Popular games built on game engine PICO-8
A hardcore platform game for the PICO-8 fantasy console.
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.
A tiny challenging arcade shoot’em up where you shoot down quirky aliens to save your planet. Evade bullets, shoot enemies, get upgrades, survive through challenging waves to defeat the final boss, "The Monke".
PicoCross is a nonogram puzzle game for the Pico-8 Fantasy Console.
Pico Snail is a Pico-8 game inspired by the musician Snail's House You play as Snail-Chan, and are tasked with defending the Dream castle! You can run, jump, thwack enemies, and use stars you collect for special powers!
This is 2018’s assignment, a diabolical puzzle. You’re a monk who has forgotten where his cell is in the monastery, and who must walk the labyrinth in order to remember it. If you can find his room, you’ll find out what the assignment prompt is. I was a bit worried the students would be unable to find the prompt hidden in this one, but about half of them got there eventually. (The rest were expelled from the university.) 2018’s class was 100% Pico-8 so it seemed appropriate that the prompt game should be in Pico-8 too. Pico-8 is so great for prototyping — as a case in point, it builds to a single JS and HTML file which loads quite happily in the browser from a local file, so you don’t get annoying permissions or crossdomain problems.
In Astropocalypse you take control of a hotshot meteor bent on destroying the galaxy. Use your directional pad to steer your meteor buddy and ram it into nearby planets in the current solar system. Once all planets are destroyed, it's time to go for the finishing blow... destroy the sun!
The evil Chiro Empire has captured all of the other Dragon Eggs! It's your job to save them!
Can you bring the wolf, the goat, the cabbage, the hunter, the gun, the monkey and the washing machine on the other side!?
A rhythm-based game in the style of Dance Dance Revolution for PICO-8.
try to get some rest, don't miss your stop
Cute retro racer. Go loop and loop in this relaxing animal racing game!
Solve puzzles in dimly lit corridors and uncover the story of an ancient king gone mad.
A Touhou fangame made with the PICO-8 fantasy console.
Build a vast interstellar empire in 30 minutes flat.
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).
A 5-10 minute long visual novel made in PICO-8 about growing up and moving on.
A magical puzzle platformer made with PICO-8. Be thinky to get the legendary treasure.
A noisy, pixellated vampire platformer set in the Nevada desert. When Ysabel, a vampire living in Reno, finds her brother dead with a strange crucifix-like structure attached to him, she finds herself compelled to take revenge on the humans that murdered him.
A clone of PakuPaku — built using PICO-8, with no external sprites or assets. It’s basically a one-button game: Press any arrow key to flip your direction. Eat pellets. Dodge the ghost — unless you're powered up. Fast, focused, and minimal. Just pixels, logic, and a bit of chaos. Made as a small learning project.
A Pizza Tower Demake for PICO-8.
A difficult platform game, prove you are a Pumpking!
Picopicotron is a toy desktop environment built with PICO-8. Use the mouse to control it like a standard computer from the nineties. Includes a Pyramid card game and a version of minesweeper.