Hi,

so the title basically is what I would like to know but to explain some more here are some informations.

I bought and tried myself on Pico-8 and it was the most fun I had with programming so far, as I now needed to actually understand things to get them to work. However I have no computer science background, sometimes struggle with programming math and have not much experience. But I would like to get further into it as a hobby and I just love the idea of virtual consoles/workspaces.

So Picotron is only 12$ so I why shouldn‘t I just buy it and see if it is for me? Well because I would like to know if I have any chance to get somehing done in it. There are no tutorials yet and programming something else than a game seems way harder (for me).

Is Pictron for beginners? Can I learn more about programming with it and will I be able to do some cool stuff atleast if I try?

Thanks in advance and for reading.

For sure you can. If you already like Pico8 you'll love Picotron. It's still in alpha so it has some bugs you'll have to workaround with, but if you constantly save then you can still get it done. Zep is working on it and updates are coming frequently so with a little bit of patience soon we'll get a stable version of Picotron. I think no alternative will stand a chance in front of stable Picotron. Just follow the new manual Zep made https://www.lexaloffle.com/dl/docs/picotron_manual.html it is easy and you can start working on a project.

You absolutely don't need a computer science background, and how much math you will need depends entirely on what you choose to write :)
If you just don't give up and always push yourself to learn new concepts even if at first you struggle to understand them, you will eventually find that they're not that hard and you can comfortably write anything you want :)

Picotron code has a lot in common with Pico-8 so if you're used to it then the transition will be fairly smooth, but not 100% perfect.

If you like Pico-8 and have nostalgia for late 80's/early 90's 16bit home computers such as the Amiga or Atari ST, it's a match made in heaven :)

I much prefer the wider aspect ratio of Picotron to see my code without having to scroll right or use a separate editor. This key element to Pico-8 annoyed me and it felt like cheating using an external editor, though that's personal preference. I like that the cart is less limited in size (unlimited if you save as .p64 and don't convert to .png) and there are more gfx options, you can even reference additional sprite sheets if you run out of space! The new audio options are much broader too.

As far as learning to code goes, you can follow Pico-8 tutorials for Pictron, but you will have to adjust it a bit to work as some things are a little different. Hop on the Picotron Discord (https://discord.gg/XQStcpPeH4) to trouble shoot a command discrepency as there's quite a few knowledgeable people there to help.

The only thing to be wary of is that it's super new and there will be bugs, but it's on sale until end of March to encourage uptake due to its alpha state.

Hope this helps

Picotron code is Lua just like Pico-8 so everything you've already learned should transfer over easily. Picotron has more "stuff" but it's all built out of the same kind of "stuff" (Lua code) that you're already used to.

One of the great things about this community is that it's made up of all sorts of people from complete beginners who have never coded anything before up to and including people who work/have worked in the games industry. And they're all mostly pretty friendly in my experience. So if there's a math or programming concept that you don't understand or some chunk of code that you're having trouble with, don't hesitate to ask for help.

As a data point: I have a computer science degree and have been a hobby programmer on and off for over 30 years (I started as a kid on the good ol' Commodore 64.) There are loads of people here who don't have that background who have finished both more and better projects than I have or probably ever will. Lack of a formal computer science background doesn't have to limit what you're able to create unless you let it. And again, you can always ask for help and before you know it things that are hard now will seem like child's play.