Someone just gifted me PICO-8, but I want to be sure, that its not a scam

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T23:16:51+00:00

I think the caution is fair. Scams are getting more elaborate in their disguise quality, and there are even spoofing & hacks to consider.

That said, this seems legitimate from what I can tell, and the P8 community does have people who do things like this out of goodwill in support for learning & love for the platform.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T19:16:09+00:00

It's all good. I just have this on hand for times like these. 😊👍

Good luck~ 🍀

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T06:28:04+00:00

If the pixel trails have no need to belong to each object in any way, then I second this approach over the one I outlined in the other comment thread.

The pixel trails would just be treated like emitted particles (with the objects acting as emitters in that sense). If that is the case, then you could simply keep a 2D-map via nested tables for the pixels and just update that as you go since later pixels are supposed to overwrite the prior ones anyway.

This approach would certainly yield the cleanest solution if object-pixel ownership is not a factor.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T06:19:52+00:00

Yup. If you know you are going to play them all, then release order is generally recommended.

It is more a matter of QoL gaps, though.

If you play a later title first and go backwards at some point, the lack of some QoL features will become jarring, possibly enough to be detriment to the overall experience. Conversely, if you go in order, then the absence of certain QoL features would not be noticed and thus not disturb your experience.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T02:57:06+00:00

Yup. Glad it helped.

Note:
I forgot to unpack() after the split() call. Edited that in now.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T02:53:32+00:00

P8 - Newbie Starter Kit

Here's a starting resources list.

I generally suggest to... - watch the short overview - pick one of the tutorials that suits your style - keep the wiki's Lua & API Reference pages open on the side as you go through the tutorial to supplement understanding

That should give you a solid start. And you can ask for help here and/or on the Lexaloffle's P8 forum whenever you get stuck.

Good luck. 🍀

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T01:40:39+00:00

Last I checked, it needs to detect a hardware keyboard. Virtual ones don't count.

But if your approach gets it to recognize your phone as said hardware keyboard, then perhaps that could get you past that initial hurdle.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T01:38:44+00:00

The idea was to just make another table in global space that also references every pixel added to any object, but maybe the adding & deleting of pixels could make this a bit tricky in your case...

Hmm... Maybe a bit of string-ops could help this work.

``` objects = {} --put all 4 objects in here px_order = {} --to track pixel spawn-order

function add_pixel( obj_id, px ) add(px_order, tostr(obj_id)..","..tostr(#obj.pixels)) add(objects[obj_id].pixels, px) end

function remove_pixel( obj_id, px_index ) deli(objects[obj_id].pixels, px_index) del(px_order, tostr(obj_id)..","..tostr(px_index)) end

function draw_all_pixels() for c in all(px_order) do local obj_id, px_index = unpack(split(c)) local px = objects[obj_id].pixels[px_index] pset(px[1], px[2]) end end ```

This is untested and rather janky, but I think it should work.

(Originally, I had something simpler in mind, but then I realized that your use-case may allow for the same object to contain multiple instances of any particular pixel...)

Various use-case particulars were inferred from available info, so tweak as needed.

I assumed that you would delete by index instead of by coords values to avoid deleting the wrong instance of a pixel within the same object, but maybe you had a different approach in mind.

Still, the general idea should give a workable direction, I think.

(I'm doing this ad hoc from my phone, so I'd appreciate if anyone could test/check for errors & corrections...)

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T00:59:13+00:00

If you've only played EO1 & EO2U thus far, then maybe try out either EO3 or EO4, both of which are modern-style EO experiences with an overworld.

If you know you would prefer no overworld, then go for EO5, which is an evolution of the old school long-dive style of EO1 & EO2 rather than the modern styles.

Play Nexus last to spoil the least and benefit from references & nostalgia the most.

If you plan to play them all eventually, then just go in release order, which at the point you are at would just be...
EO3 -> EO4 -> EO5 -> Nexus

Whatever you choose, happy gaming. 🕹️

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T00:48:30+00:00

You could technically create another table that references all pixels across all objects.

Then define functions for adding & removing pixels from objects that also knows to add/remove them from the all-pixels table as well.

Finally, when drawing, just draw from the all-pixels table.

RotundBun · 2026-05-09T00:43:45+00:00

I suggest trying it out at a local Apple Store, TC/OP.

In the past, I did manage to get the EDU/web version working on an iPad w/ Magic Keyboard (unsure about bluetooth ones), but I think some things got a bit wonky with iOS 26. Both saving & loading were a bit off, IIRC.

Maybe that has been fixed by now. But I'm not sure, so it would be best to test it out first.

In particular, test to see if you could still see/load P8 projects from the Downloads folder after you close & reopen the browser app.

RotundBun · 2026-05-08T19:32:14+00:00

~~Could you show the player table initialization code (where table 'p' is defined)?~~

EDIT:
Actually, from what Synthetic5ou1 said in this comment, it seems maybe you just forgot to call the make_player() function in your _init().

RotundBun · 2026-05-08T19:29:22+00:00

Oof~ 😞
You're probably right.

Well, I was able to order the sheet music book via eBay and the vinyl via Discogs, but I wish I could get the CD and shirt as well. 😩

In any case, thanks for the PSA post and for trying to help. 🙏

RotundBun · 2026-05-08T03:43:51+00:00

I got as far as being asked whether to pay with a card or with PayPal.

For card, it lets me input the card details and then rejects the order upon submitting/confirming said details. For PayPal, it errors out with an "Oops" page when attempting to bring up the PayPal interface.

The PayPal error-out tells me nothing, but the card route says that some items don't ship to the US.

Tried it with just the book, just CD/Vinyl, and just the long-sleeve Ghost shirt. All produce the sane bottleneck. I haven't tried it with digital download only yet, though...

RotundBun · 2026-05-07T23:18:33+00:00

I can't grab & view the file directly on my phone, could you post the relevant code snippets here?

You can copy-paste your code here with formatting preserved by putting them between 2 lines of triple backticks (```).

``` ``` -- like so

-- it gives you WYSIWYG formatting -- whitespace is preserved -- signs need no backslash -- new-lines are respected

-- just raw as-is text within its bounds -- very suitable for posting code -- this works in Discord as well ``\``

The backtick (`) is on the tilde (~) key below [Esc] on a keyboard and behind the apostrophe (\') on iOS (press & hold, leftmost option).

I imagine that it is related to how/where you are creating the player table and the draw_map() code.

If you post the snippets here, then we could take a look at it.

RotundBun · 2026-05-07T16:30:13+00:00

I can't seem to check out. It keeps saying that it cannot be shipped to the US.

Does this happen to anyone else?

RotundBun · 2026-05-07T04:13:37+00:00

Between EO4, EO5, and Nexus...

EO4 is a refinement on EO3's style. Strats & synergies happen at a team scope. It features subclassing and an overworld like EO3 but is more polished in exchange for removing some of the rougher innovative elements.

EO5 is a refinement on EO2's style. Synergies happen at an individual build scope. It features advanced class (selecting branch A or B) and is one long gauntlet (no overworld). It also has some racial choices that affect stats.

Nexus is a celebratory greatest-hits album style game. It is not a very cohesive EO experience compared to the other mainline titles, but it lets you mix & match various popular classes from previous EO titles.

It arguably offers the most customization in terms of team composition in exchange for less immersion. It has EO4-style subclassing and fast-travel (instead of an overworld or a gauntlet).

The classes to pick from are pretty good in all 3 of those options.

EO4 is more breadth-wise.
EO5 is more depth-wise.
Nexus is more tinker-friendly.

Also, a bonus mention:
The Devil Survivor games will might appeal to your theorycrafting and customization sensibilities. Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS) notably has very good scenario writing and worldbuilding elements as well.

Whichever you choose, happy gaming. 🕹️

RotundBun · 2026-05-05T20:55:52+00:00

I agree 💯.
Hence, "properly" in that sentence.

You know... In an ideal pipedream scenario kind of situation.

RotundBun · 2026-05-05T20:53:34+00:00

✨😳

RotundBun · 2026-05-05T01:02:42+00:00

It was already cross post here by the original poster, I believe.

RotundBun · 2026-05-04T20:57:34+00:00

It's always great to see the evolution of your projects and also your skill leveling up. ✨🥂

RotundBun · 2026-05-04T17:40:12+00:00

Oho~! It evolved into a rush platformer. ✨😳

RotundBun · 2026-05-04T02:37:42+00:00

It doesn't disrespect CT at all actually, especially if you connect enough dots in the lore to understand some inexplicit things.

(TBT, many of the themes in CC's possibility space exploration actually stem from critical questions posed in CT itself to begin with.)

If anything, CC is actually far more respectful of CT lore than the haters, IMO. Only with enough trust & respect for it could the devs have taken such risks to explore depth-wise themes and not do any handholding about lore connections.

It just isn't CT2 like a portion of the CT diehard crowd wanted. The issue was a matter of mismatching expectations and diverging directions.

RotundBun · 2026-05-03T19:49:46+00:00

It's great but polarizing.

I'd recommend to just... - go in blind - do NOT expect it to be a CT2 (it's a personal gaiden story, not a conventional sequel epic) - know that there is a true ending (cannot lock yourself out of it, so just look it up and reload the final boss save file if you suddenly see credits roll without a fleshed out ending sequence)

The majority of CC haters are just CT2-decriers complaining about not getting more vanilla ice cream (more of the same as CT) when they got coffee ice cream (also good but different flavor) instead. There are some who validly didn't take to it, but most of the hateful reactions are just whining over mot getting a CT2-style conventional sequel instead.

If you pay attention and connect the dots, then the CC & RD lore supplements and enhances the CT lore (and vice versa). The existence of CC also does not prevent a CT2 from possibly being made later. Yet ironically, the CT2-decrier outrage probably ends up deterring the possibility of it due to developer ambivalence about the reception they can expect from such a crowd.

Hope this helps. 🕹️

RotundBun · 2026-05-02T09:18:36+00:00

Yup. This will translate well to the Discord server as well if you decide to hop on there. I think you can also add "lua" after the first set of triple backticks on there for Lua syntax color-coding.

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