[Firefrost] Putting a cartridge on steam is a terrible idea, here's how I did it

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 13:42:34 UTC

My game Firefrost just released on steam and itch.io! It's a Pico-8 cartridge, plain and simple.

Background

In December 2023 I was sick, only had access to a Raspberry Pi and was restless. The reasonable response? Make a game. So I started working on Firefrost, quickly putting it together after in a week or two. I had been thinking about putting a game on Steam for quite a while, so one thing leads to another and soon I was working on Firefrost to be ready to release it on steam.

Why it's a bad idea

Steam has specific requirements for how a game on Steam should be. It should be 16:9 (ouch), preferably deep with hours of content (8012 token limit, yikes) and implement the Steam api (no webcalls or anything ;w; (can be solved with an html release + electron, but that's 300 mb of bloat and to me that is unacceptable)). So many things just turn into massive headached, and I'm not a fan of headaches.

I also don't think it's entirely in the Pico-8 vibe to make a commercial Steam game with it. The culture around Pico is that you make schmol things just for the enjoyment of it and just show that to the world. It's very much a tool for devs to fool around in, and I like that feeling. So many things that I do in my life are already extremely commercialized. Music, drawing, game development. I feel a need to make money of my hobbies, and that's been terrible for my mental well being. When I charge for something, I want that to be something good for the audience, and then I have to perform well and yea you see how it spirals from there? I need something that I don't monetize, and I think Pico-8 is good for that.

Now what?

I don't recommend Pico-8 for Steam. It's a poor fit for the platform and goes against the vibe that I personally want Pico-8 to give off. When I see the Pico boot I want to feel like I'm entering my safe zone. It's just me and my cart, everything else is irrelevant, and I can just poke around my code without a care in the world. I think commercializing that space is a terrible idea, and not something I'll do ever again.

However, I still want to develop games that I feel like I can charge money for. Pico-8 is not my tool for that. Another engine I've been using is Defold, which is what I'll be using going forward. However, I realized that some of Pico-8's limitations were fantastic for making me actually finish games, so I'll be implementing some of the into Defold, and some of them into my workflow. I wrote about using limitations to get stuff done over on itch.

Limits breed creativity or whatever. At least it makes things a lot more fun. And I like having fun. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Cheers <3
Issie

3 hours of style

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 09:50:36 UTC

3 Hours Of Style

by Wistpotion

[Click to Play]

Hi! First post here :>

I finished this during a gamejam just yesterday, and (no shit) it's made in pico8. So I just thought I would share it.

The code is licensed under the unlicense, assets under cc0. Basically, you can do whatever you want with it without having to credit me. I do appreciate being credited though. If you mod this or use something you learned / got from this then give me a headsup so I can check out what you've made <3

Oh and itch page is here for anyone interested.

Wistpotion [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

[Firefrost] Putting a cartridge on steam is a terrible idea, here's how I did it

Background

Why it's a bad idea

Now what?

3 hours of style