Axel Stone re-imagined in pico8 style 🥊 🔥

Sat, 29 Apr 2023 05:25:31 UTC

Download here: https://shamps.itch.io/brawler

orchard

Tue, 31 May 2022 21:02:21 UTC

Controls

Move card: ⬆️ ⬅️ ⬇️ ➡️ keys
Rotate card: tap "Z" key
Place card: hold "Z" key + tap ⬇️ key
Help screen: hold "X" key

Rules

The aim of the game is to grow trees in your orchard by placing cards. The more trees you have, and the older the trees are, the more points you will score. 🌳

You can only place cards when at least one of its fruit types (apple/lemon/blueberry) overlaps an existing fruit type in the orchard. Once a card is placed, any matching fruit types underneath the card will grow.

Behind the scenes

This is my first ever (full) pico8 game. I'm a web developer by trade and I had a lot of fun transferring some code principles from web developemnt to game development. For example, Don't Repeat Yourself (Dry) and the single responsibility principle.

I have tried to remake video games in pico8 before, but I always had trouble replicating games that gave the player a lot of freedom in terms of movement/behaviour - my code would quickly balloon in size and become a mess! 😥

By choosing to remake Orchard, a physical card game, I was essentially placing constraints upon the system: player movement is limited (ie movement is card- or tile-based) and a player can only do one of two things at any one time (move or place a card). With these constraints in place, the game was (relatively 😅) easier to make.

One thing I haven't been able to carry over from web development is the concept of automated testing. I don't understand how people are able to create complex games without automated tests - it honestly blows my mind! 🤯 I'd love to create a testing framework for pico8 one day ❤️

Credits

Code, sprites, sfx and music by me! 😄
This game is a pico8 remake of an existing card game of the same name. You can check out and buy its sequel here