
Pico-8: Enabling more than 16 colors on the screen - tosh
https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=38565
======
mrspeaker
This is the reason I love Pico-8, and have never really been into other
"fantasy consoles". Pico-8 embraces the spirit of the old 8-bit systems (not
just the aesthetic) where there are "hardware" secrets that you can discover
and abuse. The limitations mimic that of old systems: there are several ways
to access memory, multiple ways to do the same things - with tradeoffs to
each. If you want to do something crazy, you have to really know the machine
and think outside the box.

It's all artificial constraints (though you can easily make good games with
resorting to tricks) - but these kinds of old-school easter-eggs make Pico-8
just, joyful!

------
dang
See also, for more of your Pico-8 needs:

2019
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20740711](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20740711)

2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14174427](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14174427)

2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14128946](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14128946)

2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14046487](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14046487)

2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13667272](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13667272)

2017
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13598182](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13598182)

(...2017 was a big year)

2016
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13100468](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13100468)

2016
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11185855](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11185855)

2015
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317026](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10317026)

2020 bonus thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22342295](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22342295)

Others?

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swolchok
Pico-8 was included in the recent Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
([https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial-justice-and-
equality](https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial-justice-and-equality)) from
itch.io. That bundle was huge and very popular, so you may own it without
realizing.

------
gorgoiler
Whoa. Pico-8 looks _rad_.

Any success stories in using Pico-8 for teaching / pupil engagement would be
gratefully received.

Kids love this stuff, and as fully featured as Scratch is, its always good to
have alternatives.

~~~
philsnow
Celeste was originally written on pico-8, ... in four days.

~~~
frosted-flakes
Is that what the bonus levels on the computer in the basement of the hotel
are?

~~~
Wingy
Correct

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tonetheman
I have used pico8 for a while. And even written a few really bad example games
with it.

I read and re-read the post in the wiki and it is just complex. Super complex.

There needs to be some really dumbed down examples. Hopefully that will happen
over time.

Pico8 rocks. If you are wanting to write a game it is a great way to get
started.

~~~
1_player
Check out LazyDevs on YouTube: the guy made an entire roguelite RPG with
Pico8, it's an incredibly in-depth tutorial:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P3LL7J1Q9b6...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P3LL7J1Q9b6PJua0A-96uUS)

He's also made Breakout:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P0qjjiG8G5F...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P0qjjiG8G5FBgqwpqMU7rBk)

------
th0ma5
Any progress on an open source implementation?

~~~
cosmojg
There are all sorts of open-source alternatives!

Here's a list:
[https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy](https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy)

My personal favorite is the TIC-80:
[https://tic.computer/](https://tic.computer/)

And if you're looking for a straight clone of the PICO-8, check out PicoLove:
[https://github.com/picolove/picolove](https://github.com/picolove/picolove)

------
lttlrck
Lovely stuff. Echos of Amiga halfbrite mode.

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

------
jweir
Very different than how console games worked.

On the old consoles, say the SNES you had up to 16 palettes each with 16
colors to use for sprites or backgrounds - although for sprites one color
would be transparent.

~~~
stormbrew
This sort of thing wasn't actually unheard of on 8bit consoles like the NES:
[https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Palette_change_mid_frame](https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Palette_change_mid_frame)

