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--- visibility: public --- # PICO-8 **repo:** [pico-8/awesome-PICO-8](https://github.com/pico-8/awesome-PICO-8) **category:** [[gaming|Gaming]] **related:** [[game-development|Game Development]] · [[lua|Lua]] --- # Awesome PICO-8 [](https://awesome.re)    A curated list of PICO-8 resources, tutorials, tools and more. Inspired by the [awesome](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome) list thing. You might also like [awesome-lua](https://github.com/LewisJEllis/awesome-lua) and [awesome-love2d](https://github.com/JanWerder/awesome-love2d). PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a shell for typing in a subset of [Lua](https://www.lua.org/) commands and provides simple built-in tools for creating your own cartridges. ## Contents - [Community](#community) - [Demoscene](#demoscene) - [Resources](#resources) - [Tutorials](#tutorials) - [Tools](#tools) - [Libraries](#libraries) - [Assets](#assets) - [Text Editors Language Support](#text-editors-language-support) - [Hacks](#hacks---undocumented-pico-8-features) - [Hardware](#hardware) - [Articles & Posts](#articles--posts) - [Talks](#talks) - [Clones](#clones) - [Contributing](#i-want-to-contribute) - [License](#license) ### Community - [Lexaloffle](https://www.lexaloffle.com) - [Blog](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?uid=1) - [PICO-8](https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php) - [Forum/BBS](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=7) - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/lexaloffle) - [BlueSky](https://bsky.app/profile/lexaloffle.bsky.social) - [Mastodon](http://mastodon.social/@zep) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/lexaloffle/) - [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/user/lexaloffletv) - [Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/pico8/) - [#pico8 on Twitter](https://twitter.com/hashtag/pico8) - [#pico8 on BlueSky](https://bsky.app/hashtag/pico8) - [#pico8 on Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/tags/pico8) - [#pico8 on Freenode](https://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=#pico8&prompt=1) - [Pico-8 Console News](https://twitter.com/pico8console) - [Pico-8 Wiki](https://pico-8.wikia.com/wiki/Pico-8_Wikia) - [Slack Team](https://slofile.com/slack/pico-8) - PICO-8 [Slack](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/work/slack) chat. - [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/EwQ86eq) - PICO-8 Discord chat. ### DemoScene - [Pico-8 demos on Demozoo](https://demozoo.org/platforms/81/) - [Pico-8 demos on Pouet](https://www.pouet.net/prodlist.php?platform%5B%5D=PICO-8) - [Article with demoscene effects code](https://medium.com/swlh/creativity-through-limitation-pico-8-[fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy)-console-175294e13332) - [Pico-8 demos on Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pico+8+demoscene) ### Resources - [Official Manual](https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=manual) - Placeholder dump of pico-8.txt! (Proper manual coming soon). - [PicoZine #1](https://sectordub.itch.io/pico-8-fanzine-1), [#2](https://sectordub.itch.io/pico-8-fanzine-2), [#3](https://sectordub.itch.io/pico-8-fanzine-3) and [#4](https://sectordub.itch.io/-pico-8-zine-4) - PICO-8 Zine is a 48-page fanzine made by and for PICO-8 users. - [Going from Lua 5.2 to PICO-8's Lua](https://gist.[github](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/development-environment/github).com/josefnpat/bfe4aaa5bbb44f572cd0) - This document is here to help folks with a proficiency in Lua understand the limitations and discrepencies between Lua and PICO-8's Lua. - [Cheat Sheet (printable)](https://ztiromoritz.[github](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/development-environment/github).io/pico-8-spick/) - A reduced [cheat sheet](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/development-environment/cheat-sheet) in a printable format. German and English version available. - [Cheat Sheet (wallpaper)](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=28207) - An enhancement of the printable [cheat sheet](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/development-environment/cheat-sheet) for use as a desktop wallpaper. ### Tutorials - [Music Tracker Tutorial Series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZAika8vyZkyOjoCp0EbHeIFZ8MLlhvg) - Making audio with PICO-8. - [Tron Lightcycle game from scratch](https://youtu.be/ZuaLuMhwcc8) - A quick introduction to PICO-8 writing a game from scratch. - [A PICO-8 Spaceshooter in 16 GIFs](https://ztiromoritz.[github](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/development-environment/github).io/pico-8-shooter/) - Screencaptures of writing a Spaceshooter game step by step. - [Token optimization](https://github.com/seleb/PICO-8-Token-Optimizations) - [tips](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/tips)&tricks for saving tokens. - [Tweetjam, BBS thread](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=3726) - cards which code fits in a tweet (really useful to learn some fun techniques). - [Sample code on the BBS](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?search=sample+code) - the search is not 100% accurate, but some of those cards features some nice tricks you can re-use in your future code. - [Newgrounds Medals Tutorial](https://github.com/Bigaston/pico-8-newgrounds-tutorial) - a little tutorial to add Newgrounds Medals to PICO-8 games. - [Binary save system](https://ultiman3rd.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/pico-8-binary-save-system/) - Custom game save system that supports various data types - [Lazy Devs Breakout](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P0qjjiG8G5FBgqwpqMU7rBk&si=CaivHwqC6uYjJA21) - step-by-step videos for [roguelikes](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P3LL7J1Q9b6PJua0A-96uUS&si=ZYrBbZMJr9ABHsnA), [shmups](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLea8cjCua_P3Sfq4XJqNVbd1vsWnh7LZd&si=bKKGy-2IKwcTQxeF), and more ### Tools - [Sprite Editor](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=51270) - Keyboard only 8x8 [pixel art](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/media/pixel-art) tool. - [pico2png](https://github.com/briacp/pico2png) - Spritesheet extraction written in [perl](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/perl). - [Spritesheets and tools for the PICO-8 Palette](https://www.reddit.com/r/pico8/comments/3jhmni/spritesheets_and_tools_for_the_pico8_palette/) - Compilation of works assest and tools using the PICO-8 palette. - [Pico8Utils](https://github.com/josefnpat/pico8utils) - Compilation of lua scripts based on the unix philosophy for working with .p8 files. - [picotool](https://github.com/dansanderson/picotool) - Tools and [Python](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/python) libraries for manipulating Pico-8 game files. - [p8dl - Carts Downloader - Python](https://github.com/franciscod/p8dl) - Downloads cartridges into the correct folder (looks at your config.txt). - [Pico-8 Carts Downloader - Bash ](https://github.com/kikookoubis/pico-8-carts-bash-downloader) - Downloads cartridge from the BBS (single cart, whole index or dump your favourited entries) & rename them according to their metadata. - [p8 responsive webplayer transform](https://github.com/benwiley4000/pico8-responsive-webplayer-transform) - [Python](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/python) script that makes your HTML export page responsive. - [Color Palette](https://www.romanzolotarev.com/pico-8-color-palette/) - Hex and RGB colors codes for web. - [PICO-8 font](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=3760) - by [RhythmLynx](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?uid=11704). - [P8Coder](https://github.com/movAX13h/P8Coder) - A programming tool that replaces the lua code in pico-8 cartridges (p8) with the code you write in P8Coder. - [picoDeploy](https://github.com/torch2424/picoDeploy) - Deploy Pico-8 carts as standalone applications on desktop (Electron) and mobile (Ionic). - [pico8Grunt](https://github.com/TeamNoComplyGames/pico8Grunt) - A build system for pico8 games, using gruntjs. - [PICO-EC](https://github.com/JoebRogers/PICO-EC) - A tiny scene-entity-component library created for the PICO-8 fantasty console. - [p8](https://github.com/jozanza/p8) - A dependency manager and build tool. Lets you share code/sprites, `require()` dependencies, and auto-reload carts on save. Works with any external code editor and supports [MoonScript](https://moonscript.org/). - [MIDI to PICO-8](https://github.com/andmatand/midi-to-pico8) - A tool to convert MIDI files to PICO-8 [music](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/media/music). - [midi2pico](https://github.com/gamax92/midi2pico) - A MIDI to PICO-8 converter. - [Denote](https://bikibird.itch.io/denote) - Converts MIDI files into SFX data-- interactive and web based. - [Custom template](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=31000) - A simple and clean template, that fixes issues with fullscreen, mouse and just looks nice. - [Fillp Tool](https://seansleblanc.itch.io/pico-8-fillp-tool) - A simple helper tool for generating fillp patterns. - [Depict](https://bikibird.itch.io/depict) - Converts image into a dithered image using PICO-8 colors and reduces it to a maximum size of 128 x 128. - [picoCAD](https://johanpeitz.itch.io/picocad) - A PICO-8 program to build and texture lowpoly 3D models. - [pico8-deploy](https://github.com/tducasse/pico8-deploy) - An easy way to export and deploy PICO-8 projects to itch.io - [yap8b](https://github.com/Enerccio/yap8b) - Build tool for creating pico carts from multiple source files. - [TS-PICO-8](https://github.com/tmountain/pico-8-typescript) - Create PICO-8 games using TypeScript. - [Shrinko8](https://github.com/thisismypassport/shrinko8) - A minifier that aggressively shrinks Pico-8 code size. Also includes a linter and other tools. - [jspicl](https://github.com/jspicl/jspicl) - Write PICO-8 games in [JavaScript](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/javascript) or TypeScript, with live reloading so you can see your changes instantly! ### Libraries - [pico-test](https://github.com/jozanza/pico-test) - PICO-8 [testing](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/testing/testing) framework. - [Lib-Pico8](https://github.com/clowerweb/Lib-Pico8) - A Pico-8 library of useful common functions. - [pico8-missing-builtins](https://github.com/adamscott/pico8-missing-builtins) - Provides Lua built-in functions to pico8. - [Pico-Kit](https://github.com/outkine/pico-kit) - An opinionated collection of Pico-8 helpers that make it easier to get going. Adds OOP, better debugging, and physics. - [PICO-Tween](https://github.com/JoebRogers/PICO-Tween) - A small library of tweening/easing functions for use in the PICO-8 [fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy) console, inspired by Robert Penner's easing functions. - [parens-8](https://github.com/Siapran/parens-8) - Bypass the Lua token limit with a tiny lisp interpreter/compiler. - [p8-canvas](https://github.com/Siapran/p8-canvas) - A high performance infinite [canvas](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/front-end-development/canvas)/texture library. - [pico8-physics](https://github.com/jamesedge/pico8-physics) - Pico8 implementation of Box2d with 8 demos. - [SCUMM-8](https://github.com/Liquidream/scumm-8) - De-make of the SCUMM engine for making point-and-click classic adventures. ### Assets - [midilib](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=7#tag=midilib) - Custom SFX instruments ### Text Editors Language Support - [Visual Studio Code](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/visual-studio-code): [pico8-ls](https://github.com/japhib/pico8-ls) - PICO-8 Language Server, providing full language support for the PICO-8 dialect of Lua. - [Atom](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/atom): [language-pico8](https://atom.io/packages/language-pico8) - Sublime: [Sublime PICO-8](https://packagecontrol.io/packages/PICO-8) - PICO-8 plugin for the [Sublime Text](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/sublime-text) editor (color scheme, font, build system, code completion, snippets...). - Vim: [vim-pico8-syntax](https://github.com/justinj/vim-pico8-syntax) - [Emacs](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/emacs): [pico8-mode](https://github.com/Kaali/pico8-mode) - [Visual Studio Code](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/visual-studio-code) / [NeoVim](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/editors/neovim) / JetBrains / Others： [pico8-definitions](https://github.com/ahai64/pico8-definitions) - An add-on for sumneko/lua to provide PICO-8 language support. ### Programming Fonts You might be interested to install [pico-8 programming fonts](https://github.com/juanitogan/p8-programming-fonts) they support the pico-8 custom characters as well as various fonts (bitmap and regular anti-aliased fonts). Check the [BBS thread here](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=28975). How to install the font(s): * **[Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux):** copy the files on ~/.[fonts](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/media/fonts) and `sudo fc-cache -f -v` * **[Windows](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/windows):** copy the files on c:/[windows](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/windows)/[fonts](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/media/fonts)/ ### Hacks - undocumented PICO-8 features - [Mouse](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=3549) - How to retrieve mouse coordinates (with demo). - [p8keyboard.js](https://github.com/dppc/p8keyboard.js) - [Javascript](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/javascript) "keyboard adapter" for the Pico-8. Send ASCII characters to a Pico-8 program running in a browser. - [SFX Modifications](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=3561) - Four effects that can only be applied by modifying memory (with demo). - [Tracker State/Audio Memory Locations](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=10719#p10719) - How to access and modify audio data as it is playing. ### Hardware - [GameShell](https://www.clockworkpi.com/) - A modular handheld game console that allows you to play & modify retro games and DIY new devices. Check the [GameShell Docs](https://github.com/clockworkpi/GameShellDocs/wiki/Running-PICO-8-on-the-GameShell) for how to run PICO-8 on the GameShell. - [PocketChip](https://shop.pocketchip.co/) - A handheld designed for playing and coding anywhere. Officially supported by pico-8. [PoketChip version of pico-8](https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=34009) ### Articles & Posts - [Indie Retro News](https://www.indieretronews.com/2015/10/pico-8-8-bit-[fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy)-console-from.html) - A great introduction to PICO-8 by [@ABrugsch](https://twitter.com/ABrugsch). ### Talks - [Sharing the love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmMYWD2Zbso) - Making games with PICO-8. [linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux) conf au 2017 - Hobart, Australia ### Clones - [TIC-80 by Nesbox](https://nesbox.itch.io/tic) - Tiny Computer, available on HTML 5, [Windows](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/windows), [Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux) 32/64bit, [Android](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/android) & MacOSX - [PicoLove](https://github.com/picolove/picolove) - Pico-8 Reimplementation in [LÖVE](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/gaming/l-ve). - [LIKO-12](https://github.com/RamiLego4Game/LIKO-12) - An open source [fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy) computer made using [LÖVE](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/gaming/l-ve) with 96kb RAM. - [Pikuseru](https://github.com/PikuseruConsole/pikuseru) - Open Source [Fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy) Console in pure [Rust](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/programming-languages/rust) [Core]. - [tac08](https://0xcafed00d.itch.io/tac08-rg350) - tac08 is an emulation of the runtime part of the Pico-8 [fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy) console, running on RG350 handheld game console. - [LowRes NX](https://lowresnx.inutilis.com/) - [Fantasy](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/entertainment/fantasy) Console available on IOS, MacOS, [Windows](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/windows), [Linux](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/platforms/linux), and GameShell (BASIC code support) - [BeetPx](https://beetpx.dev/) - A TypeScript framework for [pixel art](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/media/pixel-art) browser games. Heavily inspired by PICO-8. ### I Want to Contribute! Great! :smiley: Please, read the [contribution guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md) first. ### License [](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) To the extent possible under law, [Felipe Bueno](https://twitter.com/felipebueno) has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work. See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for more information.