Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Website: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php Price: Varies Blurb: “PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing, and playing tiny games and other computer programs. It feels like a regular console, but runs on Windows/Mac/Linux. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a command line, a suite of cartridge creation tools, and an online cartridge browser called SPLORE.“
Why are we reviewing this only now? Well, we got this only now, thanks to Ronnie Tucker for the review copy.
I’m going to start this off by saying it is ugly. Lawd, it is, but it is the most fun you can have with your computer, making it do silly stuff, or with your clothes on.
You literally start with bupkis, even the “manual” is a little text file. This really reminds one of an 8-bit computer startup screen. I want to start typing; LOAD ””
Anyway, moving right along, this little toy is a diamond in the rough. Though the screen resolution is only roughly that of the Atari 2600 console from the late ‘70s, I would have loved for it to be at least double what it is, as I have never been one for fat graphics (you will understand when you see a M and a N or a U and a W). Seriously, if the resolution was better, imagine putting this on a hand-held FPGA or Raspberry Pi Zero with one of those Waveshare LCDs, and you can load up your own games as well as those of your friends? Poof! Mind blown.
So what do you need to get started? They recommend Lua, as the syntax is Lua-like. No, don’t stop reading, you don’t NEED it, it is only recommended. You see, the little fantasy console has more than one face. You can make games, you can make pixel art, and you can make music, tracker style, and then share it with a friend.
Graphics
Let’s cover my grumble first: you press escape to get to the editor and the graphics editor is the little “mask” that looks like General Grievous from Star Wars. Now it is simply a matter of painting with dots. You have a limited color palette, but don’t let that stop you. Your characters can be any size, as long as they are multiples of 8 (you do not have to do any maths either, though to this day I can tell what the value of a line in graph paper is just by looking at it, so it’s not all bad). You have 8×8 pixel blocks that you can slap together to make bigger sprites or drawings. Note: it is quick, I made a simple penguin in 20 seconds. If I repeat that to the other side, I can have a simple waddle animation in less than a minute! That contributes to the charm of this title, the raw speed that you can get going. The limitation is the 128×128 display.
You can make graphics and sound without typing a single line of code. Easy to pick up, quick to learn, what is not to like?
Sound
Let me tell you about the music side. It is split into two parts, the sound editor and the pattern editor. In the sound editor you “draw” your sound and hit the spacebar to hear what it sounds like. Instead of me telling you how it works, the fun is in the finding out. One quickly learns what is high or low pitched, playing with the speed button, but also in the way you draw your sound sample. There are also triangle waves, square waves, saws, and noise for your pleasure. I am not ashamed to say I spent a whole morning in bed playing with JUST the sound module. Just when you think you have it figured out, there is something else that catches your fancy.
Once you have made your sounds or instruments, you can go and “paint” them in the song editor. You will be surprised at how untalented you are. Oh wait, that’s only me. I have the musical capabilities of a snail. However, the joy here is the farting around. OK, apparently I am 8 as I made some fart sounds and amused myself with those (also I managed to use ‘fart’ in an article without trying to be vulgar; bonus points?). Meow….
Programming
Now for the coding side. You are covered with all the basics like variables, loops and functions, but you are limited to 256 characters. Again, this is where the ugly part pokes its head in, as you can code in only capital letters and letters lookalike. Look at the word “VOLUME” in the preceding screen shot. This really stresses out my peepers. The idea here is that by limiting the sounds, the sprites and the code, you start getting innovative to do more than the toy was designed for. And indeed, we see this in retro gaming and demo scenes all the time, where guys will unroll a loop to gain more speed, or make sprites that can be used over and over with just a simple colour change (the bushes and the clouds in Mario, for instance). The bonus here is that you can grab a completed game and roll your peepers over the code. This is by far the best way of gaining an understanding if you are a non-programmer.
This brings me to the “SPLORE” command. This is a software store where you can grab a game or music or demo made by someone else. The whole game is in that one image file. I don’t know why, but this makes me smile. You can also simply copy your little picture to that old 16/128MB SD card or thumb drive you have no use for, and fit quite a few games on there. Anyone can publish their game and have others play your game or music or demo. Yes, there is already an active demo scene for the Pico-8. I think I learned more about programming this week, than my whole life so far. I will DEFINITELY be spending more time with this. I encourage anyone to get this and learn something new. Yes, I know it’s ugly, but if you make only one purchase this year, software-wise, I recommend this. Call it an educational toy for the kids and claim it yourself, the top tier in adulthood.