Welcome to my journey to learn PICO-8.
Welcome to my journey to learn PICO-8. Or, to be more accurate, my second attempt. I've played with PICO-8 when it first came out, but didn't do anything with it. You may be wondering, what is PICO-8?
The easiest, best way to explain it is to quote the website:
PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. It feels like a regular console, but runs on Windows / Mac / Linux. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a commandline, a suite of cartridge creation tools, and an online cartridge browser called SPLORE.
That's a lot, and I'll let you parse it all. The main thing to know is that PICO-8 is both a tool for creating games and running them. If you're interested, you can get a copy from the Lexaloffle website: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php. It's not free, but the price of $14.99US is a pittance for what you get.
Not only is there a very large and very active user/fan base, but PICO-8 has some very interesting features.
Features
- Runs on Mac, Windows, Linux (including RaspberryPi) and websites.
- Uses a simplified version of the Lua programming language.
- Built-in code editor
- Built-in sprite editor
- Built-in map editor
- Built-in SFX (sound effects) editor
- Built in music editor
- Games are stored as virtual "carts" (cartridges) and can be freely traded, posted, Here is one I pulled from the Lexaloffle site.
- Here is the clever/amazing thing. This image, this cart, is not just an image. It contains the code for the entire game, and can be run. The image itself is just a PNG file.
- Entire programs can and have been posted on Twitter in a single tweet. (Just search for #pico8).
- PICO-8 supports external editors.
- PICO-8 can generate a standalone runners (executable) for every supported platform.
- PICO-8 has a feature known as SPLORE that allows you to view and organize your own and other people's carts.
- Supports control using four buttons (keys).
Limitations
- There are a couple things you need to be aware of. PICO-8 has some fairly significant limitations.
- Code size has to be less than 15630 bytes.
- Cart size is 32kb (this includes code, graphics, sounds, etc.)
- Only four sound channels (do you need more?)
- Sprites are pixel-based
- Screen resolution is 128x128
- There are only 16 standard colors.
- You are limited to four buttons (keys), you don't have access to more keys if using a keyboard.
Think of PICO-8 as an old-school game console.
You may be wondering about the name PICO-8. Pico, in the metric system, refers to one-trillionth (0.000000000001). It's tiny. The 8 refers to PICO-8 essentially being an 8-bit system.
If you're intrigued, I suggest you play some of the games on the Lexaloffle site to get a feel for what is possible. Games such as Doom (Poom) have been remade using PICO-8. If you're still interested, you can follow my journey here.