Hello fellow pico-8-ers!
I would like to create a fanzine for the pico 8 console. Ideally it be an invitation for people to learn how to code and to be able to do their first game quickly. It also could be interesting for more advance coders to see good practice or to learn how to quickly prototype with pico 8.
It will be free and will contain program listings with screenshots of sprites.
The first edition could include a tutorial about very simple games, sprite animation, music, tutorials of lua, specification of pico 8, how to think as a developer, etc...
About the distribution I have been thinking to create a pdf sharable on the pico forum and on itchio, but we could also create a print version to share it on workshops ( 2$ or 4$, price of the paper and printing). The fanzine would be printed on a photocopier (b/w), hand-folded and stapled, between 12 and 32 pages.
Would you like to be part of it?
If yes please send me the listing of your code, please comment it to make it easy to understand for the reader (beginner).
You could also write about the structure of your code and explain in depth your choice. Some screenshots of the sprite sheet would be welcome too. We could also have articles focused on game design, about the workflow, about iteration, etc.
I would like to translate the fanzine in as many languages as possible, I could do French and Spanish. All ideas are welcome.
Would be nice to have some illustrations for the cover and for some of the articles.
Please send me an email if you want to be part of the adventure : sectordub at gmail dot com
Thanks
I would love to have a physical copy of this.
Back when I thought 0x10c was coming out, I printed out the docs as reference material for the DCPU16 and the display unit.
http://i.imgur.com/V7s5V.jpg
I wish I could have had a good reason to use it.
This seems very analogous to that except I'm assuming it would have a lot more real world value.
Unfortunately I don't realy have anything particularly worthy of contributing but I am enthused to see this happen.
For a few years now I've wanted to write a book about another minimalist game platform and load it with dozens of type-in sample games. The book would purposefully not have (official) downloads online, and it'd only be available in print. Not necessarily the best idea for the fanzine but I thought I'd mention it. :)
Pico-8 is my favorite thing right now and I'd love to support the fanzine. Keep us apprised.
Thanks a lot everyone!
I'm happy to see so many interested in the project !
@Ivoah your 3d demo is really nice!
I will try to have the first Pico Fanzine for the beginning of August!
I'd be happy to contribute. I have a neat little water ripple effect I could write about.
Mattfox : the ripple effect could be really good! Could you please comment your code ? And especially explain the animation part? Thanks
Dang Matt that's sick!
I'm liking the game itself too.
I could maybe write something for this. I didn't comment too much on my last little project though. Perhaps a simpler example for managing on-screen objects in pico-8 would be a worthy addition?
Ivoah, Could you please send me your email address ?( I got some question about your tutorial)
MattFox12, can't wait for your tutorial!
UrbanMonk, a simple example for managing on-screen objects in pico 8 is a great idea.
Another good tutorial, for more advance user, will be a simple game to explain how to do a simple A.I.
The deadline to send me material for the fanzine is the 31 of august.
Please send me all the material, idea to sectordub at gmail dot com
Correction : the deadline to send me your material, game, tutorial is the 31 of JULY.
If you send me your material after this date you will be part of the second pico8 edition.
Good luck!
Yo, naturally I'd offer to write a bunch about music and sfx. Sent you a mail last week, should I wait on a reply to that or would you rather have some detailed writing (and pictures?) without prior discussion?
Pizza, to write about music and sfx sounds good !
You don't have to wait for my reply :)
Could you send me again your email to sectordub at gmail dot com ( I don't find it, sorry about that)
Thanks!
Sent another out, lets hope this one doesn't get lost on the way! :P
this is such an awesome project! I'd love to contribute art if possible, not sure if there's much I can write about though.
this is awesome! I don't think I have anything to contribute for the first episode, but hopefully for the next one :D
Mozz , could you do a simple sprite animation tutorial ? Walking cycle + idle for example
JonBro Would you like to do a rhythm game?
nuuup PicoZine is coming :)
ha! I could see what I can do! (tho that might involve feature requests)
I actually just wrote a rough draft on how to make a simple smoke particle
mozz, that perfect! I got sobemody else to do The walking animation tutorial! Particule animation is great!
JonBro Good luck
This is something I'd love to get into! Anything you feel like you're lacking? I'm not much on this stuff but I've been messing with PICO-8 a fair bit. I'll email you as well so you can contact me more directly.
The Project is going really help, I already got some of the tutorial/article, and the quality is really good!
Thanks for all your time and support.
Don't forget the deadline is the 31 of July :)
Super happy to tell you that Karen @bitmOO is going to help me with the layout and Art for the #1 of the Pico8 Fanzine!
I am working on a little Pong clone. That might be too basic but it's the first kind of game I've ever really made, so maybe it would be useful from that perspective. I'll try to get it to you in the next few days, but if not (or if it's too basic) I look forward to the zine!
frew > could you please send me an email ?
I already got a "squash game" tutorial, but it could be interesting to have an simple AI for a 2 paddle version, or a 2 player mode.
Please send me an email
my email is sectordub at gmail dot com
David and The V Man > the launch of the fanzine should be the 15 of August.
We will probably have a Number 2, in September !
http://pico8fanzine.bigcartel.com/product/pico-8-fanzine-1
Drop me an email, if you want to pre-order the paper version.
impbox, randygbbk The fanzine should be available to download /order before the 15 of August!
I already received lot's of great content!
Hello ,
I plan to publish 2 fanzine instead of one!
I have received too many good articles!
I hope to share the first one next week( still got layout/editing work to do) , and the second one in 2-3 weeks.
Both will contain around 48 pages.
Thanks for your patience.
PICO8 Fanzine #1 is out ! You can order the printed version here Printed Version
Free PDF available soon 
You can download the FREE pdf of the PICO-8 fanzine here :
http://sectordub.itch.io/pico-8-fanzine-1
All feedback are welcome
Great job! Fun little read, I'll definitely be on the lookout for more.
that's FANTASTIC :D im so excited to read through it and the cover art is great!
Awesome job!! Looks great! had a quick read on the train this morning, will go through it more this weekend!
Lovely! There's so much good stuff to read through here, and it's all very beautifully laid out!
Lovely magazine! This might be the most heartfelt print product I've seen yet.
Hi! Just wanted to thank you all for the zine, great work! It gave me the push I needed to start tinkering with Pico-8 (and i loved it), so, thanks :D
arnaud, we should start planning an issue dedicated to adventure games in a classic way. an issue that has an example of CYOA, interactive fiction aka adventure games, simple rogues and proto adventures like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc7NLPtR2Xg
or this
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/screens/in-game/v/ValleyThe.gif
Hello Everyone,
I'm super happy of the big number of download and feedback of the fanzine. I already got 80 % of the content for the fanzine #2.
I have already start editing it , and I expect to be able to share it with you before the end of September.
The Japanese version of the first one should also be ready before the end of September !
Just printed and read the zine, pretty good I have to say!
I do have a few suggestions and comments:
First of all, I know that pico-8 looks like this, but, please, a little less pitch black images. My wallet wept when I had a few failures while trying to figure out how to get single sided A4 printer to print a double sided A5 booklet. Use light dray or white backgrounds when you can.
Center spread should actually be in the middle of the magazine.
It's a spiffy concept art, should be properly viewed, not split to two pages.
When you write articles or opinions (as opposed to news) , the authors name should be right at the start after the title, not at the end.
I do remember oldschool magazines with printed code you had to copypaste, but it's 2015.
I'd suggest a collective link/thread/archive that would have all the carts and code snippets etc easily accessible.
As you can use pico-8 to load other carts, a Pico-8 Zine cart, kinda like a demo disk would make sense. Just pack all the games, tutorials and examples into one package, add a cool intro and menu and dl link/qr code next to the contents list in the mag.
And don't you think we'll let you go with only two releases, oh no ;)
@JohnEdwa Thanks for your feedback , and I'll definitely try to improve the fanzine #2 and make to do the third one even better!
Any help for editing the fanzine is welcome, The first fanzine took me at least
50 hours of works( contact people, feedback, editing, printing, distribution, pr, social media, shipping, etc...) .I'll be really happy to share some of the task.
You can probably set your printer to "low quality" if you want to save ink, or alternatively buy the printed version ( I'll try to make the next printed version cheaper and I would to find somebody to print/ship it directly from USA or Canada, to lower the cost.
If I haven't share the code online, of the tutorial, it's to invite people to read it ( copy past is really problematic at the moment to understand coding.)
That's why I was against the idea of code snippet and choose the fanzine format.
The goal of the fanzine it's to have a coherent approach to coding, a selection and a order of material to help non coder ( adult or children ) to have an introduction to game development thanks to Pico-8.
I'll try to improve the layout of the Next fanzine.
C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron!
Thanks again for your feedback.
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