BoneVolt [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Pixelart Tutorial Sprite Sheet

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:44:31 UTC

Pixelart Tutorial Sprite Sheet

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is the sprite sheet used in my pixel art tutorial. You can use it as reference in your pixel art studies :)

Alternatively, here's the png version:

Video in question:

Painto-8 Lite

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 01:24:42 UTC

Painto-8 Lite

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Have you ever wanted to edit the screen palette of your carts on the fly? Now you can!

Using the secret palette can be hard because you need to go back and forth between the sprite editor and code, and you can't look at which color you're selecting.

Painto-8 Lite enables you to change the palette of your games during gameplay (at the cost of 407 tokens), making the process a lot easier!

Step 1

Copy the code from this cart to the cart of your choice. You have to copy everything below line #40. Paste at the end of your code, preferably in a separate tab.

Step 2

Run your cart. Right-click anywhere on the screen to open the palette selector. Select a color in the first row, and change it by clicking on a color in the second row. You can swap between the normal and hidden palettes on the "pal" tabs.

Step 3

Painto-8 Lite automatically saves your new palette in the clipboard. Go to the end of your _DRAW() function and paste your new palette there to make it permanent. You can also edit your sprites in the sprite tab with the new colors.

Step 4

Once you're done using Painto-8 Lite, erase the code injected in step 1!

Let me know if this is useful for you! :)

Crowded Dungeon Crawler

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 23:16:27 UTC

Crowded Dungeon Crawler

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Controller/Keyboard

Mouse and Keyboard

Gameplay

Crowded Dungeon Crawler is a mix of puzzle and dungeon crawler. Your goal is to defeat enough enemies to open the door to the next level.

The TIME bar depletes as you play. Once it's empty it's game over. Attacking enemies and buying items will stop time for a few seconds.
Melee items require HP to be used. When attacking multiple enemies, only the strongest one in the group will damage you.
Magic items require MANA. Each item has a specific mana cost. If you don't have enough mana to cast an ability, you can hold the attack button to convert TIME into MANA.
You can have up to 7 items in your INVENTORY. If you pick up more than that, you will drop the currently equipped item on the ground.
Defeat enough enemies to open the EXIT. If you clear ALL enemies you will receive an additional reward.

Pause Menu

The pause menu has some special options:

If you don't have any plays left, select RESTART LEVEL to try again.
Select REPLAY PUZZLES to play previous puzzles in which you didn't collect the golden gem.
CLEAR PROGRESS will restart the game from the beginning but keep your scores.
CLEAR SCORE will erase your scores but keep your progress on the puzzles.
You can't interact with the pause menu with the mouse, only with the keyboard or controller.

Puzzle Levels

Each world consists of 7 puzzles and a sequence of random levels at the end. In puzzle levels, you have to defeat enough enemies before running out of resources. If you don't have any more health, mana, or items to use, pause the game and select RESTART LEVEL.

Puzzle levels have some specific rules:

In puzzle mode, your TIME bar doesn't deplete unless you use a magic item to convert time into mana.
Clearing all enemies will give you a GOLDEN GEM. Golden gems are used to unlock playable classes.

Adventure Mode

In world 6 there are no puzzle levels. Instead, you can play with different classes in an endless sequence of levels for high scores. It only ends when you run out of time.

Clearing all enemies gives you a RED GEM. Red gems can be used at special shops for unique items. If you keep them, they count as much as 100 coins!
Each class has its own score counter. Try to see how far you can go with each one!
Every 3 levels the dungeon type changes. You can see what's the next type on the STAIRS!
Destroy the GOLDEN IDOL to double your score! Defeating the golden idol ends your run. Try to defeat it only when you think you can't go any further!
After each level, some of your resources (HP, mana and items) will be refilled according to your class.

Items and Enemies

You should be able to figure out the item and enemy mechanics on your own. In case you get stuck here is some additional information. SPOILERS!

Enemy Table

Item Table

Credits

BoneVolt - Design, Programming, Graphics and SFX
Jamaass - Music and Quality Assurance
Special thanks to our Discord server for additional testing, feedback and support!

Stuck in the Sewers

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 14:09:33 UTC

Stuck in the Sewers

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Mr. Mouse wants to go to the beach in his vacation, but got stuck in a maze of pipes.
Help him find the exit!

New version with speedrunning stats and with 2 new unlockable characters, which have different gameplay rules: Mademouselle and Mousefredini.

Little puzzle game we made for Ludum Dare.

Julio Maass - Concept, Level Design, Music/SFX, Programming, Additional art
Bonevolt - Art, VFX programming, Story/Character design

Scrap Boy

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 21:55:03 UTC

Scrap Boy

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is the new version of Scrap Boy, with different mechanics from the jam version.

Featuring 3 levels, 6 weapons, 3 difficulties, collectibles and a time attack mode!

(you can swap X and O in the pause menu if needed)

RGB Zero

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 19:22:54 UTC

RGB Zero LDJam

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

RGB Zero is a puzzle platformer: you can only touch things that share a RBG color with you. You start black, you can touch nothing. You will be able to touch walls and coins as you pick the color power-ups.

Controls

◄► - Move
Z/X - Jump

Try to pick as many coins as you can. If you finish the game with 50 coins... nothing will happen! I'll give ou my pro gamer seal of approval though.

Boss

You don't need to attack the boss, just evade his attacks. His HP decrases with each attack. If you get hit you lose a coin.

Made for Ludum Dare 45.

Scrap Boy (Jam Version)

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 19:10:05 UTC

Scrap Boy GMTK Jam

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Made for GMTK Jam 2020.

There are 6 power ups. Each power changes your shot and also your movement or other passive abilities.
Scrap boy can't control when he swaps power ups. He will swap after some time or when hurt!
The bar on the side of your current power shows how much time you have left with that power. When it's fully depleted, your next shot will trigger the swap.
You can swap the O and X buttons in the pause menu if needed.

The level design is made in a way that you are able to play the entire game with any of the 6 power-ups. If you want more replayability, try to finish the game with each one, without picking the others :)

Sonic 2.5 SAGE 2020

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 01:38:54 UTC

Sonic 2.5 SAGE 2020

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is my entry for SAGE (Sonic Amateur Games Expo) 2020.

The game is not finished yet, I'm releasing this demo for the event. The level is very short because it's using the default pico-8 map. The final version will have a stage as big as Sonic 2's Emerald Hill (and 2 acts if the compressed limit is in a good mood).

Still, it's fun to roll and bounce around the level like a THPS game. Have fun :)

CRT version:

[New PICO-8 Feature] Enabling more than 16 colors on the screen

Thu, 25 Jun 2020 22:17:23 UTC

As stated in the title, you can now use up to 32 colors at the same time in pico-8 now.

The feature was revealed by Zep in this thread: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=38555

This makes all the suggestions I gave in that thread possible and more.

You can't simply use all colors all over the screen though. You have 2 screen palettes and you basically have to select which palette you will use on each drawn line on the screen. In the gif above, the screen is divided into 2 halves, each with its own palette.

Palette Scanlines

Here is the code I used for both screen palettes:

--regular screen palette
pal((
{
[0]=128+9,9,1,128+12,
13,12,6,7,
8+(curr_shield==6 and 128 or 0),2,128+10,128+11,
128+15,10,4,15}),1)

--values 0x10 and 0x30 to 0x3f change the effect
 poke(0x5f5f,0x10)
--new colors on the affected line
 pal({[0]=2,0x8d,1,0x81,0x8d,0x8c,0x86,0x87,0x88,0x81,3,0x83,0x86,0x8a,0x82,0x87},2)
--0x5f70 to 0x5f7f are the 16 sections of the screen
--0xff is the bitfield of which of the 16 line of the section are affected
 memset(0x5f79,0xff,7)

The first pal() is to set the game's screen palette. Nothing new here.

poke(0x5f2c,0x40) enables the 2nd palette. This is the same address that changes screen modes (rotated, stretched, mirrored). You can add these effects as usual, so 0xc5 (0x40+133) will rotate the screen and enable the 2nd palette. See the wiki for all effects. This poke is no longer needed after update 0.2.1.

Pal([table],2) changes the secondary palette. The second parameter defines the target palette (0 for draw, 1 for display, 2 for secondary). You can change colors individually with pal(c1,c2,2) as usual too. You can also access it by peeking/poking addresses 0x5f60 to 0x5f6f.

The memset at the end is a bit more complicated: each address from 0x5f70 to 0x5f7f is a section of the screen. 0x5f70 is the first 8 lines, 0x5f71 is the next 8, etc, all the way to the bottom, 0x5f7f. The value you insert in the address is a bitfield for the 8 lines of that section. 0b1 will affect the first line, 0b11 will affect the first two lines, 0b1010101 will intercalate the lines between the two palettes, and 0b11111111 (or 0xff) will change all lines in the section.

With this, you can select either palette for all lines on the screen. But what if you want to use columns instead of horizontal lines? poke(0x5f2c,133) will rotate the screen, so if you rotate the sprites back to compensate for the screen rotation you can have something like this:

Each character has its own palette!

CRT effect, using the same principles! memset(0x5f70,0xaa,16) alternates lines!

In Moonrace I used the second palette for the mugshots! This might be the first game to use all 32 colors..? :)

Gradient Fill

If you poke(0x5f5f,n) with values between 0x30 and 0x3f, you'll have a different effect. The color corresponding to the last digit of the address will be swapped for a gradient of colors. Each of the 16 sections will be swapped for a different color (pokes 0x5f60 to 0x5f6f). An example will make it clearer:

Here the black background of the game was swapped for a gradient of the 16 basic colors, using the code below:

poke(0x5f5f,0x30)
for i=0,15 do
 poke(0x5f60+i,i)
end

So what does the 0x5f70 address do in this mode? Now each bit determines if that particular line will use the corresponding 0x5f6n color or 0x5f6n+1. Adding the code below will produce the following effect:

memset(0x5f70,0xaa,16)

This might seem a bit unimpressive at first, but remember that you are free to use any of the 32 colors in this gradient, not only the ones you're using currently on the screen. This can be used to add colors to a platformer background or background effects in a shmup for instance. Here is a quick example:

If you look closely the game uses all 15 colors in the foreground and UI except for color #12 (light blue). The light blue is used for the gradient, using the regular colors 0, 1, 12, 6, and 7 and also 0x81 and 0x8c from the alternate palette (18 total colors). Here's another example using 21 colors:

Here is the code for this gradient. Just swap the colors for whatever you like :)

--swap 0x30 for 0x3n where n is the color that will be swapped for the gradient
poke(0x5f5f,0x30)
--put the gradient colors in the table below:
pal({[0]=0x82,0x82,0x84,0x84,4,4,0x89,0x89,0x8e,0x8e,0x8f,0x8f,15,15,0x87,0x87},2)
--blend lines
memset(0x5f70,0xaa,16)

You can use the gradient fill to add an extra color for some objects like in this example. Just be sure they never are on the same line. In this case, the camera never moves in the y axis, so there's no way they will overlap.

That's all I have for now. Have fun!

[Feature Suggestion] Screen palette line set

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 23:45:43 UTC

The first paragraphs are just some opening thoughts to contextualize where I'm coming from with this idea. If you are not interested in that, skip to [Suggestion].

Context

When the 2nd palette was first discovered, increasing the total number of colors on the screen has been suggested a number of times. That in itself is a pretty weak idea: bumping up pico-8's limitations is against its whole purpose of self-imposed limitations. If you want more colors, just use any other platform. End of story.

But recently, with the 0.2.0x versions, a lot of new features have been added that expand what pico-8 is capable of: better code compression, tline, the upcoming oval(), new chars (kana, puny). Tline in particular changes the whole feel of the carts that use it, with the possibility of mode7, rotation, map lighting, etc. While those effects were previously possible, the games that had them would pay a high cost in CPU and tokens.

Ever since the 2nd palette came, I had some ideas of how the color limit could be increased without going against pico-8's design principles. From these ideas, I selected my favorite and arguably the one that fits pico-8 the best. With pico-8 going beta and possibly its core being set, this might be my last opportunity of sharing it, so here it is:

Suggestion

Change the [p] parameter in pal(tbl,[p]) to a integer value between 0 and 128. The [p] value is the first scanline that uses the new palette;
This would effectively increase the possible uses of the function from 2 (draw palette and screen palette) to 3 (draw palette, screen palette, and mid-screen palette);
If [p] is 0, you change the draw palette as usual. Likewise if [p] is 1, the first line is changed to the new palette, all the way to the last line. No changes here. If [p] is above 1 it means the first scanline of this palette is not at the top of the screen, so it will change the screen palette from that line onwards;
Using [p>1] more than once per flip will replace the last mid-screen palette. In the code below, only the [64] value would take effect:

function _draw()
 pal({129,130,131},32) --changes the mid-screen palette for y>=32

 pal({132,2,0},64) --overwrites the pal() above so only this one takes effect when the screen is drawn
end

Uses

In alignment with pico-8's philosophy, this would allow new things to be done, but also create new challenges to overcome and breed creativity through its limitations. Here are some examples:

Water palette

Pal-swap the lower half for some water effects, like in some 16-bit games. It could also be used for water reflection.

Split-Screen

In a game with split-screen, changing the screen palette would affect the other player's half-screen. This new feature would prevent that.

Fighting game character select/VS screen

Poke(0x5f2c,0x85) rotates the screen, so instead of top/down palettes, it's left/right. With that, you can have nice 15-color palettes for each character in a VS screen, with the black background hiding the transition between palettes. More juice could be added to each side with their respective palettes (character's names, country flags or whatever else).

UI

Kind of a crude example, since this game was not intended for that, but you could have some different colors for UI if it has a more clear separation from the game area, like it's common in RTSs and some point-and-click games (the red arrow indicates the transition line).

Custom Tools

In my custom tool, Painto-8, the entire screen changes when you open the palette selection. This feature could help to circumvent that, making it less jarring.

Mode 7

In games that use mode7-like effects, you can have 1 palette above the horizon (for the sky and UI) and another below (ground, characters and objects).

Anyways, you get the idea. It really creates a new layer of cool things to explore while mostly keeping the same restrictions. I think it fits pico-8 well... Who knows :)

[Feature Request] Keyconfig on exported carts

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:20:54 UTC

A few days ago someone on my discord server asked me how to configure keys in an exported cart and I didn't figure out how to do it, nor did I find any information about it anywhere...

So I assume there's no way to do it right now...?

Just letting the player access the Keyconfig screen from the controls screen would be great.

And saving the config after each session :)

I think it's something that can easily affect user reviews in external sites, Itch.io, Kongregate, and so on, and also help with accessibility.

Cloud Outline

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 19:00:18 UTC

Cloud Outline

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

I created this cart to show a way to make the outline() function affect many objects (in this case the circles) at once instead of outlining each one individually.

Some people got interested in how it works, so I'm sharing it here to show the code behind it.

The bottom one uses just 3 more tokens than the top one.

Transparent Lines

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:22:44 UTC

Transparent Lines

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is a test for the purpose of using poke() bytes vertically as a way to draw transparent lines more efficiently.

Before version 1.12d you could only use pget/pset to draw a vertical transparent line, while now you can use poke(0x5f2c,135) to draw bytes vertically.

While the effect is the same, the CPU usage difference is pretty significant :)

This could be used for transparent rain effects for example.

Keep in mind that poke(0x5f2c,135) only works in the bbs right now.

Christmas RPG Doodle

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 01:21:23 UTC

Christmas RPG Doodle

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is not a game, just an animation that looks like a Christmas-themed RGP.

Maybe it will turn into a proper game someday.

Merry Christmas pico people! And a new year full of happiness and accomplishments for you and your family!

Twitter | Itch.io | Discord | Youtube

Rainbow Tunnel

Sun, 17 Nov 2019 21:19:23 UTC

Rainbow Tunnel

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is my first TweetTweetCart (558 chars of code)! Made for TweetTweetJam 3!

<> to move
Z to jump

My best score is 560
Itch page: Rainbow Tunnel

Have fun!

Ball Distortion Effects

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 17:29:29 UTC

Ball Distortion Effects

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Made this cart to test some distortion effects for future projects.

A lot of people got interested in a tweet I made with it so I'm posting here in case anyone wants to see the code or use it on a project.

Move with the mouse;
Z/X (O/X) to change size;
Left mouse click to switch effect.

Painto8

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 04:10:51 UTC

New version

I made a new version of Painto-8 that is easier to use and can change the palette during gameplay. I'm keeping the old version here in case someone still likes to use this one.

New cart: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=82916

Legacy cart

Painto8

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

--Version 02--

Right-click on any color on the palette to open a menu with the 2 palettes. Swap between them with the tab on top.
This version has poke(0x5f2e,1), so you can run the cart just when changing palette or drawing on the map area, otherwise, press ESC to resume to drawing on pico-8's sprite editor. (SHIFT+S to save changes so you don't lose what you've drawn while running the cart. Also saves the palette).
Suggested use: Save a backup painto-8 blank cart, and create a new file copy for each new sprite sheet you draw. For example I saved painto-meteor-joe.p8 and painto-sonic.p8 for the sheets below.
Remember to change cartdata("bonevolt_painto-8") for each cart, otherwise all painto-8 carts will load the same palette.

Older version

16 extra colors!

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 02:59:24 UTC

Hello everyone, today I stumbled on a undocumented feature I didn't know existed: 16 extra colors.!

I searched on the wiki and the forums and I didn't see it mentioned anywhere (except this thread, but it was a differnt thing and that feature was removed by zep at that time).

If you change the screen palette via poke (0x5f10 to 0x5f1f) to a value above 0x80, the color will change as shown below:

Here's world 2 of Jack of Spades with all colors swapped, except black and yellow:

Original colors for comparison:

You can't have more than 16 colors in a single frame though, since poking (0x5f00 to 0x5f0f) will just make the color transparent, as documented in the wiki. Still it's good for fades, and can be used for someting like stage-specific palettes like in the NES and other old consoles.

Pretty cool!

Jokenpico

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 20:31:47 UTC

Jokenpico

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

Jokenpico is Jokenpo with a twist with code that fits in a tweet!

It is a 2-player game.

Controls:
RIGHT is rock
LEFT is paper
UP is scissors

The diffence from regular jokenpo is the score:

If Scissors wins: +4 points
If Rock wins: +2 points
If Paper wins: +1 points

At a first glance scissors seems overpowered with 4 points, but it wins against paper (1 point), so it is less likely that your opponent will use paper.

(an easy way to remember each score is: scissors cuts paper into 4 pieces, rock smashes scissors into two halves and paper wraps stone into one ball)

Where's Willy

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 02:16:51 UTC

Where's Willy

by BoneVolt

[Click to Play]

This is my first tweetcart! Use the mouse to find the red 웃! Inspired by Where's Wally/Waldo!

Each time you hit Willy with the cursor the difficulty (number of characters drawn) and initial score will increase value by 120.

Can you get to 1000 points? :D

Obs: Cart exceeds 280 chars by 3 to have more variety on things being drawn