from Hacker News

Pico-1K Jam: Make Something Cool in Pico-8 in 1024 Characters

by polm23 on 8/16/21, 2:50 PM with 20 comments

• by oneearedrabbit on 8/16/21, 5:03 PM

  Pico-8 is love. I recently started working on a tiny game, and I appreciate the limitations of the platform. No more scope creep, i.e. if it is getting bigger than what Pico-8 can support, perhaps I am not thinking straight and focusing on the wrong part. It is like having a free mentor and a dearest friend who is reminding me to finish the core mechanics first, and then if I have time, energy, and other resources, make a reasonable decision on what is the next thing to add. Although it is a double-edged sword, but my heartfelt experience is that embracing and accepting limitations is what constitutes progress.

  I haven’t done jams in a long time, but kudos to everyone who will try to push boundaries.

• by lostgame on 8/17/21, 2:49 AM

  Only now realized Pico-8 isn’t open source, or even free?

  I was sincerely considering picking it up, but it actually surprised the shit out of me to find that it had a license cost.

  I’d rather just dev for a SEGA genesis or equivalent and have the benefit of running it on real hardware. There’s certainly a fantastic, enormous and open-source-focused world and community behind that.

• by Torwald on 8/16/21, 4:57 PM

  Can't wait for the 16bit Pico with HAM graphics mode.

• by cogburnd02 on 8/17/21, 1:37 AM

  Sad that Pico-8 isn't free software.