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.
The Shadow King has invaded the castle belonging to the Knights of Valor and they need your help to get it back! Explore the massive castle in this metroidvania and help the fallen knights back to their former glory! Upgrade your moves and weapons along the way as you fight minions, defeat bosses, find secrets, and unravel what has happened.
Put a golf ball in your vagina and kegel it out! Neo Pussy Masters is a golfing game about transfemininity. Only on the PICO-8!
A demake of Super Mario Bros. for PICO-8 featuring 5 levels.
Driftmania is an arcade time trial racing game. Your goal is to get the fastest possible time on each of the 15 challenging tracks
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!
It's your virtual pet Blobby's adventure! Guide him through the virtual world until he reaches the castle in the sky. Defeat the castle boss to win the game. Collect hearts to refill your health.
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!
An explosive homage to the old-time multiplayer classic made with PICO-8! In this game, your goal is to drop bombs on the battlefield to eliminate all other players in time and be the last manbomber standing. The game can be played with up to 4 players battling each other. While in the 2-player mode, both players can use the same keyboard to control their manbomber, a controller for each player is required for all other modes. Any Controller which can be connected to your device will do!
Get back to your nest and finish your nap in this retro-inspired platformer! Pip is a baby pelican that is startled from its sleep during a storm and must find its way back home. Collect the feathers scattered around the island until you have enough strength to flap back to your nest
Cipher-8 is a brain-twisting minimalist arcade puzzler where you push numbers into a grid and manipulate them with randomly drawn special abilities. Blitz mode is all about frantic combo streaks. In puzzle mode you can analyze every move. Both modes scale infinitely in their difficulty.
An action puzzle game with the concept of "recording and replaying movements."
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.
An 8-bit homage to the original Superhot game created by three members of the Superhot Team.
Select numbers that add to ten, to remove them from the board. How high can you score in just 2 minutes?
Hit the slopes, turn by turn! Play cards, clear gates, and don't crash!
2018 7DRL You are an elven hunter on quest to defeat whatever beast has been terrorising the forest, armed with you bow and a couple of arrows you set out.
Yep, just a normal day. Nothing weird is going to happen at all.
A difficult platform game, prove you are a Pumpking!
For my very final prompt, I wanted to leave the students with one lasting idea: that I make games for enjoyment and want to do it as much as I can, even when I’m limited to a day or two’s work and 8192 Pico8 tokens. I hope that came across in this little game.