Hello

I'm a beginner with PICO-8

I've made my first program : Print a text and wait a key.
Printing text is ok, but not pressing a key.
I don't undertand what is wrong (its my first day with pico-8)

local timer = 0
local show_continue = false
local text = {
    "Year 2183.",
    "A mysterious signal draws you",
    "to Thalassa,a forgotten planet",
    "",
    "Your ship crashes, leaving you",
    "stranded in a hostile world",
    "where technology and nature",
    "clash.",
    "",
    "Recover your gear and survive."
}
local displayed_text = {}
local char_timer = 0
local char_speed = 2 -- Temps entre chaque lettre (plus bas = plus rapide)
local line_index = 1
local char_index = 0

function _init()
    cls() -- Efface l'écran
end

function _update()
    if not show_continue then
        char_timer += 1
        if char_timer >= char_speed then
            char_timer = 0
            if line_index <= #text then
                char_index += 1
                if char_index > #text

[ [size=16][color=#ffaabb] [ Continue Reading.. ] [/color][/size] ](/bbs/?pid=160203#p)

Community Shared Pixel Art Canvas!

We invite everyone to add sprites from your own games or from PICO-8 games you love.
It will even be used as the r/PICO8 subreddit's banner!

It is on EveryoneDraw.com, an infinite canvas that is shared globally for free. It uses the full PICO-8 palette, and has minimal UI which is nice to just get started without needing to learn how to use it. However there are no drawing tools, so everyone is forced to place one pixel at a time, making the drawings that much more impressive.

Draw in a Browser: 🔗link

When drawing in a browser, it sometimes forces you to pause because of the timeout feature to cut down on bot attacks most likely. Understandable but it can get frustrating.

It also has a limited color palette, just the 16 default PICO-8 colors.

Draw in the App: 🔗link

I highly recommend downloading the app if you plan on contributing to the mural. You will get short ad breaks, but not often. The real benefit is you'll be able to paint pixels quickly and access all 32 PICO-8 colors. It works especially well on tablets with a touch pen for maximum pixel arting comfort!

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Blupee Tracks is a simple survival game where you dodge enemies and collect gems to level up.

blupee_tracks_v1

by derpyworm2

Cart #blupee_tracks_v1-0 | 2025-01-03 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

6

How to play

Use the arrow keys to move. Every second a bullet will spawn, hitting a random enemy. Defeat enemies to collect gems. Once you have a certain amount of gems, the game will prompt you to choose which stat to upgrade. You can upgrade your speed, the number of bullets spawned per second, and the damage of the bullets.
Over time, more powerful and faster enemies will spawn.

I hope you enjoy my game, and if you think it could be better, I would like to hear your ideas!

peas

by lucasmncastro

Cart #peas-0 | 2025-01-02 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

10

Hi there!

This is "Peas! Animated Sudoku", a sudoku with a twist—peas instead of numbers!

As a programmer, you probably enjoy working with numbers, but let’s face it, they can get boring sometimes. That’s where the peas come in!

The game was developed and submitted for the A Game by Its Cover 2023 jam. Since then, I haven't been able to stop playing around with Pico-8.

How it works:

• Just like traditional Sudoku, your goal is to ensure the peas are unique in each row and column.
• The levels progress in difficulty, starting with a 2x2 grid and culminating in a 9x9 board.

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blorl

by beanborg

Cart #blorl-3 | 2025-01-03 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

6

PVE Roguelike Autobattler; Defend the queendom of Blorl from invaders
Originally made in 48 hours for ATL Game Jam, since expanded and rebalanced for its lexaloffle release
Additional credits: ATL Devs, NerdyTeachers pixel art library

Featuring:

• Swappable weapons in 2 slots
• 4 different stats -- watch number go up!
• Exponential scaling! How long can you survive?
• 6 types of foes
• New original "rock paper scissors" super effective system
• Roguelike action
• Autobattle inaction
• This game does not violate the geneva convention!

Cryomancer

by suezou

Cart #cryomancer-4 | 2025-01-19 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

37

Defeat Fire Monsters with Ice Magic!

The pyromancer broke into the ice magic tower and set fire monsters. Fire monsters can be defeated by hitting them with ice. As a cryomancer, can you defeat the pyromancer and save the tower?

Controls

• Dpad (Arrow Keys)
  • Move
• X Button (X or M or V Key)
  • Hold X Button and Dpad: Turn
  • Release X Button: Generate or Remove Ice
• O Button (Z or N or C Key)
  • Undo (Not possible at some levels)
• Pose Menu (Enter or P)
  • Retry
  • Select Level
  • Delete Save Data

Enemies

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@pancelor, @rupees,

Pancelor suggested in Beam's thread to start a new thread for technical discussion in order not to clutter the game's thread. I fully agree with the idea and I'm sorry for cluttering.

Here's what Pancelor wrote :

• you can replace the body of get_random_bird_name() with this: return del(bird_names,rnd(bird_names)) or "♥"
• you can replace p.velocity_x=p.velocity_x+i_xp.acceleration with p.velocity_x+=i_xp.acceleration, etc
• you should be able to remove tfnsplit altogether, by saying things like a,b,c,d=unpack_split"1,2" (which does the same thing as a,b,c,d=1,2,nil,nil. this one will probably take some more explanation)

End of Quote

About the 3rd point :
when doing a multi assignation, it still works if the number of elements does not match :
a,b,c=1,2,3,4
a is 1, b is 2, c is 3, 4 is discarded.
a,b,c=1,2
a is 1, b is 2, c is nil ([NIL] when printed.)

Now a word about what is considered true and false in LUA :

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Screensaver

by Chimiruha

Cart #screensaver-3 | 2025-01-02 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

Swipe over the logo while holding down either mouse button to send it flying across the screen (although it may take a few tries). Make it bounce as many times as possible without hitting the corner.

Mace Knight

by N3philim

Cart #maceknight-2 | 2025-01-06 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

14

This is my first Pico-8 game I've ever made! This was a rough year for me in a lot of ways and so I wanted to do something simple and short so I could end out the year having made something I was proud of. I hope you enjoy it!

Controls:

-Arrow keys to move
-Z/X to put down mace
-Release Z/X to retract mace

Rules:

Kill enemies by putting down your mace and then walking around them, so that you hit them with your mace when you retract it. Kill each enemy to move on to the next wave. Beat all 21 waves to win!

Edit History:

1/4/2024: Fixed a bug where the laser eye sound effect would sometimes continue playing in the main menu after the player died.

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For the past three years, I have created electronic new year cards using pico-8.

I've posted my card for 2023 before, but I forgot to post my 2024 card! So in this blog you can see the carts for the 2024 and 2025 new year carts.

The code is not pretty at all, but feel free to use it if it helps!

New year 2025: Year of the snake!

caranha_nenga2025

by caranha

Cart #caranha_nenga2025-0 | 2025-01-02 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

New year 2024: Year of the dragon!

caranha_nenga2024

by caranha

Cart #caranha_nenga2024-0 | 2025-01-02 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

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Skilled Explorer Creeps 'Round Every Tunnel (S.E.C.R.E.T.)

s_e_c_r_e_t

by lumbar527

Cart #s_e_c_r_e_t-0 | 2025-01-01 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

This was my submission to the 2024 Github Game Off.
You are an explorer in some secret caverns or something.
Itch: https://lumbar527.itch.io/skilled-explorer-creeps-round-every-tunnel

Controls

⬆️⬇️⬅️➡️ to move.
❎ to shoot.
🅾️ to reload.
Tab to switch between gun and torch.

Map Editor

s_e_c_r_e_t_editor

by lumbar527

Cart #s_e_c_r_e_t_editor-0 | 2025-01-01 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

Copy and paste the snippet below into your HTML.

Note: This cartridge's settings do not allow embedded playback. A [Play at lexaloffle] link will be included instead.

<iframe src="https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/widget.php?pid=s_e_c_r_e_t_editor" allowfullscreen width="621" height="513" style="border:none; overflow:hidden"></iframe>

This is the editor I made to create the S.E.C.R.E.T. maps.

How to Use

ESDF move the camera around. Arrows control the player (the red circle with the blue line to determine facing).
NEW POINT adds a new map point in front of the player.
STOP CONNECTING: When you add a new point, it automatically creates a line between the two. If you push
this before adding a new point, it will not connect.
MOUSE toggles between using the map for adding points (right-click) and using player movement+NEW POINT button.
MINIMAP toggles whether to show the map or not. Useful for looking around in your maps.
ENEMY TOGGLE toggles whether or not adding a new point adds an enemy there. Enemies are represented by empty circles.
SAVE MAP lets you copy the map. Below is an example of the copied map.

m={{x=2,y=-22,z1=0,z2=20},{x=15,y=-15,z1=0,z2=20},{x=20,y=-2,z1=0,z2=20},{x=20,y=10,z1=0,z2=20},{x=19,y=26,z1=0,z2=20},{x=16,y=51,z1=0,z2=20},{x=10,y=59,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-6,y=65,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-22,y=64,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-38,y=56,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-41,y=45,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-41,y=45,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-44,y=36,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-47,y=21,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-47,y=7,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-43,y=-5,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-36,y=-12,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-26,y=-17,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-18,y=-20,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-7,y=-21,z1=0,z2=20},{x=2,y=-22,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-9,y=44,z1=0,z2=20},{x=-33,y=22,z1=0,z2=20},}, l={{1,2},{2,3},{3,4},{4,5},{5,6},{6,7},{7,8},{8,9},{9,10},{10,11},{11,12},{12,13},{13,14},{14,15},{15,16},{16,17},{17,18},{18,19},{19,20},{20,21},{22,22},{23,23},}, enemies={{h=0,s=0,d=0,id=22,spd=0},{h=0,s=0,d=0,id=23,spd=0},}

Note: Don't make your walls too long because I don't currently have clipping and they will be hidden if any part of them goes off the screen.

m has all the map points.
l connects the points.
enemies is a list of enemies.

Enemies

h is health (the gun does 1 damage).
s is sprite (2x2).
d is damage to player.
id is the map point the enemy is (do not change).
spd is speed.

The entire copied text, once edited, can be placed inside the lvl list of the game.

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Le Fou du Roi (The Jester)

by drmams

Cart #fouduroi-0 | 2025-01-01 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

10

This is my first game. Pico-8 is awesome. Sorry for my very poor skills in audio. Looking forward for your feedback!

Enjoy!

Controls

Arrows to control the jester.

Rules

You are the king's jester and he needs your help. All 36 stories of the castle are overrun by evil!

	[8x8]

Light your way by collecting torches

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pico pirate

by JimboTheGod

Cart #hokatigipa-0 | 2024-12-31 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

2

This is just a test to see if I can play it on my raspberry pi. This isn't intended to show off any efficient code or anything like that.

constellation maker

by helado

Cart #conmay-0 | 2024-12-31 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

1

you get your own sky of stars! why not make some pictures in it? i'll name them for you! (i wll not be explaining the glyphs. that's up to you!)

your stars, star names, constellations, and constellation names are not guaranteed to stay the same across revisions. if you're attached to yours, make sure to keep backups of your cdata and the cart itself!

this cart is incomplete. let me know if you run into problems with the presentation, or other bugs! more vfx and sfx are planned, plus music, among other possibilities

a selection of known issues:

• there is no boundary. if you get lost, reset the cart
• you cannot make more than 124 links. if you do, the later ones will get lost

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Platformer Collision Template

by EveMeows

Cart #sepdseku-0 | 2024-12-31 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA

2

Collision Template

This cart is a small template for ground collision!
I struggled with learning collisions for about two years in the past. And I do not want for ANYONE to go through that, EVER!
This is the cart I used to learn. I really hope it will help someone, it sure helped me!

The comments I left in the code try to explain what's happening as best as I could

Quirks

I used table:function() instead of table.function().
What this means is that the function is called with a secret argument, self!

I also used num \ other_num instead of num / other_num.
That is floored division! If either numbers are decimals, they will be floored down.

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