jtbourke [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Games stuck on pause screen

Sun, 25 May 2025 00:54:23 UTC

I haven't used Pico-8 in a while but I just tried it today and suddenly I am getting stuck at the pause screen whenever I try running a Pico-8 game on the web.

The pause screen comes up right after Pico-8 initializes. I can dismiss it, but it reappears again right away.

This doesn't happen when I run Pico-8 locally.

I've tried on both Edge and Chrome and I get the same thing.

Any ideas?

Picotage! now released!

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:55:08 UTC

I'm releasing my first Pico-8 game, Picotage!

Picotage! 1.0

by jtbourke

[Click to Play]

Picotage! is heavily inspired by the Apple II game "Sabotage" which I played on a school computer in the early 1980s.

This is a very simple action game where the goal is simply to survive as long as you can. Shoot the helis before they drop soldiers, or shoot the soldier's chutes after they drop, or shoot the soldiers. But don't let the soldiers land and shoot at your base!

Use the arrow keys to change the angle of your gun. Left, Right, Up, and Down can be used.

Fire with the "Z" key. You can hold it down or fire in bursts.

You earn a Powerup every 5 levels. Use the "X" key to activate them. Powerups heal your base and give you much greater firepower for a short period.

About the soliders:

-Green soldiers are easy to kill.

-Red soldiers have shields and are hard to kill. If you let them land they will protect the troops behind them with their shields. Red soldiers don't fire as fast as green soldiers.

-Gray soldiers are just like green soldiers except they land very close to your base, making it very hard to shoot them.

Some minor nuances if you are trying to maximize your score:

-if you point straight up, most easily done by holding the "up" arrow, the bullets will eventually come down and hit your base, causing them to bounce and scatter. This can kill soldiers that land near your base, even when they are otherwise impossible to hit. This can save you a powerup once in awhile.

-if you tap the down arrow the cannon will nudge down a bit, which is useful for making small adjustments to hit soldiers on the ground.

-if you hold down the down arrow key the gun will move down unless it is pointing straight up, in which case the down arrow key won't do anything. The angle of the gun will change a bit faster if you hold down arrow as well as the left or right arrow keys. This can help you out in later levels.

Anything past level 30 is very good! Have fun!

Picotage!

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 02:52:53 UTC

I'm sharing my first Pico-8 game, called Picotage!

picotage

by jtbourke

[Click to Play]

This is heavily inspired by the Apple II game "Sabotage" which I played on a school computer in the early 1980s.

I appreciate any comments. Thank you and enjoy!

This is a very simple action game where the goal is simply to survive as long as you can. Shoot the helis before they drop soldiers, or shoot the soldiers chutes after they drop, or shoot the soldiers. But don't let the soldiers land and damage your base!

Use the arrow keys to change the angle of your gun. Left, Right, Up, and Down can be used.

Fire with the "Z" key. You can hold it down or fire in bursts.

You earn a Powerup every 5 levels. Use the "X" key to activate the powerups.

Some minor nuances if you are trying to maximize your score:

if you point straight up, most easily done by holding the "up" arrow, the bullets will eventually come down and hit your base, causing them to bounce and scatter. This can kill soldiers that land near your base, even when they are otherwise impossible to hit. This can save you a powerup once in awhile.
if you tap the down arrow the cannon will nudge down a bit, which is useful for making small adjustments to hit soldiers on the ground.
elite units are red. The elite soldiers have a shield which blocks your shots. Prioritize killing the elite units before they land.

Have fun!