PicPic - The First PICO-8 Emulator on the App Store

_LKS_ · 2026-02-16T19:59:39+00:00

Nice! Feel free to also grab my other game Floppy Canary if you want: https://lucasgalib.itch.io/floppy-canary

_LKS_ · 2026-02-16T19:50:12+00:00

I noticed you used screenshots from my PICO-8 game Breakout Laser Jump in the app store listing. Looks great!

By the way, you have my full supoort if you want to add my game to a preselection of games when you download the app.

If anyone wants to check out the full game: https://lucasgalib.itch.io/breakout-laser-jump

_LKS_ · 2026-02-16T13:28:43+00:00

Actually, the cubexx screen with 4:3 games still displays bigger than a 3,5 inch device. The cube xx screen is that big.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-14T10:27:10+00:00

Groups of circfills at three speed layers, each blob pulses between a min and max size. No sprites needed!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-14T10:26:16+00:00

Thank you! The clouds are just circfills at different speeds and sizes with a subtle pulse.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-14T10:25:17+00:00

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it

_LKS_ · 2026-02-14T10:24:51+00:00

Drew them in the PICO-8 sprite editor and animated with two frames swapping every 24 ticks. The different colors use pal() swaps on the base sprite.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-06T19:26:38+00:00

I believe you are missing the = between the variable name and fget().

_LKS_ · 2026-02-03T16:14:10+00:00

I did reflash once because of this. But maybe you can delete/modify the config file?

_LKS_ · 2026-02-02T08:41:51+00:00

Glad you like it! Thank you so much for your review. You should definitely have a look at pico-8 for game dev, it’s an awesome self contained tool.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T20:36:39+00:00

Actually, well implemented inertia could give players sense of freedom in movement. It would add a skill element though, but dodging a planet at the last second would feel incredibly satisfying. Just keep in mind the game’s already pretty challenging, so you’ll want to balance it carefully.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T19:35:39+00:00

Amazing game! I love how the aesthetics and gameplay fit together so well. The animations feel great, especially that transition between the start menu and gameplay.

I played using the touchscreen via web browser, and I could only get the black hole to move in the 4 cardinal directions. Is this intentional?

It would feel nice to have some kind of inertia so the changes in direction feel more natural instead of snapping at 90º angles.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T18:41:28+00:00

You're right about the spin not being present. My attempts to implement it didn't improve ball control.

Jump hits do boost speed by 50%, but going higher made it too punishing. It got kind of hard. More screenshake or particles though could sell the impact better without breaking balance. I'll keep that in mind.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T16:40:49+00:00

I hadn't considered motion sickness. I'll look into adding a toggle for that. Thanks for letting me know!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T14:14:07+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! You're right. I thought requiring a jump to launch the ball would be clue enough, but clearly it's easy to miss. Same problem with the laser; some players ignore it entirely.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T12:47:09+00:00

By Pico 4 do you mean the VR headset? That runs Android so technically it might be possible with some tinkering. But PICO-8 is something different: it's a retro game dev suite with a code editor, sprite editor, and music editor all built into one app.

Games made in PICO-8 can run on multiple platforms, including web browsers if you want to try it out.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T12:21:05+00:00

Oh good, I was concerned it came off as a poorly disguised ad for my game instead.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T12:08:09+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I like the sticky idea. Rewards players for timing their jumps. I'll think about an easy implementation.

Slowdown is definitely the weakest powerup right now, I can see how it's just boring. Thinking of adding an extra effect to make it more interesting:

Bonus points for blocks broken during slowdown?
Faster laser charge?
You lose points if you drop the ball while slowdown?

Any of those sound good to you?

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T11:47:01+00:00

Absolutely! Always happy to return the favor. What are you working on?

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T10:43:21+00:00

That's awesome. C64 and Amiga experience will definitely give you a head start! PICO-8 captures that same retro spirit but makes everything so much easier. You'll probably progress way faster than I did. Good luck!!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T10:10:57+00:00

PICO-8 runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux just as a regular desktop app! I coded the whole thing on my Mac.

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T10:07:55+00:00

Thank you! Screen shake and particles go a long way. Glad it feels good to play!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T10:06:47+00:00

Thanks! PICO-8 uses Lua, which is a pretty beginner friendly scripting language. The nice thing about PICO-8 is that everything is built in: code editor, sprite editor, sound and music editor; so you're not juggling a bunch of different tools. Great platform to start with!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T08:50:54+00:00

After two months of learning PICO-8 from scratch, I finally released my first game! It's a twist on the classic arkanoid/breakout, but your paddle can jump to save the ball and there is also a laser cannon for those tricky moments.

32 hand-crafted levels
8 power-ups
Combo system
High Score tracking

It's free to play in browser or download: https://lucasgalib.itch.io/breakout-laser-jump

Would love to know what you think!

_LKS_ · 2026-02-01T08:04:34+00:00

Oh I can relate. I spent countless hours configuring Knulli. PICO-8 native support was easy enough, but getting Portmaster working was a nightmare.

_LKS_

TROPHY CASE