Popular games built on game engine PICO-8
A hardcore platform game for the PICO-8 fantasy console.
Tutankham is a combination of the maze, action and shoot 'em up genres. Taking on the role of an explorer grave robbing Tutankhamun's tomb, the player is chased by creatures such as asps, vultures, parrots, bats, dragons, and even curses, all that kill the player on contact. The explorer can fight back by firing lasers at the creatures, but he can only cover the left and right directions. The player is also endowed with a single screen-clearing "flash bomb" per level or life. Finally, each level has warp zones that teleport the player around the level, which enemies cannot use. To progress, the player collects keys open locked doors throughout the levels, searching for the large exit door. Optional treasures can be picked-up for bonus points. Each level has a timer; when it reaches zero the explorer can no longer fire lasers, and once a level is cleared the remaining time is converted to bonus points.
Everyone's favorite Watermelon Game for PICO-8. Drop fruits and merge fruits that are alike.
For 2019 I ran two prototyping classes – one in Pico-8 for the undergraduates and a graduate version with no platform constraint (which generally means they work in Unity). So this year I hid the same prompt in two different interpretations of the same idea. I tuned the Pico-8 game for the youthful reflexes of the undergraduate class, but I did not count on the fact that none of them would have ever played a bullet-hell game, and as a result, only one of them was able to reach the end and find out what the assignment was. I instructed that person that they could keep it a secret if they wanted to.
Parodic Point n' click Die n' retry adventure
A simple, cute retro version of classic Chess made in Pico-8. Full implementation of the Chess rules with a juicy interface and some basic AI to play against.
A PICO-8 demake of Street Fighter II.
In 2021, the last time I taught the class, I didn’t want to hide the homework in the games. Instead I used the games as ways of presenting ideas. I made several, but I like this one, a reinterpretation of the fortune-telling minigame from Ultima IV.
Sebi 16 packs sixteen curated singleplayer games into one charming collection: metroidvanias, puzzle games, platformers, a roguelike, and even a deck builder. Built with love in PICO-8!
An action puzzle game with the concept of "recording and replaying movements."
Move a worm to carve the object across 17 thrilling levels!!
This is a short but sweet game about trekking through the woods to make a special delivery.
A demake of Super Mario Bros. for PICO-8 featuring 5 levels.
Scale ancient castle walls and dash over deadly pits. Every leap, wall jump, and dash costs you precious health. Navigate 16 challenging levels, find the key, and reach the exit before your health runs out.
Nobody knows why - it's just always been this way. Our chance of survival is to absorb all the Green Orbs floating around, while avoiding certain death by touching the Lava - all before the time runs out!
Infinimoes is a space filling puzzle game (like tangrams) involving a variety of polyominoes and sometimes an infinitely repeating space.
Can you survive long enough to face the Lich King?
Grab all 30 time pieces in this short platformer, based on the game A Hat in Time!
Boomby explodes (aka: jumps) every 2 seconds. Keep track of the timebar at the bottom of the screen, time your moves right. There are multiple routes to the pool, keep exploring if you get stuck or frustrated at a section of the map. Trampolines are a tricky, patience pays off. Try not to rush out of the first explosion after touching one. After the first explosion, the bounce rhythm balances out. There are 3 bomb "keys" (red, green, blue). These allow you to destroy colored bricks. Yellow Coins: $1, Platinum Coins: $5, Green Coins: $20 The only purpose of crouching is to move the camera down (and to look cute, actually).
Hakai is a momentum based aerial fighting game that takes cues from Dragonball Z. Win three rounds to beat your opponent. If the timer runs out, whoever has the lower amount of health wins, and if the players' health are equal it's a draw.
The door is locked. You'll have to explore a dangerous dungeon full of traps and monsters and find 6 lost gems to open the door and Get Out!
make shaved ice for animals at the festival! (there's no ending! you just make shaved ice forever.)
This is a bubble-bobblish platformer game for 1 or 2 player. Mist and Grim must travel through the 22 levels and defeat the overlord.
They say it started in a lab, but no one knows for sure. It doesn't matter anyway, you just need to survive another 10 minutes!