jbridguk [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

pInvaders - just another invaders clone

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 22:13:53 UTC

..just another space invaders clone...why?

Well, because as a teenager I always wanted to write a space invaders game but lacked the knowhow.
Now at 56, I have finally achieved it :)

I tried to capture the essence of the game, with original sprites and similar movement.
Soundwise, I did my best to emulate the original sound effects as best I could.
Particulary hard to emulate was the invader killed sound.

It's not perfect, I have seen the invaders split sometimes and start moving in opposite directions...if this happens...bad luck!

However, I am still proud of how it turned out.

Space Rocks

Sat, 17 May 2025 15:17:50 UTC

Space Rocks

by jbridguk

[Click to Play]

This is my second Pico-8 game, a demake of asteroids...with a small twist.
That is, when you thrust, the ship stays centered and the viewport moves around a 256x256 play area.

Controls

L/R to rotate the ship
O is fire
X is thrust

note: there is no hyperspace in this game

Rules

Destroy all rocks!
Watch out for saucers - they can shoot you and become more frequent the longer you take to clear the rocks.
As time goes on the small saucer is more likely to appear - this one is more accurate - beware!
Free ship every 10000 points.

Behind the scenes

The idea for keeping the ship central came to me after first learning about the camera command.
The biggest challenge was the 'infinite' play area - that is, you have to draw the objects when they are off screen left/right/top/bottom which was achieved by drawing at +/- 256 pixels, so long as the object is close enough to be seen beyond the edges of the 256x256 play area.
I really found that the camera seriously messed with my head and had lots of challenges to get things to appear where they should appear.

Credits

I did need help from ChatGPT for an algorithm to determine if two lines intersect and whether a point is inside a closed polygon.

I also reused the particle explosion (with some tweaks) as found at https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=43946.
So many thanks to @SquidLight for sharing this.

Big thanks to LazyDevs academy ( @Krystman), I learned so much from Kristian - it got me started in Pico-8. Your videos are SO good.

Here is a link to my first game - Sky Soldiers - a Paratrooper demake:
https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=148599

Sky Soldiers v1.1

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 21:11:55 UTC

Sky Soldiers v1.1

by jbridguk

[Click to Play]

My first Pico-8 game based on the PC DOS game Paratroopers.

I am very happy to get to the end of my first game.

Object

Shoot down the sky soldiers before they land.
If four or more soldiers land on either side then they will climb up and destroy your turret.
Shoot the choppers and bombers for extra points. The soldiers parachute from the choppers.
Watch out for the bombers, they never miss, so shoot the bombs in mid-air.

You can clear landed soldiers by dropping others on them by shooting the chutes.

There are 50 soldiers in each wave - after each the difficulty increases.

Controls

Left and right aims the turret
'O' to shoot.

Challenges

The logic to get the soldiers to climb up was tricky. It doesn't always 100% work but somehow I like it..you might get lucky!

V1.1
Added Hiscore functionality