PixEditor is a tool that can be used to draw 8x8px sprites and turn them into nonograms/picross boards. It uses a simple format that allows boards to be shared for other people to edit/solve. Here's a little guide:
Controls and layout:
PixEditor is controlled with mouse only, using just the cursor and left click. This also makes it compatible with mobile devices (except for saving and loading).
The PixEditor layout is designed to look like the built-in editors found in PICO-8. It features two modes: Draw Mode (PixEditor) and Play Mode (PixPlayer). In both modes, colors can be selected from the bottom of the screen. Draw Mode's layout has several icons, each one affecting the board in a different way:
- Clear: this icon clears the entire board filling it with color 0, the default transparent color.
- Grid: this icon turns the grid on and off.
- Play View: this icon turns Play View on and off. If Play View is on, all transparent colors will turn invisible (color 0) and all visible colors will be displayed as color 7.
- Save: this icon saves the board as a string.
- Load: this icon loads a string to the board.
- Game: this icon switches the game mode from original to color and vice versa. Unlike all of the previous icons, it can be found at the top right of the screen.
- Play on Load: this icon turns the "Play on Load" mode on and off. It can be found next to the Game icon.
- Switch Mode: changes the mode from PixEditor to PixPlayer and vice versa. It can be found at the top right of the screen, which displays the name of the mode.
- Color Transparency: this icon turns the transparency of the selected color on and off, and it can be found next to the "pen color" text (top middle). When a color is transparent, it shows four dots on top of the color selection bar found at the bottom of the screen.
The name and state of each icon can be seen at the bottom left of the screen when the cursor is positioned over it.
Saving:
When clicking on the "save" button (on the BBS, press ctrl+c afterwards), the board will be saved to a string, with each part of it representing different parameters of the sprite:
- Item 1: pixeditor_board (used to check the loaded string format)
- Items 2-17: color transparency table
- Items 18-81: pixel colors
- Item 82: PixPlayer completion text - this string defines the message that's shown when a board is completed in the PixPlayer. When saving, this string defaults to "well done!", but it can be changed in a text editor. It can be useful to display the name of whatever the sprite is supposed to represent. However, once the player switches to from Play Mode to Edit Mode this text will be reset to "well done!".
To load a string copied outside of PICO-8, the key combination ctrl+v must be pressed before clicking the "load" button.
If Play on Load mode is enabled, the mode will be set to PixPlayer as soon as a string is loaded, and, every time the mode is switched to PixPlayer, the player won't be able to go back to PixEditor until the puzzle is solved.
Thanks to the PICO-8 discord server for all of the help and feedback!
Thanks to Ningow for helping with and providing code for number rendering!
Nice! This is a fun little tool and I enjoyed playing around with it. One question I have is what kind of behavior you want the player to have for boards like this one:
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,5,5,0,0,0,0,15,0,0,0,0,15,0,0,0,15,0,0,15,0,0,0,15,0,0,0,0,15,0,14,0,0,0,0,0,0,14,0,0,15,0,0,15,0,0,0,0,0,15,15,0,0,0,13,0,0,0,0,0,0,13,well done! |
If you try solving it without looking at the answer, you'll notice that it's "difficult" in a very unfair way....
@luchak Thanks! Actually, I don't know what can be done with boards like that one, since it's actually a flaw of the nonogram/picross rules. It's the first time I've seen a puzzle where the numbers match without forming the intended image, so that's a neat thing to point out!
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,6,0,6,0,6,0,6,0,0,12,12,12,0,10,0,6,6,0,12,0,12,10,10,0,0,12,0,0,12,12,12,6,0,0,11,11,11,0,0,0,0,11,11,11,11,11,11,0,6,11,0,11,0,11,0,6,0,6,0,0,6,0,6,0,stamped! |
here's my thing
@Ben731985 In fact, I did originally put 16x16px boards in PixEditor, and even created a 4x4px font for the numbers to fit the screen, but it still didn't fit so it so it got removed early in development.
this is Great fun, great work dude!!
i made some of the pic-o-beat sprites in it (cuz i have 0 creativity) and it's quite a challenge, but a fun one
(also the little message editing is a nice feature)
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,7,13,13,13,13,7,0,0,7,2,2,13,13,7,0,0,6,1,2,2,2,7,0,0,0,13,1,1,6,0,0,0,0,0,13,13,0,0,0,0,0,0,6,6,0,0,0,0,0,6,7,7,6,0,0,0,13,13,6,6,13,13,0,exquisite! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,7,13,7,7,7,7,13,7,7,7,0,7,7,0,7,7,0,1,13,7,7,13,1,0,7,0,0,1,1,0,0,7,13,7,7,7,7,7,7,13,1,0,13,7,7,13,0,1,7,7,0,1,1,0,7,7,13,0,0,13,13,0,0,13,w3ll d0n3! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,2,11,2,0,0,0,0,0,11,11,11,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,11,11,11,11,3,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,11,11,11,11,11,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,3,11,11,11,11,11,3,0,ssspetacular! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,9,9,10,0,1,0,0,0,1,9,9,10,10,0,0,1,1,1,9,7,7,1,1,1,0,0,7,7,7,1,1,1,0,0,7,7,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,9,0,9,0,youcan doit! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,8,0,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,7,7,0,6,6,0,0,0,15,7,0,6,5,0,0,0,15,15,0,13,0,5,13,13,6,6,6,6,13,0,0,5,5,5,5,5,0,lit! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,15,14,14,0,0,0,5,15,15,14,0,14,0,0,5,5,0,0,2,2,0,0,5,0,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,2,2,14,14,15,0,0,0,0,2,2,14,14,15,0,0,0,0,2,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,14,0,14,0,0,flamin' hot! |
pixeditor_board,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,10,10,10,0,0,0,0,9,10,0,10,0,0,0,9,9,9,10,10,0,0,0,0,0,10,10,10,10,0,10,0,10,10,9,9,10,10,10,10,10,0,10,10,10,0,10,9,10,10,0,0,9,10,9,0,9,9,9,9,9,9,0,beak berformance! |
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