Hello there, fellow gamer! Thank you for coming to try out my first official Pico-8 release. Picout is reminiscent of the old-school Breakout game, but a little more fast-paced and with a colorful, modern twist.
Controls
Left/Right - move paddle
X button/keyboard X - continue
O button/keyboard C - activate magnet
Tips
The magnet is most powerful when positioned directly under the ball. Use it to squeeze the ball into a tight space, or to drag the ball down into a cluster of bricks.
Go for the gold! The more bricks you break before the ball hits your paddle, the more points you'll earn for each brick. Legend says if you get 15 or more in a row, something explosive could happen...
The full game features 5 levels. For the highest final scores, try to focus on high breaking streaks early on, while becoming more defensive in the last few levels. You do lose a small portion of points for every ball dropped, and points will be halved if you lose all your hearts. You have been warned!
About Picout
Picout was created by Cameron Smith, aka Ripe Jalapeno. I also used some snippets of code from Krystian Majewski from Lazy Devs Academy on Youtube. His Pico-8 Hero tutorials were a huge help to me in the creation of this game, so a huge thanks to him for making himself a resource to me!
Thanks for playing!
Leave a comment if you encounter any unexpected bugs, or have any comments/questions/concerns. I'd also love to hear what your high score you get. I'm considering making an update later this year, so let me know what you might want to see in a future build. Happy gaming!
The very first game I completed it, with a final score of 1096. Then I lost several games at level 1 or 2. Then I scored slightly better.
I did get temporarily over 1200 with a lucky combo at level 2, but didn't manage to keep it.
Gold star for the "juicy" feel and all the animated details. But there seems to be a lot of luck involved. Isn't it common for breakout games to have the paddle affect the ball's angle? That hitting the ball against the left end of the paddle will angle it left, and the right end will angle it right? I know that Picout has the magnet, but I don't think that fully compensates for it.
Minor bug: if on level 1 I forget to activate the magnet for long enough to clear the tutorial message, the message seems to become permanent no matter how long I use it for in later levels.
@Cowirrie Thanks for checking out my game, and the gold star is very appreciated!
I did just publish a patch so that the tutorial message goes away on its own. That way you won't have to have that pesky thing with you for the whole game.
There was angle control initially, but I found that it had some really weird effects in combination with the magnet (like having the ball absolutely dive-bomb you in some scenarios). I will keep this in mind and see if I can come up with a solution in the next update.
Thanks again for playing!
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