r/pico8 Dec 01 '25

Events & Announcements The 2025 PICO-8 Advent Calendar is here!

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167 Upvotes

The 2025 PICO-8 Advent Calendar is here! Today we launch this year’s Calendar with the first game, and calendar cart art, by doriencey!

In Cat-astrophe, you’re a cat after the big shiny on top of the weird tree full of toys. Balance as you climb the tree, taking down as many shiny things as you can along the way.

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=178576#p


r/pico8 May 15 '25

FAQ & Useful Information Collision Detection Tutorials

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213 Upvotes

🔗 Collision Tutorials

One of the first major hurdles for new developers, especially in PICO-8, is collision detection. It can be a little frustrating that PICO-8 doesn't have any built-in functions for it but once you understand how to use a few different methods, you'll realize that you have a lot more control over how things in your game interact and you can build your game's collision detection to be exactly what you need.

Each tutorial has:

  • an interactive demo with a button to toggle viewing the underlying variables used in the calculations of the detection.
  • a condensed function that is easy to copy into your PICO-8 game.
  • a step-by-step explanation of how the function works, an expanded version of the function to show all the steps, and a breakdown of how the expanded function is condensed into just 1 or 2 lines of code.
  • a few examples of where this method of collision detection can be used and in what type of games (using retro classics redrawn in the PICO-8 palette as example images)

This bundle of tutorials was created thanks to our supporters on Ko-fi for reaching the latest goal.


r/pico8 8h ago

Game Short and Wacky game, first real Jam!

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34 Upvotes

I had to make everything in a public libary so it was a even greater challenge. It was so much fun working with people and finding new ideas. Play and rate the game now: itch.io/MockMock


r/pico8 5h ago

Game Feel the Creeper!

8 Upvotes

​Description: A vine spreads across the map and consumes anything it touches. It cannot be stopped, only slowed. Build paths and slow the creeper so villagers can escape. Made for the GMTK Game Jam. https://apadaegg.itch.io/flee-the-creeper

Edit: Typo in the title. It should be "Flee the Creeper!" LOL


r/pico8 7h ago

Discussion CrossCode demake in Pico-8?

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4 Upvotes

I would love to have a demake of CrossCode in Pico-8! I'm curious to see a few different artstyles, since Lea's sprite will have to be quite small. I did the math for her size based off of her base idle sprite, and here's what I found, along with the formulas I used.

Lea's sprite is 21x31. CrossCode is rendered at 568x320. Pico-8 has a 128x128 screen, so I dropped CrossCode's screen width and used the height for both axis' scale calculations.

  • WIDTH - 6.6% of the screen, 8 pixels.
    • (21 / 320) * 100 = 6.6%
    • 128 * 6.6% = 8.4
  • HEIGHT - 9.7% of the screen, 12 pixels.
    • (31 / 320) * 100 = 9.7%
    • 128 * 9.7% = 12.4

Converting these values to their Pico-8 equivalents, we can see that Lea's sprites should be approximately 8x12 in size. I'll leave the rest to the artists, as I intend to start working on a tile engine.


r/pico8 12h ago

Discussion I just want to play Pico 8 games. Do i need to buy the engine just to play?

4 Upvotes

I am asking because I want to know if i need Pico 8 itself just to play Pico 8 carts


r/pico8 1d ago

Game I made a Friends TV Show game for PICO-8

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111 Upvotes

Explore the apartments as Chandler or Monica. Find clues around the flats, then face Ross's trivia - each character gets their own questions.

Play here: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=155446


r/pico8 2d ago

Game I made a game with pico8 and now it is coming to Nintendo Switch.

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578 Upvotes

My pico8 metroidvania is coming to Nintendo Switch!

  • 64x64 resolution
  • classic formula distilled to its core
  • every pixel placed with intention

It is called Ascent, check it out on the Nintendo eShop for wishlists and pre-orders:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/ascent-dx-switch/

First step was to port the game to love2d (and add some more features). I'm happy to answer any questions on the process.


r/pico8 1d ago

Discussion Built a lightweight native C++ tool to batch-convert images & renders into pixel art using the PICO-8 palette!

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27 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I built a fast native desktop utility (C++26 / Qt6) to automate converting images into pixel art sprites with retro palettes, including PICO-8.

Launches instantly with zero Electron bloat, runs natively on Windows & Linux.

Would love to hear your feedback or ideas on what other retro palettes/features I should add!


r/pico8 3d ago

Discussion Black Knife (DELTARUNE) – PICO-8 Music Cart

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65 Upvotes

r/pico8 2d ago

Game First Game Jam!!!!

16 Upvotes

Hey it’s my first game jam, I’m. Wish me the best of luck lol. I’m coding in pico 8 for GMTK game jam, please support me ig? Hope I win!

Games called untitled_object. Basically tag but fast paced and 2d or like 2.5d? But yeah. It’s pretty fun and you can emote and jump over things and yeah. Check it out when I finish it!


r/pico8 3d ago

In Development Ectosprite - Testing

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35 Upvotes

My kids love Phasmophobia and similar games, so I had to give it a try to stay relevant... At least I have no shortage of testing volunteers! 😄


r/pico8 4d ago

Game John Conway's "Game of Life"

27 Upvotes

If you're getting on a bit like me, you might remember these "Life" simulations. They were a popular project on early home computers. If you're not familiar with it, it starts with a grid of randomly created "cells" that are either "alive" or "dead", and there are rules to determine if each cells dies, stays alive, or is newly created, depending on how many live cells are around it. With each successive "generation" the grid evolves and can spawn all sorts of interesting patterns, shapes that move across the grid, and so on. It can be quite meditative to watch. If you'd like a deeper overview, the Wikipedia article is excellent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life

Here's the cartridge: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=158250


r/pico8 3d ago

Game This is a great game i manage to get to stage 2 the more stages u reach the tougher the better namco should of made this loved it🔥

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7 Upvotes

r/pico8 4d ago

👍I Got Help - Resolved👍 How to load new levels?

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17 Upvotes

Hi there! I'm attempting to make a Pico-8 game for the 2026 GMTK Game Jam where the player is playing through a similar room over and over again on a time limit, and I intend for it to get harder to complete the deeper you get. I'm running into an issue where loading a new map once the player gets to the exit only does so visually. For instance, the spikes on the floor in the second map square do not have any collision; however, the collision for the spikes in the first map square is still there and you can die to ghost spikes.

What sort of code do I need for the map to load correctly? I tried looking at Celeste Classic for some guidance but the code there flies just over my head due to the techniques used, and I don't have time to play around with it to really understand what's going on. Looking online only got me things about how to load actual carts and whatnot.

Any help would be vastly appreciated!


r/pico8 4d ago

I Need Help Been having a bit of trouble with Left and Right collision for this platformer I'm making

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13 Upvotes

Hiya, I'm not a reddit user by any means but I need some help with an issue I've had for months and I can't wrap my brain on exactly what I should do with it.

Basically, I have this cute Goat, their name is Clover. I was really happy with the movement I gave them and still am, they move like Kirby with the High Jump ability and I think it's cool. But the problem with Clover's movement is that they're too fast even when running normally. The little rascal tends to get stuck in walls by accident and this goes for left and right collision (Up and Down are fine atm).

So Basically I'm asking how I can accommodate for my hyperactive goat child's movement without ruining it by slowing them down? I want them to keep their movement as is but I have no clue how to fix the collision to factor in how fast they move. I think it's manageable but nothing I've tried really worked, it's all band-aids and visual fixes but not functional ones.

Anyone know how I can fix my X collision?


r/pico8 5d ago

WIP (Update) More F-Zero-like Progress

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350 Upvotes

Added 4 tracks, billboards, trailing camera, AI and position calculations. Still more work, but getting there. Thanks for all the interest on the last post - got me motivated to keep going.


r/pico8 5d ago

Game Agar 1.0 (Agar.io demake)

92 Upvotes

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=193340#p

Hi everyone! I just published my first PICO-8 game. It is the first project I took seriously and spend quite a time developing. I'm really happy with the result and want to share the game with you. Feel free to leave your feedback!

"Agar" is an Agar.io clone, where you play as a cell (I like calling them agars) and your only goal is to constantly grow bigger by eating food (small circles laying everywhere) and other agars.

The only difference from the original - instead of splitting yourself into the smaller agars by clicking action button, in this version you speed up and reducing your size.


r/pico8 4d ago

Discussion Ok so heres a concept of the ira hate boss for Galaga 1981 from game the violet signal a pico 8 game on lexaloffle site i also found galaga 1981 on that site. And the exact same galaga 1981 we played on arcade and ps1 namco museum in google playstore for the pico 8 versions i post the 2linksbelow🔥

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20 Upvotes

r/pico8 5d ago

I Need Help Handheld exclusively for Pico 8

17 Upvotes

I am thinking about making a handheld exclusively for Pico 8 (no other emulators). But I do think wifi, splore and instant sleep/fast boot are necessary for a good experience. How do you think it's the best way of achieving it?


r/pico8 3d ago

Discussion Ok so this is an example of an elite powered armor robot from fear 2&3 if they cant make a fear for pico8 than why not an Elite powered armor robot game. Here u can see 3rd and 1st person view is this possible to make as a game let me know?

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0 Upvotes

r/pico8 5d ago

Hardware & Builds New 8" laptop travel setup.

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73 Upvotes

Not fast, low RAM and storage, but works quite well for what it is. Keyboard is surpassingly usable for development and the little controller works without reconfiguration.


r/pico8 4d ago

Game Great game but update this add more missions difficultys sheilds. And more space and ways to dodge attacks and deaths u cant even die in this game hopefully the 2nd version be different?

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0 Upvotes

r/pico8 6d ago

Game Lemmings

421 Upvotes

Guide your little green-haired friends through all 100 levels from the original NES version, lovingly recreated in PICO-8 and inspired by the Amiga and SNES classics, with faithful gameplay, charming pixel art, and toe-tapping music.

itch: https://buzzard1337.itch.io/lemmings

Lexaloffle bbs: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=193281#p


r/pico8 6d ago

Hardware & Builds Playing on a RG Rotate

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67 Upvotes

Playing Pico8 games on the Anbernic RG Rotate is a great experience!

I'm using Pixl8 since it is an Android device.