@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

picoretro

@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place

I write little Pico-8 games for my family and friends.

I post devlogs here, and pin completed games to my profile.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

picoretro, to gamedev
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Simultaneous play in Billabong is just too frantic. A game can be over in seconds. I'm thinking to slow it down by limiting each player to only one flow in progress at any one time, and slowing down the flows so that players have more opportunity to block flows that can capture a large amount of the maze.

On the plus side, the game creates some really pretty patterns.

One player and four bots fill the screen with colour. The game is over very quickly, with the human winning with almost their first move, which floods their colour across the screen.

picoretro, to gamedev
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I'm extending the game I wrote for . I've added different map styles, support for up to four simultaneous players, gamepad control, and a single-player mode against computer-controlled opponents.

A game of Billabong. First the player chooses from a variety of random maze styles, then they start a game against a computer-controlled opponent. The computer player floods the maze with blue while the human player floods it with red.

picoretro, to random
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I got a lot of lovely feedback for my 9 submission, Billabong (https://dredds.itch.io/billabong). However, it was the only multiplayer game in the game jam, and I think people prefer single-player games. I had an idea of how to turn it into a single-player game but didn’t have the time during the jam. I tried it yesterday evening, and it turned out to make for a very boring game! Lucky I didn’t waste time during the jam. The concept works better as a frantic multiplayer game.

picoretro, to random
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

An idea for a tiny abstract realtime strategy game in for

A maze made out of Truchet tiles. A little sprite buzzes around triggering floods of colour to flow through the maze. One player floods the maze with red blue, the other with red. Who will spread the most colour?

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Scoring and turn taking have been added

As their colours flood through the maze, the players earn points. Scores are shown below the maze. The next player to take a turn is also shown.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

One character short of the 500 needed for . So frustrating!

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Success! 499 characters.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Now playable on itch.io and submitted to . Enjoy!

https://itch.io/jam/tweettweetjam-9/rate/2694550

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

The complete source code is in the following toot...

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

a=add
k=poke
t=stat
g=sget
k(24365,3)k(24405)cls()for y=1,120,5do
for x=1,121,6do?rnd{"◜","◝"},x,y,2
end
end
rect(0,0,127,120,6)k(24405,96)f={}s={0,0}p=1::_::px=t(32)py=t(33)if(btnp(5)and g(px,py)==0)a(f,{p,px,py})p=3-p
n={}while#f>0do
q,x,y=unpack(deli(f))x=mid(0,x,127)y=mid(0,y,120)if g(x,y)==0then
sset(x,y,4+4*q)s[q]+=1a(n,{q,x,y+1})a(n,{q,x,y-1})a(n,{q,x+1,y})a(n,{q,x-1,y})end
end
f=n
cls(13)spr(0,0,0,16,16)?s[1],1,122,8
?s[2],80,122,12
?chr(21+p),62,122,7
circ(px,py,1,rnd{6,7})flip()goto _

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I manage to squeeze the code down even smaller, and use the extra space to improve the visuals.

Annotated source code, with comments documenting the tricks I used to squeeze the game into 484 characters, is here: https://dredds.itch.io/billabong/devlog/729963/annotated-source-code-for-the-latest-version

Billabong game, Players create red and blue floods in a twisty maze of passages. The new version displays the scores on a black background, which makes them easier to see.

johanpeitz, to random
@johanpeitz@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Making tiny games is fun and rewarding but something that keeps being tricky is to know when to stop polishing. When I started with #pico8, I kept hitting the restrictions and had to stop, but these days I know so many tricks that I can just keep going.

What's your approach?

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@Liquidream @johanpeitz my worry about Picotron the increased palette and resolution. I can create acceptable effects within Pico8’s constraints. Picotron’s constraints will be beyond my artistic ability.

picoretro, to random
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Too many inspirations for #Pico8 games, too little time …

https://www.wired.com/story/frog-eats-beetle-beetle-crawls-through-guts/

dimillian, to random
@dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

Trying to go the metatable route for better OOP oriented #pico8 gamedev for another project. I think it's much better than the inline table. I can share functions between entities.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@dimillian Beware... metatable dispatch costs a lot of virtual CPU time

2DArray, to random
@2DArray@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

alright, the game is playable! give me your feature-requests

also remember that this is a #pico8 game, so the "circle" button is the Z key on a keyboard

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=54837

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@2DArray Two requests...

  1. I’d like to be able to position the dropper more accurately. The quality of the physics means that the position of each marble can be critical, but acceleration and deceleration of the dropper make placing precise drops very frustrating.

  2. Setting up long chain reactions is so much fun. There should be a bonus mechanism based on how little time there is between merges.

Liquidream, to random
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Tonight's movie... ☄️🦍🌃
#MovieNight #Cinemastodon

picoretro,
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@Liquidream Great film! I love how the space invaders in the film are clearly inspired by the original Space Invaders arcade cabinet art.

Liquidream, to gamedev
@Liquidream@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I decided to create my own take on the "Cheat Sheet" with a 4K resolution + clean, modern look 👨‍💻🖼️

FEATURES:
🖥️ 4K Resolution
🔠 Crisp, Monospaced Font
:pico8: PICO-8 API v0.2.5g
🎨 BOTH Palettes
🦓 "Light" and "Dark" variants
⌨️ Main Keyboard Shortcuts
🖌️ FILLP Mask+Glyph Patterns
🔄 Turn-Based Angle+Trig Primer
🈂️ Full Character Set
😺 Glyph+Constant Values
+More...

See BBS link below for high-res .PNG + .PDF exports, enjoy! 🤓
🌐 https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=54246

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@Liquidream Very useful! Thank you.

I think it is worth squeezing in the IPAIRS function.

And in the control flow section you could include DO…END for declaring a block with its own local variables

picoretro, to random
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Inspired by the #LOWREZJAM entries to start a 64x64 resolution #Pico8 demake / mash-up of Zub and Nebulus. Zubulus, if you will... I won't finish it in time for the jam, but it's fun working within these constraints.

Low-res animation of a pink worm-like thing walking round a tower that is surrounded by floating platforms. It's early days... the worm isn't animated and the tower is a featureless brown slab with no textures.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

If you fall too far you are stunned (and have a lightly sweary reaction, from a random selection of silly rude words).

This looks frivolous, but behind the scenes I've introduced a state machine for the player, allowing me to easily add more sophisticated behaviour and animation.

#Pico8 #retro #gamedev #Zubulus

The worm mistimes a jump high up the tower and pancakes on the ground. A speech bubble is shown for a second or so: "Oh poo!". Then the worm unflattens and can move again.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I had fond memories of playing the game Zub. But now that the core gameplay is in place, I’ve found the bits I borrowed from Zub are the least fun. I read some reviews of Zub from the ‘80s. The ZX Spectrum magazines gave the game a high rating. The C64 magazines gave the game a low rating because the gameplay was “boring”. So I guess the C64 had better games on average than the Spectrum. And I’m going to add more platforming elements and gameplay variety to Zubulus.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Sentry monsters are the easiest to get past: they circle the tower and will knock you off the platform if they hit you. Chasers home in on you and try to knock you back down.

#Pico8 #Gamedev

Half way up the tower. Two furry green monsters circle the tower. The worm jumps past them. But then a fat one-eyed monster flies down from above and knocks the worm back down the tower. The worm lands on the first platform, just above the ground.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

I’ve had to give each monster an explicit state machine, like I did for the player. I never learn! State machines simplify the code so much. But I always leave it too late to write them and then have to refactor from a rats’ nest of flags and if statements. And #Pico8 has no automated refactoring tools, which makes me put it off even longer. A vicious cycle.

#gamedev

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Up to now, colliding with a monster has knocked the player off the platform they are standing on, but collisions did nothing when the player was jumping. I’ve now made the monsters bounce the player around, whether the player is on a platform or in mid-air. And being bounced stuns the player for a moment. What a difference it makes to gameplay! I need to tune the calculations to find a good balance between chaotic bouncing and predictable platforming. GIF coming soon…

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

The other thing I had to avoid was monsters bouncing the player straight upwards. The monster would bounce the player to the top of the tower with no interaction at all. So the player gets flung sideways and either upwards or downwards depending on the relative position of the monster. It’s not mathematically correct, but feels fine in practice.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

Monsters bounce the player around. Collision detection and resolution needs some work. But even in this early state, the game is now far more challenging and fun to play.

#Pico8 #LowRez #GameDev #PixelArt

A pink worm is jumping from platform to platform up a tower. Green monsters knock the worm back to the ground. On hitting the ground, the worm says "Bugger!" in a speech bubble.

picoretro,
@picoretro@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@jake4480 thank you

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