A game for PICO-8 by Jonic and Ribbon Black
I see you've played Knifey Spoony before!
Knifey Spoony is a game in which the player must identify knives and spoons within an ever-decreasing time limit.
- Concept and code by Jonic Linley
- Artwork by Ribbon Black
Why not? Also this: https://youtu.be/mcE0aAhbVFc
This game is built in PICO-8, a fantasy game console with a very restricted set of tools, and a focus on simplicity.
I've tried making games in the past, but have often felt my ideas getting too complex, or that I get bogged down by the learning curve of a whole game engine. PICO-8 forces developers to keep things simple by only providing an incredibly limited set of tools with which to author a game.
One of my favorite things about PICO-8 is that an entire game is just small enough that the entire mental model can fit in your head as you're developing it. I also find myself continually delighted while working on this game, because it's so easy to make things happen. PICO-8 includes:
- An API
- A code editor (optional)
- A sprite editor
- A map editor
- A sound effect editor
- A music sequencer
...and that's it. The engine itself is left to you. PICO-8 gives you functions to _update and _draw your game at 30FPS (60 is optional), and leaves everything else to you.
Need a text engine? Write one. Need a sprite animation library? That's on you. Want to apply physics to your sprites? You need to sit under a tree and have an apple hit you on the head and then you go and write the code.
If you're looking for an introductory platform for game development, then PICO-8 is definitely worth a look. I will also attempt to add comments to this code in order to more effectively illustrate how it works. I'll also talk about some of the tools I created in this README, so that you might take them and reuse them in your own games.
I can't help you write your game, but I can help explain how this one works if you need help understanding what's going on here. Get in touch with me on Twitter and I'll see what I can do.
If you think you can help improve this game, or if you spot a bug, please let me know! I'd love this game to be a well commented source for beginners to get to grips with PICO-8 (despite being a beginner myself when I wrote it), so help with that is also welcome.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
