So I've been looking for a quick and portable developer environment for me to gamedev on the go, and I thought pico-8 was it; but after trying for a while I'm not entirely sure....

I've already gotten a pocketchip and pico8 on pc >_>. But it feels really confusing after using Unity, gamemaker, and other more graphically based programs. I've tried making a sort of starting point for quick deving with objects and built in collision detection but its really difficult....

Any suggestions on where to start again or if there's a different programming environment I could work with?

EDIT:
I'm asking because I was trying to find a very quick and portable developer environment and that seems to be very hard to find and I'm not sure if this is right for me because I want to dev on the go >_<

If I'm doing prototyping I'll tend to test things out with Love2D.

While it's still not a graphical hold-your-hand like GameMaker is, it does have Android ports as far as "on the go" goes. It's free and not as restrictive as PICO-8, offering you the full standard Lua API with modern features, running on the fast LuaJIT. Also does come with a built-in physics system based on Box2D, and a large community. If you need extra functionality, Love2D comes with a few other modules like LuaSocket, ENet, various community libraries, and allows you to load extra lua libraries for whatever you'd like.

While PICO-8 might not suit your prototyping needs, hopefully you can still create and share carts so that it's not all wasted.

It's just really tricky going from OOP code like C#/++ to a strictly LUA interface; and most of the scope of this is all about creative recursion. I haven't had a whole lot of time to fumble with it much - work has been a pain in the butt; and I just got my PocketCHIP TODAY for the same reason (!!)... but from the carts and demos I've seen and played, and the fact that the code is all Creative Commons (IE: you can copy it right out of someone else's cart and apply it to your own) means you can fiddle with things that already exist to get a feel for it; and the community here is very helpful and supportive as heck.

It just takes some adjusting and getting used to, since things work a little differently than premade drag-and-drop engines. If you're still using the Drag-and-Drop features of GM, etc.; try messing more with the code editor in those first... and then come back to PICO-8, where everything is code-editor. The syntax is a little different (sometimes simpler! Like "IF (THEN) ELSE" for example...), but just about everything vital you can apply to one (x/y coords and positions, etc.), you can use in the other similarly.

Well I mean I have coded before in both GM and Unity, just the main thing I'm missing from them is a dedicated library with collision and GameObject systems, which is whats throwing me off a lot here :s.

Krazy Bomb: Creative Commons (IE: you can copy it right out of someone else's cart and apply it to your own)

I just wanted to say, being able to view source != Creative Commons, and please don't say it is. A lot of people misunderstand copyright, and it makes things confusing.

There are different levels of prototyping. I believe the PICO-8 is a great tool for the very first prototype to showcase an idea or a single core game mechanic.

I find PICO-8 to be like a sketch pad for doodling, because it is very portable.

At this stage you aren't worrying too much about code quality so long as it works, so you don't need OOP or other complex architectural systems.