Difference between revisions of "PICO-8"
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| − | + | The PICO-8 is a fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games and demos. | |
There are built-in tools for development: code, sprites, maps, sound editors and the command line, which is enough to create a mini retro game. At the exit you will get a cartridge file, which can be stored and played on the website. | There are built-in tools for development: code, sprites, maps, sound editors and the command line, which is enough to create a mini retro game. At the exit you will get a cartridge file, which can be stored and played on the website. | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
=== Setting up === | === Setting up === | ||
| − | + | The PICO-8 fantasy computer is an all-in-one creation and execution platform. | |
Unfortunately, the PICO-8 is a commercial package and should be purchased before you can get started. | Unfortunately, the PICO-8 is a commercial package and should be purchased before you can get started. | ||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
=== Getting started === | === Getting started === | ||
| − | PICO-8 programs are coded using the | + | PICO-8 programs are coded using the Lua scripting language. |
The main function used for updating the screen (and called either 30 or 60 times a second) is the _DRAW() function, so this function is also a requirement for doing anything with graphics. | The main function used for updating the screen (and called either 30 or 60 times a second) is the _DRAW() function, so this function is also a requirement for doing anything with graphics. | ||
| − | Most animated effects will also need to use some kind of a timer, so you are likely to also use the built-in time() function or keep track of your time (t) yourself as well. | + | Most animated effects will also need to use some kind of a timer, so you are likely to also use the built-in time() function or keep track of your time (t) yourself as well. So a minimal setup would look something like this: |
<syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | <syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | ||
| Line 67: | Line 67: | ||
==== Color Palette ==== | ==== Color Palette ==== | ||
| − | Unfortunately for us sizecoders, the PICO-8 comes with a fixed palette | + | Unfortunately for us sizecoders, the PICO-8 comes with a fixed palette of 16 colors with size-unfriendly color indexing (https://lospec.com/palette-list/pico-8). |
Luckily, the PICO-8 provides a PAL(source,dest) function that lets you swap the color index of each color, but these are quite costly at 8-10 bytes per colorswap call. | Luckily, the PICO-8 provides a PAL(source,dest) function that lets you swap the color index of each color, but these are quite costly at 8-10 bytes per colorswap call. | ||
==== Colorindex table ==== | ==== Colorindex table ==== | ||
| − | One of the easier | + | One of the easier ways to get a nice color-ramp without using the PAL function is to use a color indextable like so: |
<syntaxhighlight lang=lua> | <syntaxhighlight lang=lua> | ||
| Line 86: | Line 86: | ||
A couple of examples for this are: | A couple of examples for this are: | ||
* color+4 / pal(4,0) - Replaces color index 4 with 0(black) for a 4-shade Grayscale | * color+4 / pal(4,0) - Replaces color index 4 with 0(black) for a 4-shade Grayscale | ||
| − | * color&7*2 - Black, | + | * color&7*2 - Black, purple, brown, white |
| − | * (color&7)^2 - Black, blue, brown yellow | + | * (color&7)^2 - Black, blue, brown, yellow |
| − | But feel free to experiment yourself as well and let us know on | + | But feel free to experiment yourself as well and let us know on Discord if you find something cool. |
=== Sound === | === Sound === | ||
| − | The PICO-8 does not allow you to poke the | + | The PICO-8 does not allow you to poke the sound registers directly, but instead works with the SFX(effectindex) command to generate sounds. However we are allowed to poke the piece of memory that holds the sound effect data, like so: |
<syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | <syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | ||
| Line 108: | Line 108: | ||
* No integer divisions are needed anymore for logical operations | * No integer divisions are needed anymore for logical operations | ||
* The PICO-8 has custom characters available in the font (character numbers 128+). | * The PICO-8 has custom characters available in the font (character numbers 128+). | ||
| − | * The PICO-8 | + | * The PICO-8 Lua variant supports x+=value / x-=value |
* The XOR operator is ^^ instead of ~ | * The XOR operator is ^^ instead of ~ | ||
* FUNCTION _DRAW() = FUNCTION TIC() | * FUNCTION _DRAW() = FUNCTION TIC() | ||
| Line 129: | Line 129: | ||
* Remember that ?"text",x,y is a shorthand for PRINT("text",x,y), however it does require its own newline (2x enter) to work | * Remember that ?"text",x,y is a shorthand for PRINT("text",x,y), however it does require its own newline (2x enter) to work | ||
| − | When you are done, make sure that your raw | + | When you are done, make sure that your raw Lua character count is around the target size minus 27 characters, as most demoparties will accept a loadable .P8 cartridge file as an intro, which adds a 27 byte header like so: |
<syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | <syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> | ||
| Line 137: | Line 137: | ||
</syntaxhighlight> | </syntaxhighlight> | ||
| − | Followed by your raw | + | Followed by your raw Lua code, so this leaves: |
* 101 characters for a 128 byte intro. | * 101 characters for a 128 byte intro. | ||
* 229 characters for a 256 byte intro. | * 229 characters for a 256 byte intro. | ||
| Line 145: | Line 145: | ||
The number of used characters can be made visible in the bottom right of the PICO-8 code editor, so that you can keep track. | The number of used characters can be made visible in the bottom right of the PICO-8 code editor, so that you can keep track. | ||
| − | You can edit the cartridge with | + | You can edit the cartridge with the above header in an external editor or find and strip them down from your internal PICO-8 cartridge folder (type FOLDER to jump directly to your cartridge folder and/or edit the PICO-8 config.txt to save your P8 cartridge files elsewhere). |
=== Additional Resources === | === Additional Resources === | ||
Revision as of 05:43, 10 March 2022
The PICO-8 is a fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games and demos.
There are built-in tools for development: code, sprites, maps, sound editors and the command line, which is enough to create a mini retro game. At the exit you will get a cartridge file, which can be stored and played on the website.
Also, the game can be packed into a player that works on all popular platforms and distribute as you wish. To make a retro styled game the whole process of creation takes place under some technical limitations: 128x128 pixels display, 16 color palette, 256 8x8 color sprites and 4 channel sound
Contents
Setting up
The PICO-8 fantasy computer is an all-in-one creation and execution platform.
Unfortunately, the PICO-8 is a commercial package and should be purchased before you can get started.
You can go to https://lexaloffle.itch.io/pico-8 to purchase and then download the package for your platform of choice (Windows, OSX and even Raspberry Pi).
Getting started
PICO-8 programs are coded using the Lua scripting language.
The main function used for updating the screen (and called either 30 or 60 times a second) is the _DRAW() function, so this function is also a requirement for doing anything with graphics.
Most animated effects will also need to use some kind of a timer, so you are likely to also use the built-in time() function or keep track of your time (t) yourself as well. So a minimal setup would look something like this:
T=0 FUNCTION _DRAW()
-- your effect code
T=T+1
END
Here is a single-image PICO-8 Cheat sheet to get you started.
Video display
The PICO-8 has a 128x128 pixel display with 16 colors which can be accessed via a wide range of graphics functions.
Built-in Draw functions
Here are a couple of built-in drawing functions you can use:
CLS(color=0)
PSET(x,y,color)
color=PGET(x,y)
CIRC(x,y,r,color)
CIRCFILL(x,y,r,color)
RECT(x,y,w,h,color)
RECTFILL(x,y,w,h,color)
LINE(x0,y0,x1,y1,color)
PRINT(text,[x,y,color])
COLOR(color) - Set default color
PAL(destindex,sourceindex) - Replace dest colorindex with color from sourceindex
FILLP(mask) -- Set fill pattern for circ, circfill, rect, rectfill, pset, and line
Getting something on screen
Here is a bit of code to get you started:
T=0FUNCTION _DRAW()
FOR Y=0,128 DO FOR X=0,128 DO
PSET(X,Y,X~Y+T)
END END
T=T+1
END
Which will display an animated XOR pattern.
Color Palette
Unfortunately for us sizecoders, the PICO-8 comes with a fixed palette of 16 colors with size-unfriendly color indexing (https://lospec.com/palette-list/pico-8).
Luckily, the PICO-8 provides a PAL(source,dest) function that lets you swap the color index of each color, but these are quite costly at 8-10 bytes per colorswap call.
Colorindex table
One of the easier ways to get a nice color-ramp without using the PAL function is to use a color indextable like so:
c={0,5,6,7}
pset(x,y,c[i])
This method gives you the most freedom in terms of building your custom ramp of colors.
Color index shuffling
Alternatively, you can shuffle your color indices a bit to get 'somewhat workable' colors.
A couple of examples for this are:
- color+4 / pal(4,0) - Replaces color index 4 with 0(black) for a 4-shade Grayscale
- color&7*2 - Black, purple, brown, white
- (color&7)^2 - Black, blue, brown, yellow
But feel free to experiment yourself as well and let us know on Discord if you find something cool.
Sound
The PICO-8 does not allow you to poke the sound registers directly, but instead works with the SFX(effectindex) command to generate sounds. However we are allowed to poke the piece of memory that holds the sound effect data, like so:
POKE(12869+offset,value)SFX(1)
PICO-8 vs TIC-80 Sizecoding
If you are familiar with TIC-80 sizecoding, but less with PICO-8. This chapter will help you point out the main differences between the 2 platforms:
- Performance on PICO-8 is more limited. The use of instructions/tokens (inside and outside loops) will have a performance/token penalty.
- Less code to work with (for a typical 256byte intro 229 characters vs 300-400 characters of LZ compressed code on the TIC-80)
- Code-editor = Escape (prepare to have your desktop filled with screenshots by accidentally pressing F1 ;-)
- All alphabetic letters can be tugged against numeric chars (0..9) on PICO-8
- Math functions don't need the MATH. prefix (SIN, COS, ATAN2, SQRT, SGN, RND, etc.)
- No integer divisions are needed anymore for logical operations
- The PICO-8 has custom characters available in the font (character numbers 128+).
- The PICO-8 Lua variant supports x+=value / x-=value
- The XOR operator is ^^ instead of ~
- FUNCTION _DRAW() = FUNCTION TIC()
- Warning: The POKE4 function pokes 4 bytes intro memory instead of a nibble. Nibble poke is not available.
Final optimisations and P8 Cartridge Release
When you are happy with your intro and want to get it ready for release, it becomes time to look at squeezing those last bytes.
Final optimisations can be done by stringing as much code together on single lines and removing any extra spaces and whitelines.
Here are a couple of other tips and tricks that help you squeeze those final bytes:
- You can always directly stick a letter A..Z after a number 0..9 or a bracket.
- Make sure to reorder variable assigments and code around to make use of optimal letter/number squeezing.
- Unlike the TIC-80 , no integer divides (like //1) are usually necessary for doing logical operations.
- Using a GOTO loop construction like ::L:: <yourcode> FLIP()GOTO L will save you 1 character over FUNCTION _DRAW() <yourcode> END
- You can alias functions that you are going to use more frequently, e.g. S=SIN or R=RND
- Using decimal values instead of hexadecimal will save 1 character (32768 vs 0x8000)
- Did you know that the T() shorthand version of the TIME() function is also available?
- Remember that ?"text",x,y is a shorthand for PRINT("text",x,y), however it does require its own newline (2x enter) to work
When you are done, make sure that your raw Lua character count is around the target size minus 27 characters, as most demoparties will accept a loadable .P8 cartridge file as an intro, which adds a 27 byte header like so:
pico-8 cartridge
__lua__
Followed by your raw Lua code, so this leaves:
- 101 characters for a 128 byte intro.
- 229 characters for a 256 byte intro.
- 485 characters for a 512 byte intro.
- 997 characters for a 1024 byte intro.
The number of used characters can be made visible in the bottom right of the PICO-8 code editor, so that you can keep track.
You can edit the cartridge with the above header in an external editor or find and strip them down from your internal PICO-8 cartridge folder (type FOLDER to jump directly to your cartridge folder and/or edit the PICO-8 config.txt to save your P8 cartridge files elsewhere).
Additional Resources
Sizecoding on the PICO-8 is still in its infancy, but luckily there is already plenty of information to get you started!
- PICO-8 Wiki page http://pico-8.wikia.com/wiki/Pico-8_Wikia
- PICO-8 One page cheat sheet (PNG) https://imgur.com/iGrP5bK
- PICO-8 API Reference https://neko250.github.io/pico8-api/
- PICO-8 guide https://nerdyteachers.com/PICO-8/Guide/
- PICO-8 List of sizecoded Fantasy Console intros (PICO-8/TIC-80) https://www.pouet.net/lists.php?which=199
