A short game about keeping people happy.

You are a policy consultant. A political party has hired you to create a new policy initiative. Different choices affect different groups in different ways. Can you keep the groups interested in this policy happy?

---

Owen's Note: This is obviously a gross simplification of how government policy is made. Usually the number of variables is unknown, and the effects the policy will have on different groups may not be fully understood. A good government tries its best to make sure policy works to accomplish a goal, with the ultimate goal of improving things for the most people possible. I made this small game after thinking about how much more difficult governing is for governments who are working to try to help everyone, as opposed to governments who only care about helping a small portion of the population.

short game

A recreation of Auto Test (1954) as an educational driving simulator where the player watches a real-life driving scenario and tries to match the driver’s actions: steering, accelerating, and braking.

simulator

Dodge the Lightning

I wanted an excuse to implement the A* algorithm and I thought it would be fun to use it for a visual element rather than AI pathfinding.

The lightning's path is dependent on the features on the screen, so if you stand near the tree (but not too near) you should be safe from the lightning, and if you stand out in the open, you yourself become a lightning rod.

The timing of the lightning is entirely dependent on how many frames it takes to pathfind.

Hello! This is a falling-block puzzle game I've been working on for a bit. I hope you enjoy. If anyone has feedback I'd love to hear it.

My highscore is 23,130 at level 8.

---

Instructions

	[48x8]

Place down bombs and fuses then light them up with fire to blow up all the scrap. Fires only comes every now and then, so you'll need to connect multiple bombs with one big fuse and blow them up all at once.

[ Continue Reading.. ]

puzzle falling-block arcade

My game Missile in a mineshaft works great on phone, browser, Miyoo mini. But the ore collection* doesn't seem to work on a player's "anbernic rgcubexx with muos". Is there a resource that I can check to understand these sort of bugs better?

*The code checks for an explosion using pget and reads the colours then places a black patch over the top. I wonder whether it's a timing issue where the black patch lands before the colour is checked but there's no way for me to test other than sending files to the player for them to check.

bug

Code Golf Snake

I wanted to make the game snake in as few tokens as possible, and got it down to 192!

Some strategies I used:

• No cls(), instead the tiles around the snake are cleared.
• Condensed equations (x=2,y=3 became x,y=2,3)
• Some jank (spr(,x,y) == spr(0,x,y))

If you can optimize it more please let me know, this really was as condensed as I could get it. Some areas I feel probably could be done in less tokens are the controls code and some of the nested if statements.

Lmk what you think!

codegolf snake tokens minimal

PICO-1K Jam 2026

Grappeloid

Asteroids, but with a grappling hook. A physics simulator that lets you use your ship's mass and velocity to fling asteroids into other asteroids. Smash them into smaller bits to collect resources to upgrade your ship.

WIP

I'm new to pico-8, and this is my first game. I could really use some playtesting and feedback. I've been working hard to make it feel fun to use the grappling hook to traverse and manipulate the asteroid field, but it takes some practice. I'd recommend keyboard and mouse which allows for strafing, but it isn't completely necessary.

Controls

Pico-8 controls:

• Arrows to aim your ship (stick is easier than a d-pad)
• ❎ to fire thrusters

[ Continue Reading.. ]

action physics

Flappy Bird (PICO-8)

A tiny retro remake of the classic one-button flyer, built entirely from 8x8 tiles. This is my first game, so go easy on me! Tap the X or O button to make the bird flap — let go and gravity takes over fast, so timing is everything. Weave through the gaps in the pipes without clipping the top, bottom, or floor to rack up your score. Miss one, and it's game over — press the button again to jump right back in.

How to play:

X or O button — flap / start / retry
Each pipe you clear adds 1 to your score
Touching a pipe, the ceiling, or the floor ends the run

pico-8 flappy bird flappybird arcade casual one-button retro pixel-art f

Added back the tilemap and improved the fog/darkness made the player crouch and finally cleaned up some code, things have been going great and I cant wait to actually start making a game, I've always loved the little hidden areas in nsmbw or in animal well.
(Should I just keep updating this post? I feel like this isnt a gif anymore but a devlog page)
(9/7/2026)

Testing physics for a game, will soon provide the code as a playable cart, since I have some questions about the quality of the code. have a lucky day!

devlogs

A recreation of Bouncing Ball (1953) — one of the earliest known real-time graphical computer games.

simulator

Combine the clocks until there is only one clock showing 12 o'clock.

Write your own puzzles and share with other players.

This was written for the Pico-1k Jam 2026, in which games have to use a maximum of 1024 bytes of compressed Pico-8 code. This game uses 1023 bytes. There was no room for niceties like a title screen, level selector, in-game instructions, etc.

Paste a Puzzle

Before you can play, you have to paste a puzzle into the game:

Copy the text of one of the puzzles below, or a puzzle you wrote yourself, or received via social media.

In the browser:

• Click to focus on the game
• Paste the puzzle into the browser's clipboard via the browser's Edit > Paste menu item.

[ Continue Reading.. ]

pico-1k puzzle sokoban

What's this? A mixtape from your friends?? Amazing!

.✧˖°.Track List.✧˖°.

1. Here Beside You
2. Before You Go
3. Isekai
4. Strawberry Crepes Forever

.✧˖°.About.✧˖°.

Retro Rewind is part of the Tomodachi 8-in-1 collection, along with Revolutionary Girls and Spooky Stylin'. You can get the full bundle on itch https://illuminesce.itch.io/tomodachi-8in1 , which even contains some chapters not yet released on the BBS! (or you can wait... they'll be here eventually)

Also, if you like my music, you can get it on my Bandcamp https://mabbees.bandcamp.com/album/retro-rewind-1

music mixtape

LASER MAZE

Bend light, power up pods, and clear every level in this sleek, laser-focused puzzle game! Position and rotate your mirrors to guide the beam to its final target. To unlock the receiver, you’ll need to activate every pod on the grid and use every mirror in your inventory. Precision is key—can you master the angles?

Built under the strict 1KB code limit for the Pico-1K Jam, this minimalist title features a deterministic, seeded generator that delivers an "infinite" supply of solvable (hopefully...) levels—perfect for quick, bite-sized spatial logic sessions, even if maybe not extremely challenging in some cases.

Controls:

Z/🅾️ - to place or remove a mirror

[ Continue Reading.. ]

puzzle 64x64

you can only shoot to the dead center. don't get hit by your own bullet

made for pico-1k jam 2026. the game is 1021 bytes in size

(jam is the right category for game jam games...right?)

pico-1k jam arcade shooter

Russian checkers — a classic checkers variant with flying kings and mandatory captures.

board strategy

Submission for the 2026 National Film and Television School "Game Poem" Jam, September 7-8 2026

A few tiles are from the excellent Canari 8BIT TopDown Pack by Johan Vinet/Canari Games

All other art/music/programming by me