It's finally here!. Some of you may have seen the video tutorial I was working on over the year. Well, the game is finally ready to be playtested!
How to play
The game is a straight-forward vanilla Breakout / Arkanoid clone. You need to destroy the bricks by hitting them with a ball. If the ball leaves the bottom of the screen you lose. You need to move your pad left and right to keep the ball on the screen.
There are some finer details that make it more interesting. If you move the pad WHILE you hit the ball, you can change the angle of the ball's trajectory. The ball snaps to 3 different angles. There are also different powerups, which appear when you destroy a blue block.
[b]Playtesting Help!
9 comments
It's system/kernel/gpu time. Basically, it's all of the CPU time spent in code you can't see directly in the PICO-8 source editor.
If you have an app that does nothing but call cls() around 68 times, then both stat(1) and stat(2) will be around 1.0 at the end of your _draw() function.
If you have an app with an empty loop that iterates around 69905 times, and does nothing else, then stat(1) will be around 1.0 at the end of your _draw() function, but stat(2) will still be close to 0.
I can't believe it took me this long to work that out. :)
Caveat: I don't know exactly where the system/user border lies. Like, I haven't looked to see if what we think of as intrinsics, like abs() or flr(), are system time for the few cycles you're inside, or if they're considered user mode. Similarly, longer functions like sqrt()... could be system, could be user. I'll probably go through and figure them out at some point.
Honestly, it's not a very useful piece of information for practically anyone... even me... but it's been bugging me for aaaaages and I'm so glad I finally got a little 3-watt lightbulb over my head about it.
0 comments
So if you've been around for a while, you've probably discovered that the PICO-8 call mid(a,b,c) can be used for clamping values to a range. The middle value in a set of (lo,val,hi) once you put them in order will either be val if it's between lo and hi, or if it's beyond, either lo or hi will be the middle. That's a clamp.
-- change volume but keep it in range volume = mid(0, volume + volume_adj, 1) |
It's convenient, if a little unintuitive. Some folks might alias the function to make it read better:
clamp = mid -- change volume but keep it in range volume = clamp(0, volume + volume_adj, 1) |
Problem is, it's three args and each arg slows you down a bit. In most cases, one end of the range is 0. If you're writing a really tight inner loop, sometimes it'd be nice if you just had a function that assumed 0 for the top or bottom, instead of you having to pass it.
But wait! A useful bit of info is that PICO-8 API calls usually accept nil, or a missing arg, as if it were 0. For instance, x=cos() sets x to cos(0), or 1. Not useful for sin/cos, but...
Since mid() doesn't care what order the arguments are in, we can just leave off the third argument to implicitly pass it a 0 that way:
-- change volume but keep it in range volume = mid(volume + volume_adj, 1) |
3 comments
Beautiful! This edutainment game will teach you about the world of cryptocurrency trading.
Inhabit the persona of any of seven different moguls -- six colorful animal mascots who just made their own ICO, and Zaurg, an everyman who just wants to strike it rich with his retirement fund. Choose one and receive constant informative commentary from the other six. Sometimes only the other five -- Zaurg doesn't comment much. Seethe as they jeer at you and relish their downfall.
This game has two end states. If you get one, why not try for the other one?
Different trading strategies will affect the game outcome. The coin prices follow a standard model for stock prices, augmented with additional rules to capture cryptocurrency market behavior and adjust the difficulty. (For minimal cheating on the part of the game, play as Zaurg.) In addition, NPC commentary is influenced by your trading strategy, and one end state can only be reached by an entire day of optimal trading.
The soundtrack consists of five tunes including a chorale and a fugue. Not all tunes can be heard in every playthrough.
Made specifically for Zaurg's personal finance thread on SomethingAwful.
Music by Zekka -- art and text by Zekka and a dozen swans -- code by Zekka -- testing by Frank West.
(This is my first PICO-8 game, so sorry about the low production values!)
7 comments
i'm trying to allow players to choose between two different versions of the same sprite without having both on the sprite sheet. at the same time, my game has a day/night cycle that modifies colors as seen in this gif:
i want to largely work out the how for myself, at least at first for the sake of learning, but first wanted to check that i'm not missing something:
is it possible to have both these per-sprite palette swaps and the day/night swaps just with appropriately placed pal calls, or would i need to do something a little more manual?
i'm aware of the difference between remap-on-draw and remap-on-display; also note that there's ui whose colors must not change with the time palette, which would seem to rule out using remap-on-display, unless i'm just missing something.
edit: just to clarify, please do not post full solutions. i'm okay with hints in the form of nudges in the right direction though.
3 comments
(The Post-Jam version has the score continually decrease, encouraging frequent sniffing! Aside from that it's identical.)
Sniff flowers! Blow bees away! Don't sniff bees!
This is a game I made in 24 hours for WPI's "Take a Breather" Jam. The theme was "A Good Sniff." All assets and code are my own work.
If you're interested in seeing more of my work, check out my Twitter: @Jusiv_
9 comments
Can you survive to the "Do It" attack of Shia Labeouf?
Create in 1 Hour for the 148th One Hour Game Jam with the theme Dream
Controls
Arrow key - Move
1 comment
A space game I made with my friend Alex in 5 hours for a hackathon. You can use a laser, but it doesn't do anything. The topic for the contest was procedural generation, so the planets are procedurally generated (plus they have cool names).
0 comments
Thanks for playing, I hope you enjoy it.
I really like the visuals of the last two rooms. I think my next game will continue on from that.
2 comments
This is my first Pico-8 Cart published on the bbs!
I'm mostly happy with it and it works and probably wont break, so I'm marking it as finished.
You need to match 3 of each ingredient sown on the left of the screen. Avoid matching ingredients not shown on the recipe.
It is possible to pass each level perfectly. The first 5 levels for sure, the other levels might require a bit of luck ;-)
I wish I'd given myself a teensy bit more control over the random factors in the game. I wish I had a little more control over the pacing too. Resolving these the way I'd want would require a complete teardown of the code and I feel like I'm done with the game now. Time to take stock of what I've learned and move on to the next project!
3 comments
Can I/what syntax should be used to specify default values for the parameters of a function?
3 comments
Basic concept for a map exploration game I'm working on. If anyone has any tips for improvement, I'd love to hear them!
2 comments
I'm working on a top down dungeon game and I have my initial concept laid out, however I'm stuck on creating collision for it. My skill level is middle of the line, I can traverse a cheat sheet with ease and use the basic features. I use tiles in the map to create my rooms so I plan on using flags to create collision boxes for the tiles needed. Someone on the BBS told me to use the sample collision demo, it took me a while to reverse engineer and it certainly works, but the results mess with my games movement mechanics (actually creates acceleration when the original has set speeds) I'm looking for a solution or guide to make the process easier to understand, I have no prior coding experience outside of Pico-8 so I'm learning as I go. Thanks in advance!
2 comments
***** Description **
Every night, it's the same dream; the world is overtaken by giant robots shooting each other. All you want to be is the lone punchy mech.
Use your human fists to punch them all out of the sky.
***** Releases ****
Version 0.15 notes:
-Made enemies
-Three types, machine gun, shotgun, five way shot
-Random Spawns
Version 0.13 notes:
-Added moving backgrounds
-changed bullet color again
0 comments
My first Pico-8 game is a fact:) For me it's mostly about learning, make errors and correct them again.
1.1 Now with an endscreen after finishing the game. Also updated the title credits.
1.0 Survive 8 levels of jumping, shooting and collecting!
0.8 updates and fixes:
- elevators added
- keys added
- doors added
- keys open corresponding doors now
- rudimentary game over screen added with small music pattern
- Fixed: landing on elevator platforms
- Fixed: player on elevator no longer stutters a single pixel
- Fixed: player is pushed on elevator when bouncing against ceiling
0.6.6 updates and fixes:
- added little in-game music
- better sfx for exit opening
- random diamond coloring
- fixed: when player fell-jumped on enemy, he died again at respawn
0.6.5 updates and fixes:
- bullets hit at least the screen boundaries
- explosion added when baddy is hit
- somewhat better collision detection, not there yet!
- better sfx when baddy is hit
- baddies have different sprites now
0.6.3 updates and fixes:
- Player can fire bullets
- Bullets harm enemies
- stairs are working (aaaalmost!)
- added extra sfx
- some tileset changes
0.6.1 updates and fixed:
- added baddies!
- added better maptiles
- added leap of faith screenshake
- fixed exit collision
- fixed next level transition
- fixed collision detection with diamonds and baddies
0.6 updates and fixes:
- entry warps player to next level
- when falling dead 3 times, back to main menu
- the game now resets all variables for a new game
- one extra level added
0.4.2 updates and fixes:
- main menu added
- reset player lives when back to main menu
- music routine added to main menu
0.4 updates and fixes:
- added lives counter
- update routine from 30 to 60 fps
- level loading is easier now
- code is somewhat tidier now (but long way to go;))
0.3 updates and fixes:
- Diamonds can be drawn in the map editor
- Start position of player can be drawn in the map
- Game keeps track of number of picked up diamonds
- Open portal if all diamonds are picked up
- When player falls to big a distance, he falls to his doom
0.2 updates and fixes:
- Diamonds can now be picked up
- Score header in place
- shadowprint function added
- score is counted after a pickup
- minor tweaks to player movement
0.1.2 - updates and fixes:
- First idea for pickups. Should be diamonds, but they look pretty silly at the moment
- Sprite faces the right direction now.
- Tidied up the maptiles
- first attempt at a score panel
- corrected some tilemap flags
16 comments
Run-Gun-Bot is on a top-secret mission and nobody can stop him. He'll rampage through a maze-like world filled with bad guys and hazards. Uncover the mysteries of his mission as you collect gun power-ups and coins.
Instructions:
- z = shoot active weapon, hold to stand your ground and shoot in-place
- x = jump
- duck + left/right = switch to the previous/next weapon (can also switch through the pause menu)
[b]Weapon-specific Instructions:
43 comments
Procedurally generated archery game, inspired by "Desert Golfing". My first effort at a Pico-8 game - came out pretty well I think!
Also on itch, with some basic mobile support - https://epbarger.itch.io/endless-archery
EDIT - I ended up turning this into a full-fledged iPhone game! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/endless-archery/id1390437916
10 comments
Prototype for Bennett Foddy's Pixel Prototype Studio, NYU Game Center
2 player, SLAMMIN foosball
Player 1: ESDF
Player 2: Arrow keys
make that lil crowd proud :')
Music by Elizabeth Castaño
9 comments
