Looks like fun! We're building something quite similar to this, but compatible with / inspired by existing 8-bit computers / consoles (Apple II, C64, etc...) Good to see some validation for the space though =)
PICO-8
11–20 of 48 posts
Re: PICO-8
#12See also http://puzzlescript.net which is even more minimalist but has some very interesting games, such as Heroes of Sokoban: http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=6860122
Re: PICO-8
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
The NES had 2 kb onboard and 8 to 16kb on the cartridge, 32kb ROM and 2kb display memory
It doesn't need to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your program gets too big. Nobody's hosting is going to break at 256kb.
You certainly make a good point. There aren't really any real constraints that make the size so small.
At the same time, I feel the size limit is intended to have the same spirit as the audiovisual ones. Or, if one really wanted the PICO-8's features, but with more space, she could easily recreate the same functionality with another game framework pretty quickly. Perhaps it's almost like a tribute to stuff seen in the C64 demoscene.
Re: PICO-8
#14They also have a pretty interesting Voxel fantasy console: http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php.
This was funded through a Kickstarter, and a lot of backers are pretty bitter over the progress and direction of the project - just check out the forums.
I love the idea, but I'm very sad that this isn't open source.
Re: PICO-8
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't need to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your program gets too big. Nobody's hosting is going to break at 256kb.
You certainly make a good point. There aren't really any real constraints that make the size so small. At the same time, I feel the size limit is intended to have the same spirit as the audiovisual ones. Or, if one really wanted the PICO-8's features, but with more space, she could easily recreate the same functionality with another game framework pretty quickly. Perhaps it's almost like a tribute to stuff seen in th…
Oh for sure it's about "staying on theme" but it's arbitrary. Based on some of the amazing stuff people are doing with Pico-8 it seems reasonable that more space could make it even more interesting. The fact that processing speed isn't a limitation reveals that even such a truncated screen can communicate beautiful things.
As a programmer who's not good at compressing stuff, it would be annoying to have to spend time bashing code to fit an arbitrary limit.
Re: PICO-8
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
The NES had 2 kb onboard and 8 to 16kb on the cartridge, 32kb ROM and 2kb display memory
It doesn't need to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your program gets too big. Nobody's hosting is going to break at 256kb.
Your missing the point, it has nothing to do with download speed.
32k is not a pita, its the point, this is a fantasy retro consol, giving it 32 MB would do what ? make it pointless probably
Its also a excellent opportunity to show off, for example, nobody would have thought you could make this on a C64 1984
Re: PICO-8
#17This totally reminds me of Family BASIC. It had a music editor and level editor, and I had a fond memory of playing (i.e. programming) it at a friends house. The biggest problem: its memory storage was only 2Kbytes. A program had to fit in basically one screen. Also when you use the music editor, you had to give up the memory for programs. I kept saying "Phah! Mai-con (abbrev. of "Microcomputer") is so much better!" just like I do today.
Re: PICO-8
#18They also have a pretty interesting Voxel fantasy console: http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php . This was funded through a Kickstarter, and a lot of backers are pretty bitter over the progress and direction of the project - just check out the forums. I love the idea, but I'm very sad that this isn't open source.
The lexaloffle forums? I don't see much bitterness there?
Re: PICO-8
#19Only thing about PICO-8 that makes no sense: the 32k limit. Otherwise, an awesome set of limitations.
The NES had 2 kb onboard and 8 to 16kb on the cartridge, 32kb ROM and 2kb display memory
The unexpanded ZX81 had 1kB of RAM, of which 672 bytes were usable (and you had to fit your video framebuffer and program storage in there; no ROM cartridges here!).
Here's an emulator: http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/jtyone.html
Re: PICO-8
#20I put together a tutorial on writing a simple game in PICO-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuaLuMhwcc8 its really a fun platform to play with