My first Pico-8 game!
There's actually gameplay stuff this time! Instructions are in the game, 4 enemies are in the game, and you can lose!
The enemies appear randomly, and you have to learn the correct spell to use on each type. After a certain amount of time, the enemy will attack, and with each defeated enemy, the next is even faster. Cast your spells quickly and get as far as you can before being overtaken by the horde!
How to Play:
Boot up your pico-8, load the cart, and run! You’ll see a wand and a target (which is just for show). Use your wand to cast any of the 4 spells (fire, ice, elec, and rock) in the game by matching their directional formula and casting the spell. Every time you run the game, the 4 spells’ formulas randomize, so you’ll need to learn the spells from the spellbook before you can cast anything successfully. You can’t move your wand while looking at your spellbook, though. That’s preposterous! So learn those spells and cast away!
The correct spells to use against enemies never change, so if you die while learning the correct spell to use, you can still use the proper spell next time. But don't wait too long to cast your spells, because your entered spell expires after 2 seconds! The spell expiration never changes, but the time before the enemy attacks does change, so be quick!
Controls:
• Arrow Keys: move your wand
• Z: Cast your spell
• X: Open spellbook
• Z while holding X: Change your wand (just cosmetic)
• Ctrl + R: Restart cart (if you want to change the spells easily)
Plans/Thoughts:
• Save feature for consistent spells/high scores using Lua’s io—is it possible?
• Combo spells. (Ice -> Elec does more damage, etc.)
If you have any ideas, please let me know! I just thought the mechanic would be fun, and I didn’t have any solid ideas for how to play with it, but if you have any thoughts, let me know!
Below is the original proof of concept cart. It contains nothing but casting spells with no time limit. Could be good to practice with before trying for a high score run on the most recent cart! (Note: no high scores are saved yet.)
5 comments
I can understand horizontal one (because Pico's resolution is definitely NOT widescreen), but I feel that vertically it should fit inside window fully, then do black borders on the left/right side.
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After clicking that mysterious question mark, Pico's manual for the current version will show, inside code editor-like window, but without highlighting or editing.
This way you won't have to open manual in browser or the notepad if you want to check something. It'll greatly improve workflow.
3 comments
I was experimenting with png cartridge format (thanks asterick for your awesome work) and I got this little idea:
For nearly every console in the past, there were unofficial, hacked cartridges with unlicensed or pirated games, and this is something that even PICO should have!
Go ahead and grab my pirated copy of Celeste, it's shipped on dark cartridge with custom print on top!
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This: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=45904.0 is my "main" project I'm working on (in Unity). As you can see I'm retro buff all the way through, tho similarly to Zep I don't let my designs to be stuck in past and adopt modern features where it makes sense.
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The full cartridge size is 32 Kilobytes, but as many of us know, games come in all sizes.
Some games have expansive maps, while others have plenty of code.
Therefore, I propose a full token system.
- 3-4 sizes of maps
- Add a spritesheet at any time
- Have only the sounds you want
- Code would take the rest
I understand that this may take SERIOUS code restructuring, but it would be sweet.
4 comments
I don't know if anyone else has done a write up on this, but there is actually a pretty solid way to get around most of the data limits on the system, and it's kinda gross, and doesn't with the webplayer. The nice thing is that it gives you a legit file system, and basically limitless binary data!
Here is a proof of concept, I created two files (this one is test.pb)
CLS()
PRINT("")
PRINT("")
RELOAD (0x6000, 0x4300, 128)
LOAD ("TEST2")
RELOAD (0x6100, 0x4300, 128)
FUNCTION _DRAW() END
FUNCTION _UPDATE() END
|
Test 2 contains nothing but garbage code that would crash the machine.
The rational behind this is that:
1) If LOAD trashes execution, it would crash when the new program runs
2) If LOAD aborts the current thread, it would simply return to the prompt with TEST2 loaded
3) If LOAD doesn't allow shared state, it would copy the same thing out of the code area of the cartridge
This test proves 3 things...
1) RUN performs LUA compilation, so LOADing garbage data doesn't harm execution state
2) The existing machine state is preserved after a LOAD call, while altering the loaded filename and data stored with in the cartridge
3) Storage space is essentially limitless.
Basic rundown of what happens with LOAD / RUN
LOAD: Sets the active filename for the cartridge, loads the 32k cartridge into the cartridge buffer, and loads the first 0x4300 bytes into memory (tiles, maps, sounds and patterns)
RUN: Disposes of existing Lua runtime state, discarding any global values, functions, etc, then parses and executes the code stored in the cartridge buffer.
This also means that whatever is in ram at 0x4300~0x7FFF is PRESERVED BETWEEN RUNS. The only downside here is that LOAD will print garbage to the screen, so write to this area after you LOAD, but before you RUN the LOADed cartridge.
So, if you want to get past the data storage limits, use a LOAD without running first.
If you want to get past the CODE limits, store persistent data at 0x4300~0x7FFF and then RUN.
8 comments
Something has survived from the past
You must kill the last surviving rebels pixels.
Video games must enter the industrial era.
For a maximun profit, bomb the city, nothing should survive in the 15 levels.
This game is the remake of Bomb On Pixel City VCS 2600 which was a demake of Bomb On Pixel City iOS which was a tribute to the vcs 2600.
This game is part of a plan to conquer the world
This game has not been approved for any audience.
4 comments
Updated: Changed music, and the box sprite, and cleaned up collisions.
This is my first Pico-8 game. :D
Help Stephanie get dressed by collecting boxes of her clothes and accessories, but be sure to avoid gender stereotypes! Pride flags can refill your health.
It's a submission to the FEMICOM Jam #2 at itch.io.
It's pretty simple, but I hope you enjoy!
Warning: There are tiny pixel privates, like the old troll dolls. Nothing graphic, but if you don't want to see them, please don't play this game.
10 comments
my remix of celeste originally by Noel Berry and Matt Thorson, had to trade the cool cloud effect in the background for it but now every time you pick up a strawberry you start moving faster
edit for 1.1: changed jump physics too
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I've been playing way too much Celeste
so much in fact that I got a little bored and decided to see what the game would be like if it were made by an insane person who liked nearly impossible games.
would it be ok to post the cartridge on here, obviously giving credit for the code and sprites I haphazardly edited
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Hello! I Got Full Permission To Use The Dubstep Gun From The Maker (Ask Him) And Please Do Not Complain I Use Capital In Every Word. It Is A Habbit.
I Would Like to Make A thanks To Digital Monkey & All Of My Digital Monkey Class!
Also Big Thanks To Luke For Making Ozkills For Me To Post!
Also Matias For Sitting Next To Me And Talking?
;)
And Acourse Henry (The New Kid) For Yelling At Me To Help Him With His Level (Maby a Future.)
Thanks For People For Commenting!
You May Use This Level!
[b]DATONEBUILDER ON!
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I'm back! It turns out my game had heavy slowdowns after this several Pico8 updates, but on the other hand I got a bunch of tokens! I optimized the game quite a bit, added a new enemy and more. Still not finished, but I hope I'll be able to play this on a PocketCHIP soon :D
I hope you like it!
DESCRIPTION
-----------------
You're the son of Death, he is out for holidays, and left you in charge of the whole soul reaping business. But for some reason, the undead got out of their graves and are wreaking havoc.
Your objective is to find all the scattered souls in the graveyard, and to find the source of this madness.
Everytime you die, you will lose a Soul. If you lose all of them, you die for real. Souls are also your score, so the more souls you have when you reach the ending, the better player you are :D
Right now there's no ending, no highscore screen, nothing. But you can still get a bunch of those souls placed on the map.
There are also two Great Souls, hidden in difficult to reach areas. Those are upgrades, that will allow ReaperJr to Double Jump or Charge his scythe and release a special attack.
[b]CONTROLS
16 comments
Hello guys!
Thank you for your comments.
Some updates:
-time limit
-random arrangement of bananas
-levels with more bananas
-banana adds two seconds to the time of the collection
-at start of new level from the time of the collection subtracted a random number
Hello guys!
I've just started learning pico-8 and this is my first test game.
You should take all bananas.
Controls:
cursors - move
z - take banana
9 comments
A few keyboard shortcuts aren't working as I'd expect in OSX Mavericks (10.9.5) on a 2011 Macbook Pro using a US keyboard layout.
- command-F triggers search instead of toggling fullscreen (alt-enter works, so that's okay)
- cmd+arrows don't perform the normal navigation functions (home, end, pgup, pgdn)
- ctrl+up/down triggers pgup/down (not expected, but nice to know)
If anyone has suggestions for alternatives that would be great.
0 comments
So, I've been spending quite a bit of time these last few days trying to figure out the innerworkings of the PICO-8, especially the cartridge storage and I've basically got everything figured out at this point. One thing I thought might be helpful is letting everyone get a glimpse into the compression format that is used inside of the .PNG format, so you can avoid hitting that pesky 32kB code wall!
So, first I will start by breaking down the storage format for the current version of the .PNG. Note so far this has been a clean room RE, so if I'm duplicating anything that you already know, or has been described for you, just ignore me and move on.
Cartridge data is stored in the 2 lowest bits of a color channel, so each color is 8-bits worth of data (1 byte). The channels are ordered (MSB to LSB) ARGB (this is not raw uint8 data order from the image container, so keep that in mind). The images are 160*205, giving you a theoretical size of 32800, although only 32769 bytes are used, Everything past this is discarded.
0x0000~0x42FF: Ram initalizer (simply copied to RAM on load, see manual memory map for details) 0x4300~0x7FFF: Code (version 0 is ASCII encoded, version 1 is 0x8000: File version |
6 comments
Anyone know this game? I'm trying to find it but I can't. It's called Storm, you have to fly a ship and reach the end without being destroyed, If you bump into a tree, it strangely sets on fire. I remember playing it as a child. Who knows this game? If you do, tell me where I can get it.
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Could someone explain how glitch effects similar to Benjamin Soulé's Mr.Beam were done? No code as much as an overview.
Thanks in advance.
Alex
2 comments
