First of all: I really love the idea of Pico-8. Great piece of interesting and fun software. But the very basic constraints of it are sometimes... well, err, limiting. But, hey, that was the basic idea after all which makes the platform so creative and inspiring.

Nevertheless, like 8-bit machines evolved over time (i.e. the Commodore VIC20 was overtaken by it's younger brother C64), I find the idea of a follow up for Pico-8 very appealing. Still having solid constraints but giving some more freedom on the other hand. What about a Pico-32 with specs like these (basically most of the current specs multiplied by 4):

128 kilobytes memory
512 x 512 screen
512 sprites, size 32x32
64 colors (still fixed - the current colors in 4 shades for example)
8 channel sound (32 would be overkill)
512 x 128 map
8 x 8 font, with the ability to define custom fonts (the current font is very annoying to me)

What do you think?

Go for it. I'd give it a try. I think it could easily be implemented in Love2D, if you don't want to build your own Lua implementation in C or whatever.

There are other fantasy consoles, if you really need them. Pixel Vision 8 looks like it will have highly configurable specs, certainly a different way to go. I'll be curious to see how well it does. https://twitter.com/pixelvision8

The only value I see in a Pico-8 successor specifically is a limited degree of backwards compatibility, for transferring skills or libraries, or expanding existing titles. I'm having a hard time imagining that would be valuable enough to justify such a project, but maybe.

("Why not higher limits?" is a bit of a FAQ around here. Search up previous threads if you're interested in gathering further discussion.)

Hm. I would say, that in combination with the voxatron there are still so much unexplored possibilities. I do not see the need for a "successor" right now. But maybe an interesting point of view.

An successor should not be just "more specs", but should focus on another new and unexplored technology (like this voxel-thing) and circle around constraints of course.

PICO-16 would be cool:

256 x 256 screen
32 colors

Your suggested specs are already a bit high, for my taste at least.

I would like to see something with more buttons, something like an snes controller. but that is just my opinion. and its not like if you make a game you HAVE to use all the buttons.

@justawfulgamer

I am pretty sure you can implement the 2nd player's controls into the 1st player. Of course this means no 2 player games.

I would like to see a double in the Character/Token count OR --Comments don't effect the overall count.

> Should pico-8 get a successor?
Definitly, no.

It's incredible because small and so powerfull. You can handle everything in your brain: no need to write or plan things. It's like a postcard: you can put fun and love inside without having to write a novel.

If you need to make bigger programs, there are already tons of tools.