent! Really nice demo .. me and the kids are sitting down to watch it
together later today and see what we come up with after watching your
tutorial. Thanks for that!

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Rabidgremlin
Awesome!

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Temjin
PICO-8 is totally awesome. I've built a few simple games, and have been
encouraging my daughter to make games. She can't program (yet!) but she can
play with the sprite editor and sound editor :)

The limitations really make it easy to not worry and just make a dang game!
For those of you worrying about cart size limits: if your game is too big for
one cart, make it a two-parter :P Also, apparently you can load data from
another cart while your game is running so you could just chain a whole bunch
of them together.

Two things I am really excited for are support on Pi-style hardware, and
mobile support for the web player.

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tmaxxcar
My understanding is that with PICO-8 you can export to HTML5. If this is the
case, (I haven't used this myself.. Yet.) why would you need direct support
for mobile and Pi's? Couldn't you just change the dimensions of the app to fit
mobile devices, and take advantage of the HTML5 support while on a Pi?

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Temjin
You can run PICO-8 games on a phone browser, but there are no virtual buttons
for touchscreens, yet.

Pi is just a bit too slow to run the JS engine, it needs to be ported to
native ARM for full speed.

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networked
I want to point out that the console uses a (quite appealing [1]) fixed
palette of 16 colors for all of its graphics. I think having a fixed palette
is a great idea. I can see it helping would-be game developers overcome their
initial art style analysis paralysis and helping ensure that the games have a
recognizable "PICO-8" look.

[1] See [http://i.imgur.com/1VOlxCt.png](http://i.imgur.com/1VOlxCt.png).

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ino
You're right, it looks like much thought went into it. I se 4 distinct human
skin tones, or 3 if you include a darker tone for shading, pleasant colors
with darker tones for shading and good availability of high contrast (not
everything is pastel).

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raziel2p
I love the aesthetics, and the idea to save "cartridges" as png images!

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greggman
You can play user submitted cartridges here no install required. Pico-8 can
export to HTML5

[http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=7&sub=2&orderby=rating](http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=7&sub=2&orderby=rating)

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fit2rule
Very cute and cool little environment .. was pleasantly surprised to see that
it came with my Vexatron purchase (amazing in its own right) .. a truly
delightful little environment, which I'm going to enjoy, very much, teaching
my 8-year old to play with .. just like the good ol' days of computing, before
IDE's came along .. ;)

EDIT: reminds me a little bit of antirez' LOAD81 environment which is also, a
bit of a retro programming experience:

[http://github.com/antirez/load81](http://github.com/antirez/load81)

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agentultra
This system is quite amazing. Peek and poke! Extremely limited pallet! An
integrated development environment. The restrictions make for some very
interesting design choices and force you to limit the scope of your designs --
super important if you ever actually want to finish a game.

I highly recommend this system to anyone. It's great and I've been having a
tonne of fun with it. It's no Amiga 500, but boy it has that _feel_.

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RodgerTheGreat
You might also enjoy Octo[1] which is based on a real 8-bit system called
CHIP-8. There's even a month-long game jam going on right now![2]

[1] [https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Octo](https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Octo)
[2] [http://octojam.com](http://octojam.com)

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nickpsecurity
Thanks for the link. Most interesting was that it was implemented on the
mighty RCA 1802 processor and very directly.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_1802)

Built on Silicon-on-Sapphire process, it was radiation and EMSEC tolerant plus
low-power. Used in Galileo space-craft. Highly reliable. It's still sold with
a spec that you can fully understand and that documents every state:

[http://www.intersil.com/en/products/space-and-harsh-
environm...](http://www.intersil.com/en/products/space-and-harsh-
environment/harsh-environment/microprocessors-and-peripherals/CDP1802A.html#)

So, not just a toy, Octo or CHIP-8 could be used to prototype applications
that just run and run and run in the field. Heck, even a retro-gamer might
appreciate a system that never freezes past game logic errors.

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RodgerTheGreat
Sure!

Eventually I would like to equip Octo with an optional 1802 emulation mode and
the necessary mixed-mode assembler for producing 1802 machine code. Probably
won't be available any time soon without strong demand, though.

~~~
nickpsecurity
That's understandable. I doubt the demand will show up but it was cool to see
them connected in the write-up. Few even know 1802 exist much less why it's
worth copying.

Not sure how far you like to push yourself on low-level coding, reading on or
doing it. I'll end with these links for your entertainment:

4-bit MCU's: the next challenge for 8-bit masters to strut their stuff.
Interesting article esp how they're sold.
[http://www.embeddedinsights.com/channels/2010/12/10/consider...](http://www.embeddedinsights.com/channels/2010/12/10/considerations-
for-4-bit-processing/)

Example 4-bit CPU's for public
[http://www.ttlcpu.com/content/links](http://www.ttlcpu.com/content/links)

Note: Really wonder what best retro games would look like on 4-bits, esp after
hardware acceleration tradeoffs. I always challenge the demoscene to show us.
;)

Motorola _1-bit_ processor: "Real men don't need hulking 4-8 bitters!" Haha
[http://www.electro-tech-
online.com/threads/mc14500b-a-1-bit-...](http://www.electro-tech-
online.com/threads/mc14500b-a-1-bit-industrial-processor.88417/)

Note: Manual and source code are attached to comments on that page. Would be
amazed at seeing people do anything useful in modern applications with these.
They'd win by default on memory/power/area efficiency haha.

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cechner
anyone in Tokyo interested in this should check out the Lexaloffle HQ in
Kichijoji - [http://picopicocafe.com](http://picopicocafe.com)

They have a very developer friendly environment (I spent many days programming
there, they often hold Ludum Dare marathons) and Joseph is a first class indy
developer.

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euske
This totally reminds me of Family BASIC. It had a music editor and level
editor, and I had a fond memory of playing (i.e. programming) it at a friends
house. The biggest problem: its memory storage was only 2Kbytes. A program had
to fit in basically one screen. Also when you use the music editor, you had to
give up the memory for programs. I kept saying "Phah! Mai-con (abbrev. of
"Microcomputer") is so much better!" just like I do today.

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empressplay
Looks like fun! We're building something quite similar to this, but compatible
with / inspired by existing 8-bit computers / consoles (Apple II, C64, etc...)
Good to see some validation for the space though =)

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akilism
I love this little fantasy console. I've written a few small games in it
already it's a lot of fun.

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byron_fast
Only thing about PICO-8 that makes no sense: the 32k limit. Otherwise, an
awesome set of limitations.

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walkingolof
The NES had 2 kb onboard and 8 to 16kb on the cartridge, 32kb ROM and 2kb
display memory

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byron_fast
It doesn't _need_ to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual
limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your
program gets too big. Nobody's hosting is going to break at 256kb.

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walkingolof
Your missing the point, it has nothing to do with download speed.

32k is not a pita, its the point, this is a fantasy retro consol, giving it 32
MB would do what ? make it pointless probably

Its also a excellent opportunity to show off, for example, nobody would have
thought you could make this on a C64 1984

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0)

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greggman
I agree. Those limits including the 32k code limit really focus what to aim
for. Google online game editors and there's plenty with few limits and ... No
one is using them. To me it's kind of one of the reasons minecraft has done so
well. The limit style frees people from feeling like they need mad skillz

Also note pico-8 limits the number of instructions executed per frame. So a
faster CPU will not increase what you can do. The goal is to make sure all
games run even on the least powered hardware.

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ignaces
PICO pal' que lee.

