thattomhall [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Doing Pico-8 Commands in PT

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 15:26:23 UTC

Here's a thread to tutorialize how to do the most common Pico-8 commands in Picotron. Show how they are the same, or how they may be slightly different.

So:

--spr
--sspr
--sfx
--music
--rects, circs, lines
--pset, pget?
--mset, mget?
--fget, fset?
--math stuffs
--etc.

Please note if a) the command is part of the list of Picotron commands and b) if it currently works (or may just not be implemented yet).

Picotron API functions: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=143245#p

Please no questions, only answers here. Thanks!

PICOTRON 0.1 Release Bug Thread!

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:06:50 UTC

It's out! We're all stoked, it looks great. We're all excited to explore its possibilities.

But we are also PICOTRON PIONEERS...

So post your bugs here!

WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?

Sun, 24 Dec 2023 14:44:14 UTC

tookbooks

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

It's just before Christmas, and Santa needs to know...

WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?

This is the sequel game to WHO STOLE THE COAL? - a Pico-8 holiday game from Dec 2020.

WHO STOLE THE COAL

A LONG LOST, UNRELEASED GAME!

There was a video game crash, with tons of unsold/unreleased cartridges for the ATOMI 3600 console being buried in the desert in 1983.

Years later in 2014, they were excavated. Amongst the cartridges was a finished sequel to WHO STOLE THE COAL?, which was the original immensely popular game when released. But by the time WHO TOOK THE BOOKS? was finished, the market has collapsed, and it never saw the light of day.

But ATOMI rose from the ashes, recently releasing the ATOMI 3600+, and on it, WHO TOOK THE BOOKS? finally got released to the public. Game players and historians rejoiced!

Primitive now, it was a technological feat for its day. But puzzle game fans and secret-finders will still love it!

CONTROLS

Arrows move.

Z/X: Swing canemaul. Santa's not happy till he has his canemaul!

To move across ice, you must find the FASKATES, which are, not surprisingly, fast skates. You can't steer skating across ice, but they let you cross it! You may have to BUY them at the SHOPPE. (New FASKATES cost five DIAMONDS!) WORTH IT!

You also run across SHAKY BRIDGES cuz they might collapse! Approaching from the side, you can walk UNDER bridges...

STORY

Santa recovered his coal from the Abominable Snowbeast in the past. But this year, he woke to find his NAUGHTY AND NICE BOOKS stolen! Plus his REINDEER and coveted COOKIES!

Sneak into the Snowbeasts lair while it's asleep! Recover the BOOKS. Rescue the REINDEER. And grab them COOKIES!

Winning means you find at least four books, so Christmas isn't totally a loss. Once you can "win", your sleigh will appear where you started. You can just go do that, or, you can try for the...

PERFECT ENDING!

Find all nine books, rescue nine reindeer, and find all eighty cookies! Also don't be naughty!

Buckle up, Santa! Can you SAVE CHRISTMAS?

Naughty Hint:

Cartridge Cover Art: Father Christmas Skating on Duddingston Loch by Carol Lawson

Intro art: Toby Hefflin (mangled by me to add beard)

Music: Gruber

Label dithered with DEPICT.

Testing: Bikibird (thanks!) and Squirrel!

UPDATE 12/30/23: fixed two softlocks, made leaving easier to evade.

WHO STOLE THE COAL?

Fri, 25 Dec 2020 16:15:51 UTC

stolecoal

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

WHO STOLE THE COAL?

A Personal Story and a Game

In 1977, I got an amazing gift from my parents...an Atari 2600. This game shares that story. (Company name changed for parody purposes.) It was one of the moments that changed the course of my life forever. Run the game to see that moment...

As for the game:

WHO STOLE THE COAL?

Santa got home and found no coal for his furnace! His house is cold. He hear whispers that the Abominable Snowbeast took all nine of his coal chunks, along with nine of his elves, and SIXTY of his cookies! Fortunately, the Abominable Snowbeast sleeps at sunset, so Santa can sneak in and get his coal back!

Santa can't heat his house tonight without at least FOUR COAL. Get four coal and return to Santa's House to win! (Then press then X+O buttons to see how you did!)

AND FOR THE BRAVE: get ALL NINE coal, rescue all NINE elves, and collect SIXTY COOKIES for a perfect win!

CONTROLS
Arrows to move.
X to swing your CaneMaul to break boulders.

TIPS

Look out for secrets! They're everywhere!
Remember: BE NICE to any SNOWMEN or SNOWWOMEN you meet!

THANKS
Thanks to Gruber for the song help, Toby for art, testing, and an idea, Squirrel for testing and design ideas, and Enargy, Jusiv & Kittenmaster for testing, and Enargy again for keeping me honest about a nice ending. If I missed anyone, thanks to you too!

Import PNG doesn't adapt to "Current Palette"

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 20:07:21 UTC

Since Pico-8 will import a graphic and adapt it to the default palette, seems like if someone has done poke(0x5f2e,1), it could simply adapt to the current palette? An external tool could be made, but it seems like it would be replicating what Pico-8 could probably do with little effort?

Hidden Palette people would really appreciate it!

Also, pretty please with sugar on top.

Spy's Demise: TweetTweetCart

Thu, 07 May 2020 22:01:41 UTC

spys_demise

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

Here's SPY'S DEMISE (an old Apple ][ game) in a TweetTweetCart!

CONTROLS: Arrows right and left. Avoid RedFaces, climb ladders to get to Star!

Once you start moving, you can't stop until the edge, so keep steering to avoid RedFaces!

WORLD RECORD: @Tleprie on Itch.io, 41.66!

Have fun!

(Added a restart for un-minified cart!)

RNDGAME

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 19:13:38 UTC

rndgame

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

RNDGAME

It's a random arcade game name generator -- press RIGHT ARROW to generate a new one! (LEFT ARROW goes back to previously created names.)

HISTORY

So in the game Anachronox, there was an arcade on the planet Hephaestus. I made a random arcade game name generator (for a sign in an arcade). It announced new games coming to the arcade, but just made up random silly ones. Every time you clicked on the sign, it made up a new one, just or silly fun.

Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if there are any (family-friendly) words you want added!

Updated: May 13, 2020 with typo fix.

SPRITEFONT

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 23:07:29 UTC

spritefont

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

SPRITE FONT PRINTING!

This cart -- all it does -- is provide a sprite font and routines to print to the screen.

All the routines print either a colorized font, or a colorized font on a color background (if provided). If the first color is black, it prints in black, assuming the background to be transparent (say, if you were printing on a white background).

The three print functions do the following:

SPRINT. Prints on 8x8 boundaries
SPRINTC. Prints centered in X, but on a Y at pixel resolution.
SPRINTXY. Prints at an X,Y at pixel resolution

The two SPRITE FONTS match the Pico-8 font, including the glyphs. (It doesn't contain Kana characters).

FONT 1

The first is a smallcaps font like the one in Pico-8. It also has small numbers, and includes six extra characters including Spades and Clubs (the Glyphs have a Heart and Diamond already.)

FONT 2

The second font contains actual lowercase letters. With the last six sprites, it includes simple rounded window tiles you can see surrounding the screen. Usually you would want 8 (so the edges can be unique and to-the-edge for nice layering) and a fill tile, but I had six sprites to work with.

THAT'S IT

Feel free to use these fonts and routines in any cart you want. Just credit ThatTomHall in a cart comment or cart description. Enjoy!

Code for CHR/ORD cart not showing on BBS after 0.2.0

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 19:35:19 UTC

Maybe the BBS code parsing is lagging behind the Pico-8 release?

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=74848

Downloaded Code shows fine in pico8 app.

In Code tab that cartridges listing, it just says:

0001

PICO ARCADE

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 19:45:13 UTC

pico_arcade

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

WELCOME TO PICO ARCADE!

Pico Arcade is a game launcher that launches 36 arcade-style games from great cartmakers!

Use left and right arrows to go through the carts.

Press X to launch the cart!

You can get back to the Arcade from the Pause Menu.

Have fun!

MUSIC: Gruber

P.S. If you have other favorite high-quality, arcade-style Pico-8 games, let me know! I can publish another showcase in the future.

TOY BOX JAM Demo Cart

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:39:37 UTC

tbj2019_democart

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

This is the DEMO CART for Toy Box Jam 2019.

https://itch.io/jam/toy-box-jam-2019

The code is mostly atrocious, but on purpose -- it shows what sprite numbers to use and colors to change to make the most out of a limited number of sprites.

Enjoy the fine music by Gruber!

TOY BOX JAM LAUNCHER

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 22:42:21 UTC

tbj_launcher

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

TOY BOX JAM LAUNCHER

Here is the launcher for TOY BOX JAM!

All the games are here! Choose your cart with arrows then press X to launch it.

You can get back to the Launcher by pressing RETURN (Pause Menu) and choosing "Back to Launcher".

SHOUT OUT TO ZEP! His last minute heroics fixed some small issues and lets the launcher work perfectly! Thanks, Zep!

Have fun with the games/tech demos/stories/experiences!

Also, good things come to those who wait..... ;^)

MYRRH'S EDGE

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 19:03:22 UTC

myrrhs_edge

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

MYRRH'S EDGE

You are BALTHAZAR, King of Tarse and Egypt! You are one of the Three Kings mythically following the North Star to find that baby Jesus! BUT you’ve woken up late -- you were supposed to be at the manger hours ago! On top of that you’ve forgotten your gift of Myrrh you were supposed to bring! (Maybe you can pick some up on the way?)

Parkour your way across Bethlehem, avoiding aggressive Bethlehem guards, picking up 50 myrrh to fill your gift box, and get to the barn's manger as fast as you can!

MYRRH’S EDGE: It’s a holiday parkour speedrun challenge!

Who can get:
--fastest to manger with 50 myrrh? (World Record So Far: 38.0 Crayonatee!)
--fastest to manger with all 200 myrrh? (World Record: DIDERO Time 602.9! Well done!)
--to see the secret message HI somewhere in the map?

Come on, Bal! You’re late! Get a move on!

CONTROLS

Left/Right: Run
L/R+Down: Slide
Up/Down: Climb ladders
Z (O): Jump
Z+Down: Jump down through semi-solid
X: Interact (unlock doors with keys, enter doors, grab zipline)
X+L/R: Move along horizontal zipline (brachiate)
L/R wall: Wall Slide (we call it a “Wally”)

HINT: Play multiple times to see different things at the end. ;)

THREE UNWISE MEN:

Brilliant Coding and Some Design Bits: Squirrel Eiserloh
Great Art/Animation: Toby Hefflin
Game / Map Design, Sfx, and Some Okay Art/Animation: That Tom Hall

Featuring a Talented and Wise Man Who Did Genius Music: Gruber
(Killer song, eh?)

This game got made because Tom thought of the punny title. Had to do it. It was a virtual development team, and we had fun making it! Enjoy!

FRUIT LICKER!

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 23:48:28 UTC

fruitlicker

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

FRUIT LICKER!

Lick fruit without guilt or shame RIGHT NOW in my easy little game, FRUIT LICKER! (My 560-char entry to #TweetTweetJam)

Get as many oranges as you can in 30 seconds! Play in your browser or on your phone! IT'S LICKALICIOUS!

Z to lick. Game ends in 30 seconds. Press X to restart.

Game minified and cool eye-moving by Paul Nicholas ( @Liquidream). Thanks!

WORLD RECORD IS 37 by Mango Man. Congrats!

TATER EVADER

Mon, 20 May 2019 17:19:27 UTC

tater_evader

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

.
.

.
TATER EVADER!

You dropped some Honey Gold potatoes at a picnic, and they GAINED SENTIENCE, realized you were about to eat them, so they got mad and started to fire TATERIKENS at you! Try to survive as long as you can!

Use the arrow keys to evade the angry taters and their taterikens! If you touch either, you die and game ends. Press X to retry!

WORLD RECORD SO FAR: 77.26s, Taters (E:) 26.

TATER EVADER

Sun, 19 May 2019 02:04:33 UTC

tater_evader

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

.
.

TATER EVADER!

Use the arrow keys to evade the angry taters and their taterikens! If you touch either, you die and game ends. Press X to try again!

It's not quite two tweets yet, hope to get it down to there... maybe.....

WORLD RECORD SO FAR: 77.26s, Taters (E:) 26.

Waiting for Good Dot

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 19:04:57 UTC

Waiting for Good Dot v0.1

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

Controls: Arrows. Get to the highest level you can before you run out of shoes.

Okay, let us travel back to ... 1980!

Our family got an Apple ][+ on June 9th, 1980. I LIVED on that computer all summer. Making text adventures, graphics demos...

One of the first games I made was WALK INTO THE DOT. It was in Apple ][+ lo-res graphics. There are BAD DOTS. Do not walk into them. There is a GOOD DOT. Walk into it if you can!

It wasn't great, BUT it did bring up some subtle game design ideas, and was part of me learning, 39 years ago, how to design games.

But how to re-make it now? Make it with cool graphics? NO. I would make it like it was. Crappy, primitive, but hiding some interesting lessons.

So, I programmed the old Applesoft lo-res commands of PLOT, HLIN, and VLIN and re-made this crappy old game.

HOWEVER, there is something about it! As you get above level 10, level 20, you start feeling that "slot machine" feeling and "I almost made it"! That weird frustration-success feeling is addictive, and is worth study, even in such a primitive game as this! Also, you can learn the secrets of the game's collision: if ANY pixel of your dude touches the good dot (even if other parts touch the bad dots), you win the level! Often you may see you can win when it looked hopeless.

Caution, this is a quickly done game, not well-coded, but it's an interesting study in very raw game design. AND... there is... A CHALLENGE.

THE WORLD RECORD IS LEVEL 36. Playing, you will see how hard that is!

CAN YOU GET HIGHER?

CRT Shader version on itchio:

https://thattomhall.itch.io/waiting-for-good-dot-crt

Waiting for Good Dot

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 03:09:08 UTC

Waiting for Good Dot v0.1

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

Controls: Arrows. Get to the highest level you can before you run out of shoes.

Okay, let us travel back to ... 1980!

Our family got an Apple ][+ on June 9th, 1980. I LIVED on that computer all summer. Making text adventures, graphics demos...

One of the first games I made was WALK INTO THE DOT. It was in Apple ][+ lo-res graphics. There are BAD DOTS. Do not walk into them. There is a GOOD DOT. Walk into it if you can!

It wasn't great, BUT it did bring up some subtle game design ideas, and was part of me learning, 39 years ago, how to design games.

But how to re-make it now? Make it with cool graphics? NO. I would make it like it was. Crappy, primitive, but hiding some interesting lessons.

So, I programmed the old Applesoft lo-res commands of PLOT, HLIN, and VLIN and re-made this crappy old game.

Caution, this is an alpha, not well-coded, but it's an interesting study in very raw game design. AND... there is... A CHALLENGE.

THE WORLD RECORD IS LEVEL 32. Playing, you will see how hard that is!

Can you get higher?

About to publish it as finished!

A2 FONT and BEEP!

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 23:37:31 UTC

a2fontandbeep

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]

I just entered the basic uppercase Apple ][+ font in sprites and added a SFX that is the tone of the boot beep of the Apple ][. If this is exciting to you, use it in whatever project you want with a lil' credit in the comments.

I also added a few character I wish I'd had back then in spritesheet 1.

Initial running of the cart cuts off the beep. Reset the cart to hear it properly (hit Return and choose).

Enjoy!

thattomhall [Lexaloffle Blog Feed]

Doing Pico-8 Commands in PT

PICOTRON 0.1 Release Bug Thread!

WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?

WHO TOOK THE BOOKS?

A LONG LOST, UNRELEASED GAME!

CONTROLS

STORY

PERFECT ENDING!

WHO STOLE THE COAL?

stolecoal by thattomhall [Click to Play]

Import PNG doesn't adapt to "Current Palette"

Spy's Demise: TweetTweetCart

RNDGAME

RNDGAME

HISTORY

SPRITEFONT

SPRITE FONT PRINTING!

FONT 1

FONT 2

THAT'S IT

Code for CHR/ORD cart not showing on BBS after 0.2.0

PICO ARCADE

WELCOME TO PICO ARCADE!

TOY BOX JAM Demo Cart

TOY BOX JAM LAUNCHER

TOY BOX JAM LAUNCHER

MYRRH'S EDGE

MYRRH'S EDGE

CONTROLS

THREE UNWISE MEN:

FRUIT LICKER!

FRUIT LICKER!

TATER EVADER

TATER EVADER

Waiting for Good Dot

Waiting for Good Dot

A2 FONT and BEEP!

stolecoal

by thattomhall

[Click to Play]