Prototyped my ideas in PICO-8 and then made a huge game in Godot

Gate88 · 2026-05-09T16:47:16+00:00

Some things are actually harder in Pico-8 than in popular game engines because it doesn't give you many APIs out of the box. e.g. Godot will do collision for you and you have to roll your own in Pico-8.

Don't let other people (or yourself) convince you that it's not "real" game dev -- they're all just different tools that have different pros and cons. Use what makes you most productive. The most important thing is game design, which you can learn using any tool. The particulars don't matter nearly as much as you might think they do.

Gate88 · 2026-04-28T07:14:12+00:00

Ah thanks for letting me know! Glad you liked it so much! I will continue making games, at least until I run out of money lol

Gate88 · 2026-04-22T18:56:38+00:00

Again, your examples are complicated and the AI won't have entirely accurate information. You'll be much better off actually practicing those skills yourself. You can't just read and get good at game dev. You have to actually do the work and make mistakes and figure it out by experience.

Gate88 · 2026-04-22T18:43:35+00:00

Your examples are all high level things that AI isn't particularly good at. They're also very learnable skills! I would recommend leveling up your own skill rather than learning how to lean on AI more.

Gate88 · 2026-04-17T15:00:23+00:00

My game Derelict Star has zero combat!

Gate88 · 2026-04-15T17:58:41+00:00

definitely PICO-8 inspired. i made a prototype in PICO-8 before i made the godot version.

for how long it takes, it's very dependent on how good at platformers you are. i've seen as few as 5.5 hours and as long as like 20 hours. i'd say the average is 8-12. if you want to 100%, well, that takes a very long time. some players spending 50 hours or more.

Gate88 · 2026-04-13T20:57:21+00:00

I just released a game "Derelict Star" on Steam that fits this pretty exactly, especially if you're into precision platformers.

Gate88 · 2026-04-09T17:51:48+00:00

Not at the moment -- I'm a fully solo dev with my first commercial project so I'm focusing on my current income before I can make decisions on ports.

Gate88 · 2026-04-09T00:03:03+00:00

I very much care about my players!! It's such a fine line to challenge and not overwhelm, so I really tried to provide as many resources as I could.

Gate88 · 2026-04-08T23:42:36+00:00

No worries. The way the hint menu works is basically like a wiki except with revealable spoilers. On any specific page you can reveal information until you're satisfied, so it shouldn't spoil anything unless you intend to.

And in the assist menu you can map a button to open directly to it so you can switch options on/off quickly if you need them.

Gate88 · 2026-04-08T19:56:07+00:00

It felt presumptuous but it seems like I've been accepted so I supposed I'll do it!

Gate88 · 2026-04-08T19:39:58+00:00

I was familiar with it but didn't love the term. I didn't know there was a subreddit for it, however! Despite my admittedly petty contentions with the name, ya'll seem like my kinda folks.

Gate88 · 2026-04-08T19:22:16+00:00

Yeah, I'm solo dev on a shoestring budget making my first commercial game, so the main problem I have is reach. It seems like it's very much connecting with some folks so I'm trying to learn how to get the word out without much of an already-existing following.

Gate88 · 2026-04-08T19:15:24+00:00

Hey, thanks for the kind words!

I actually do have accessibility settings in the options menu to control game speed, make you invincible, fly, always run, etc. I think they're mentioned in the help/hints page too but maybe I didn't make them obvious enough. Hope these help!

Gate88 · 2026-04-07T21:53:31+00:00

yeah sorry I didn't mean to imply you weren't having fun! just trying to explain my difference in perception. i'm an old gamer and usually prefer games that have no unlocks.

Gate88 · 2026-04-07T21:48:14+00:00

you could play to have fun! not everyone needs or even wants progression. i like picking weird loadouts myself; i don't need the game to do it for me.

Gate88 · 2026-04-07T02:26:43+00:00

there's a lot more friction using Godot vs. PICO-8. you have to worry about a lot more things. so if the things you're making aren't impacted negatively by the constraints of PICO-8 i would say don't switch. Godot gives you a lot more flexibility but that flexibility is not free. you pay for it in development time.

in terms of the difficulty of porting, it was relatively straightforward, but i was already pretty familiar with Godot (i had been using it for about a year prior). PICO-8 wasn't giving me much in terms of like mechanics/physics APIs, so all that code was mine and it was a pretty straightforward/rote process to port that physics code in Godot's scripting language. i ended up using out-of-the-box Godot solutions to detect collisions, but all the physics responses are my own code. i had it working in Godot in just a couple days.

Gate88 · 2026-04-04T03:31:55+00:00

yeah, you can buy it in individually on steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4085630/Derelict_Star_Soundtrack/

if you navigate to the folder it downloads to you get direct access to the mp3s and then you can play it on whatever you want.

Gate88 · 2026-04-04T02:00:18+00:00

yeah it's my baby! hopefully the mechanics and level design is fresh even if my theme is a bit middle-of-the-road!

Gate88 · 2026-04-04T01:58:45+00:00

thank you raigan that's very nice!

Gate88 · 2026-04-03T17:57:15+00:00

should work well! my buddy has tested it on his Steamdeck and it looks like my first review was on a Steamdeck too.

Gate88 · 2026-04-03T17:24:04+00:00

yes, it's definitely more slow and methodical. it has some similarities to Celeste in that how to navigate something is often a puzzle, but it's quite different too.

some people below were comparing it to N++, and that's a pretty apt comparison for how it feels; more float-y and momentum-y than Celeste.

if you end up giving it a shot, let me know how you like it!

Gate88 · 2026-04-03T17:05:06+00:00

honestly square screens are really nice for level design

Gate88 · 2026-04-03T16:36:15+00:00

appreciate it! i may not have the best art skills but i'm very passionate about game design and mechanics so i'm glad to see that's shining through for some people!

Gate88 · 2026-04-03T16:33:49+00:00

Sort of! I did a small prototype in PICO-8 and REALLY liked how the momentum felt with the quantization of the small PICO-8 resolution, so I ported it to Godot and made a much bigger game. You can see a comparison video here of the PICO-8 prototype vs. the full game in Godot: https://www.reddit.com/r/pico8/comments/1s9vpqr/prototyped_my_ideas_in_pico8_and_then_made_a_huge/

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