INTRO

After a post where I was asking this same question, and thanks to the comments I've received, I've decided to create a guide on how to upload a game on itch.io in a nice way.

By default, if you upload a game on itch.io you obtain something like this: FartJumper (itch.io)
(not a game of mine, I use this just to show the difference, if it is a problem I'll remove the link)

As you can see there are a lot of borders and I personally don't like them.

I made it so that the game run like this: Not Enough (itch.io)
(this is one of my game)

In my game I also enabled the autoplay and made some adjustment to it to make it even better, but I will explain that later on.

GUIDE

TL;DR

You can download this index.html and use it mostly as it is: index.html

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Not sure if it was already reported, but I have a really simple code that PICO-8 seems to not like at all.

I was doing some test with SSPR, and every time I try to run the cart, PICO-8 just crash.

I'm probably doing something really wrong, but that should not crash PICO-8 :D

Here is the code:

function _update()
end

function pset256(x, y, c)
 local sx = (c*2) % 128
 local sy = flr((c*2) / 128)
 sspr(x*2, y*2, sx, sy, 2, 2)
end

c = 0
function _draw()
 cls()
 for x=1, 64 do
  for y=1, 64 do
   pset256(x, y, c)
   c = c + 1
   c = c % 256
  end
 end
 print(time(), 1, 1, 0)
 print(time(), 0, 0, 11)
end

Interestingly, it seems to "work"with the current web version (at least it does not crash and print the time)

0.2.1b sspr crash

by Godzil

Cart #werujasoka-1 | 2020-10-25 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

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Yet another mines clone.
Still working out

• some of the end game flag logic
• surrounding graphics
• levels
• sound affects

brettski_mines

by brettski

Cart #brettski_mines-1 | 2020-04-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

Cave Diver Prototype

by ScorchWare

Cart #sw_cave_diver_proto-0 | 2020-10-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

1

I used the Cave Diver tutorial in a zine made by @MBoffin
You can find the zine here: https://mboffin.itch.io/gamedev-with-pico-8-issue1

With all that said, I might return to this eventually, but who knows at this point.
However, I would appreciate some feedback and I might consider them for future games.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy this Flappy Bird derivative. Hehe.

Seance

by danslocombe

Cart #rsbhuti-0 | 2020-10-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

11

Seance

A surreal game used to explore rendering in pico-8.

Controlled via arrow keys

binariolunafromthemoon

by lunafromthemoon

Cart #binariolunafromthemoon-1 | 2020-10-24 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

Binario is an implementation of the puzzle by the same name, invented by Adolfo Zanellati. I know this game from the Simon Tatham's puzzle collection, as it's one of my favourites. The algo to create the levels is bad, basically a less than brute force but still pretty brutal, and it takes many tries for the higher levels.

Mouse is supported and makes everything better, but it's still possible to play with key controls too.

I added a clue system to make it more engaging. I wanted to add also something like a timer that would fill up and down according to the moves and the state of the game, but finally decided against it since it wouldn't really add too much and probably no one will play this version anyways. It was an entertaining exercise in Pico8, and hopefully someone finds it interesting.

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P8C-BUN

drakeblue_p8cbun

by drakeblue

Cart #drakeblue_p8cbun-3 | 2023-11-05 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

10

Help your chosen bunny cover each level with poo then escape down a rabbit hole. Don't get caught by the fox or anything else that's out to get you!

Finish all 16 levels without restarting to achieve "Iron Bun" or just try to post a high score. Start at whatever level you like.

Controls

• Use the d-pad/arrow keys to direct your bunny.
• z/c/(O) to show where you haven't pooed yet.
• x to paws and return to the title screen.
• You can toggle the music or return to the title screen from the menu as well.

Tips

• The buns will keep running in the direction you choose until there's no clear path in front of them so there's no need to hold down the arrow keys.

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willo

by chowyunbrent

Cart #willo-0 | 2020-10-23 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

152

Skelliwags have taken over the graveyard and its up to Willo to kick them out!

Help little Willo sneak around, go 'woo', blow out candles and get up to all sorts of spooky stealthy fun in this short stealth'n'spook-em-up

Featuring

• 8 action packed graveyards to spook about in
• MGS style ranking system, can you get all 8 platinum medals?
• Skelliwags, floating eyeballs, tombstones and occult pentagrams
• One adorable little ghost, Willo

Game by @danhowardgames

Music and SFX by the outrageously talented @gruber_music

Another of my Atari 2600 1983's games ports. All sounds from the original!
Enjoy!

Base Attack

by BGelais

Cart #tewaribana-5 | 2021-03-23 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

4

conwaylife

by tmountain

Cart #conwaylife-0 | 2020-10-22 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

2

Here's a pretty minimal implementation of Conway's Game of Life for PICO-8. It has a basic performance optimization (it only updates the active area of the grid), and you can see the active area adjust by setting dbg=true at the top of the code.

That said, it gets pretty slow pretty quickly for larger simulations.

You set up the grid as follows:

Arrow keys -- move the cursor around.
Z key -- toggle a given cell to active/inactive.
X key -- start / stop the simulation.

If you're unfamiliar with the Game of Life, google it :-).
An easy starting point for a cool pattern is a ten cell contiguous row (10 connected horizontal cells).

There are better PICO-8 Game of Life carts, but I had a lot of fun making this.

[ Continue Reading.. ]

persona_battle_system

by NobleSeven

Cart #persona_battle_system-0 | 2020-10-22 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

5

A little persona battle system concept I worked on as part of a school project, I may expand it later with different enemy types, more items, and maybe XP

Use the arrow keys to scroll the menu
Z to select
X to go back

You begin with 60HP, 30SP, and 3 medicines

Enemies have a chance of dropping a medicine after defeat

See what streak you can get!

This is an implementation of the function described on this short paper:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.09714 (twitter thread)

It is amenable to tweeing/easing in games. I have programmed easing functions in the past and one of the problems about them is that you need to code "families of easing functions":

(That's from tween.lua, if you are curious).

I like this function because it can aproximate all of the "smooth families of functions" on that graph (all except the "back", "bounce" and "elastic" families) with a single function, plus it adds an infinitude of variants. Not bad for ~66 tokens.

schlick_bias_gain

by kikito

Cart #schlick_bias_gain-0 | 2020-10-22 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

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birdnamedtry

by santript

Cart #birdnamedtry-1 | 2020-10-21 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

1

A bird named try

My first game using pico-8, a simple platformer where you play as a bird whose only option for vertical mobility is climbing

I decided to make a Tweetcart today and it ended up being a simple little Jack-o-Lantern generator, but I found it entertaining enough to watch that I figured I'd release it here for y'all too!

Jack-o-Random

by Jusiv

Cart #jack_o_random-0 | 2020-10-20 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

7

There's no controls whatsoever, it just periodically generates a new pumpkin. The quality of the expressions varies but overall I'd say they come out remarkably well.

I'm working on a collision routine for pixel based movement (not grid movement). There's no jumping, it's a from-above perspective:

if btn(⬅️) then
 if intersect(pl.crect1,cage_crect)
 and pl.crect1.x>=cage_crect.x+1 then
  pl.x1+=1
 end
 pl.x1-=1
end
if btn(➡️) then
 if intersect(pl.crect1,cage_crect)
 and pl.crect1.x<=cage_crect.x then
  pl.x1-=1
 end  
 pl.x1+=1
end
if btn(⬆️) then
 if intersect(pl.crect1,cage_crect)
 and pl.crect1.y>=cage_crect.y+1 then
  pl.y1+=1
 end 
 pl.y1-=1
end
if btn(⬇️) then
 if intersect(pl.crect1,cage_crect)
 and pl.crect1.y<=cage_crect.y+cage_crect.h then
  pl.y1-=1
 end
 pl.y1+=1
end

This seems to work OK, but I am not sure how to adjust it so that the player can move along the object, e.g. bottom of player intersects top of object rect, and if player holds down+left the player should still move left. As it is, my code won't register anything other than the opposite direction after the initial direction that caused the collision. I had a quick search for collision examples but didn't find anything that met all my criteria (pixel based + uses collision rects, not tiles). Anyone have any pointers?

Pixelart Tutorial Sprite Sheet

by BoneVolt

Cart #pixelart_tutorial_sheet-0 | 2020-10-20 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

29

This is the sprite sheet used in my pixel art tutorial. You can use it as reference in your pixel art studies :)

Alternatively, here's the png version:

Video in question:

Someone help me! I have always wanted to get pico-8 but I have a chromebook. I have seen other people manage to get it on there chromebook but I know nothing about terminal, crouton, etc. So if someone could give me a step-by-step guide on how to get it on chromebook it would be much appreciated.