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TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

tic.computer

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Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#51

Post by tokyodude »

Lerc wrote: post #4
hungariantoast wrote: post #3

Maybe this is a good time to plug PICO-8 which describes itself as a "fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs." https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php I don't even know the difference between the two programs, but someone interested in TIC might also be interested in PICO.

The PICO-8 is where the current trend for fantasy consoles began. There's a growing number of them (I'm making one myself). They all have slightly different areas of focus. Some are scripting language based, some emulate CPUs. TIC-80 programs are "64KB of Lua or Moonscript or JavaScript". My own is 8-bit AVR (128k rom, 64k ram). Z80 seems a popular base as well.

PICO-8’s limits are partly tbere to try to ensure all games run on all platforms at full speed including raspberry pi.

it can export a stand alone game for windows, macos, linux, and html5

Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#52

Post by FractalLP »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #15
Lerc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PICO-8 is where the current trend for fantasy consoles began. There's a growing number of them (I'm making one myself). They all have slightly different areas of focus. Some are scripting language based, some emulate CPUs. TIC-80 programs are "64KB of Lua or Moonscript or JavaScript". My own is 8-bit AVR (128k rom, 64k ram). Z80 seems a popular base as well.

Boy, wouldn’t it be fun if there was a Z80-based retro console with an 8-bit color screen and easy access from modern machines (USB, etc)?

http://www.specnext.com/about/

Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#54

Post by AlyssaRowan »

djur wrote: post #32
shakna wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know how it was ported to the Switch? TIC-80 uses SDL, which doesn't have a working port (for the Switch) so far as I know.

The commercial release of Celeste is a new game, written from scratch, implemented in C# (XNA/FNA/MonoGame). It includes a port of the original. I'm kind of curious if they actually wrote a PICO-8 emulator for that or just ported it to C#.

They ported the PICO-8 version line by line to C#. Since there aren't that many lines, apparently it wasn't that hard.

Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#55

Post by gpdpocketer »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #15
Lerc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PICO-8 is where the current trend for fantasy consoles began. There's a growing number of them (I'm making one myself). They all have slightly different areas of focus. Some are scripting language based, some emulate CPUs. TIC-80 programs are "64KB of Lua or Moonscript or JavaScript". My own is 8-bit AVR (128k rom, 64k ram). Z80 seems a popular base as well.

Boy, wouldn’t it be fun if there was a Z80-based retro console with an 8-bit color screen and easy access from modern machines (USB, etc)?

Amstrad CPC with a HxC card...

Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#59

Post by roywiggins »

tluyben2 wrote: post #29
vertexFarm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're doing a larger project on it then I think you need to re-calibrate your expectations. It's more for educational play.

I like the 'batteries included' aspect of it; I wish more 'for practical use' development systems had that. The fact that you can package the result for different platforms, makes it interesting for trying out game mechanics on the go and distributing them inside small games. The style it was made in works on low res, small screens, so programming on small devices (small (cheap) Android tablets, GPD Pocket(high res b…

The last "practical" environment that was really batteries included, as far as I can tell, was Macromedia Flash. It lives on as Haxe, the FlashDevelop IDE feels like a blast from the past (it feels so lightweight!) and it supports quite a few platforms (web, mobile, etc). But it's awfully niche now.

Re: TIC-80, a fantasy computer to learn programming

#60

Post by ZebraCakes »

krajzeg wrote: post #42
wooly_bully wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Celeste, which was released to rave reviews this past year for the Switch, started life as a PICO-8 game. I played it on the PICO-8 at first and was blown away! Enjoy: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=2145

PICO-8 (and I assume, TIC-80 as well) are actually great for prototyping bigger game development projects - specifically due to its harsh constraints, which force a limited scope and sharp focus on the design. I'm actually in the process of making SlipWays, a fast-paced 4X game for PC that started as a PICO-8 prototype ( https://krajzeg.itch.io/slipways ). A major reason for the tight game design of the game were the…

I love SlipWays! It's really impressive that you crammed a game that deep into such a small system. That and Celeste were big inspirations to look into PICO-8 myself. Looking forward to the full release.
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