-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
Home
PICO-8 v0.2.4c
https://www.pico-8.com
(c) Copyright 2014-2022 Lexaloffle Games LLP
Author: Joseph White // [email protected]
PICO-8 is built with:
- SDL2 http://www.libsdl.org
- Lua 5.2 http://www.lua.org // see license.txt
- ws281x by jgarff // see license.txt
- GIFLIB http://giflib.sourceforge.net/
- WiringPi http://wiringpi.com/
- libb64 by Chris Venter
- miniz by Rich Geldreich
Latest version of this manual (as html, txt) and other resources:
https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=resources
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 Lua programs and provides simple built-in tools for creating sprites, maps and sound.
The harsh limitations of PICO-8 are carefully chosen to be fun to work with, encourage small but expressive designs and hopefully to give PICO-8 cartridges their own particular look and feel.
| thing | spec |
|---|---|
| Display | 128x128, fixed 16 colour palette |
| Input | 6-button controllers |
| Carts | 32k data encoded as png files |
| Sound | 4 channel, 64 definable chip blerps |
| Code | Lua (max 8192 tokens of code) |
| Sprites | Single bank of 128 8x8 sprites (+128 shared) |
| Map | 128x32 8-bit cells (+128x32 shared) |
| keys | function |
|---|---|
| ALT+ENTER | Toggle Fullscreen |
| ALT+F4 | Fast Quit (Windows) |
| CTRL-Q | Fast Quit (Mac, Linux) |
| CTRL-R | Reload / Run / Restart cartridge |
| CTRL-S | Quick-Save working cartridge |
| CTRL-M | Mute / Unmute Sound |
| ENTER / P | Pause Menu (while running cart) |
Player 1 default keys: Cursors + ZX / NM / CV
Player 2 default keys: SDFE + tab,Q / shift A
To change the default keys use the KEYCONFIG utility from inside PICO-8:
> KEYCONFIGAfter PICO-8 boots, try typing some of these commands followed by enter:
> PRINT("HELLO WORLD")
> RECTFILL(80,80,120,100,12)
> CIRCFILL(70,90,20,14)
> FOR I=1,4 DO PRINT(I) END(Note: PICO-8 only displays upper-case characters -- just type normally without capslock!)
You can build up an interactive program by using commands like this in the code editing mode along with two special callback functions @_UPDATE and @_DRAW. For example, the following program allows you to move a circle around with the cursor keys. Press Esc to switch to the code editor and type or copy & paste the following code:
X = 64 Y = 64
FUNCTION _UPDATE()
IF (BTN(0)) THEN X=X-1 END
IF (BTN(1)) THEN X=X+1 END
IF (BTN(2)) THEN Y=Y-1 END
IF (BTN(3)) THEN Y=Y+1 END
END
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS(5)
CIRCFILL(X,Y,7,14)
ENDNow press Esc to return to the console and type RUN (or press CTRL-R) to see it in action. Please refer to the demo cartridges for more complex programs (type INSTALL_DEMOS).
If you want to store your program for later, use the SAVE command:
> SAVE PINKCIRCAnd to load it again:
> LOAD PINKCIRCThese cartridges are included with PICO-8 and can be installed by typing:
> INSTALL_DEMOS
> CD DEMOS
> LS| cardrige | description |
|---|---|
| HELLO | Greetings from PICO-8 |
| API | Demonstrates most PICO-8 functions |
| JELPI | Platform game demo w/ 2p support |
| CAST | 2.5D Raycaster demo |
| DRIPPY | Draw a drippy squiggle |
| WANDER | Simple walking simulator |
| COLLIDE | Example wall and actor collisions |
To run a cartridge, open PICO-8 and type:
> LOAD JELPI
> RUNPress escape to stop the program, and once more to enter editing mode.
A small collection of BBS carts can also be installed to /GAMES with:
> INSTALL_GAMESThese commands can be used to manage files and directories (folders):
| command | description |
|---|---|
| LS | list the current directory |
| CD BLAH | change directory |
| CD .. | go up a directory |
| CD / | change back to top directory (on PICO-8's virtual drive) |
| MKDIR BLAH | make a directory |
| FOLDER | open the current directory in the host operating system's file browser |
| LOAD BLAH | load a cart from the current directory |
| SAVE BLAH | save a cart to the current directory |
If you want to move files around, duplicate them or delete them, use the FOLDER command and do it in the host operating system.
| OS | The default location for PICO-8's drive |
|---|---|
| Windows | C:/Users/Yourname/AppData/Roaming/pico-8/carts |
| OSX | /Users/Yourname/Library/Application Support/pico-8/carts |
| Linux | ~/.lexaloffle/pico-8/carts |
You can change this and other settings in pico-8/config.txt
Tip: The drive directory can be mapped to a cloud drive (provided by Dropbox, Google Drive or similar) in order to create a single disk shared between PICO-8 machines spread across different host machines.
When using LOAD and SAVE, the .P8 extension can be omitted and is added automatically.
SAVE FOO
SAVED FOO.P8Cartridge files can also be dragged and dropped into PICO-8's window to load them.
- Using .p8.png filename extension will write the cartridge in a special image format that looks like a cartridge. Using .p8.rom" writes in a raw 32k binary format.
- Use a filename of "@clip" to load or save to the clipboard.
- Use a filename of "@url" to save to clipboard as a pico-8-edu.com url if it can be encoded in 2040 characters (code and gfx only).
Once a cartridge has been loaded or saved, it can also be quick-saved with CTRL-S
To generate a label image saved with the cart, run the program first and press CTRL-7 to grab whatever is on the screen. The first two lines of the program starting with '--' are also drawn to the cart's label.
-- OCEAN DIVER LEGENDS
-- BY LOOPYWhen saving in .png or .rom format, the compressed size of the code must be less than 15360 bytes so that the total data is <= 32k.
To find out the current size of your code, use the INFO command. The compressed size limit
is not enforced for saving in .p8 format.
It is possible to edit .p8 files directly with a separate text editor. Using CTRL-R to run a cartridge will automatically re-load the file if:
- There are no unsaved changes in the PICO-8 editors, AND
- The file differs in content from the last loaded version.
If there are changes to both the cart on disk and in the editor, a notification is displayed:
DIDN'T RELOAD; UNSAVED CHANGES
Alternatively, .lua text files can be modified in a separate editor and then included into the cartridge's code each time it is run using @{#INCLUDE} (in the desired code location):
#INCLUDE YOURFILE.LUAWhen quitting without saving changes, or overwriting an existing file, a backup of the cartridge is saved to {appdata}/pico-8/backup. An extra copy of the current cartridge can also be saved to the same folder by typing BACKUP.
To open the backups folder in the host operating system's file browser, use:
> FOLDER BACKUPSIt is then possible to drag and drop files into the PICO-8 window to load them.
From 0.2.4c, periodic backups are also saved every 20 minutes when not idle in the editor, which means the backups folder will grow by about 1MB every 5 hours. This can be disabled or adjusted in config.txt
PICO-8 reads configuration settings from config.txt at the start of each session, and saves it on exit (so you should edit config.txt when PICO-8 is not running).
The location of the config.txt file depends on the host operating system:
| OS | location |
|---|---|
| Windows | C:/Users/Yourname/AppData/Roaming/pico-8/config.txt |
| OSX | /Users/Yourname/Library/Application Support/pico-8/config.txt |
| Linux | ~/.lexaloffle/pico-8/config.txt |
Use the -home switch (below) to use a different path to store config.txt and other data.
Some settings can be changed while running PICO-8 by typing CONFIG SETTING VALUE. (type CONFIG by itself for a list)
// note: these override settings found in config.txt
pico8 [switches] [filename.p8]| switch | description |
|---|---|
| -width n | set the window width |
| -height n | set the window height |
| -windowed n | set windowed mode off (0) or on (1) |
| -volume n | set audio volume 0..256 |
| -joystick n | joystick controls starts at player n (0..7) |
| -pixel_perfect n | 1 for unfiltered screen stretching at integer scales (on by default) |
| -preblit_scale n | scale the display by n before blitting to screen (useful with -pixel_perfect 0) |
| -draw_rect x,y,w,h | absolute window coordinates and size to draw pico-8's screen |
| -run filename | load and run a cartridge |
| -x filename | execute a PICO-8 cart headless and then quit (experimental!) |
| -export param_str | run EXPORT command in headless mode and exit (see notes under export) |
| -p param_str | pass a parameter string to the specified cartridge |
| -splore | boot in splore mode |
| -home path | set the path to store config.txt and other user data files |
| -root_path path | set the path to store cartridge files |
| -desktop path | set a location for screenshots and gifs to be saved |
| -screenshot_scale n | scale of screenshots. default: 3 (368x368 pixels) |
| -gif_scale n | scale of gif captures. default: 2 (256x256 pixels) |
| -gif_len n | set the maximum gif length in seconds (1..120) |
| -gui_theme n | use 1 for a higher contrast editor colour scheme |
| -timeout n | how many seconds to wait before downloads timeout (default: 30) |
| -software_blit n | use software blitting mode off (0) or on (1) |
| -foreground_sleep_ms n | how many milliseconds to sleep between frames |
| -background_sleep_ms n | how many milliseconds to sleep between frames when running in background |
| -accept_future n | 1 to allow loading cartridges made with future versions of PICO-8 |
| -global_api n | 1 to leave api functions in global scope (useful for debugging) |
PICO-8 uses the SDL2 controller configuration scheme. It will detect common controllers on startup and also looks for custom mappings in sdl_controllers.txt in the same directory as config.txt. sdl_controllers.txt has one mapping per line.
To generate a custom mapping string for your controller, use either the controllermap program that comes with SDL2, or try http://www.generalarcade.com/gamepadtool/
To find out the id of your controller as it is detected by SDL2, search for "joysticks" or "Mapping" in log.txt after running PICO-8. This id may vary under different operating systems. See: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=32130
To set up which keyboard keys trigger joystick buttons presses, use KEYCONFIG.
While a cartridge is running use:
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| CTRL-6 | Save a screenshot to desktop |
| CTRL-7 | Capture cartridge label image |
| CTRL-8 | Start recording a video |
| CTRL-9 | Save GIF video to desktop (8 seconds by default) |
You can save a video at any time (it is always recording); CTRL-8 simply resets the video starting point. To record more than 8 seconds, use the CONFIG command (maximum: 120)
CONFIG GIF_LEN 60If you would like the recording to reset every time (to create a non-overlapping sequence), use:
CONFIG GIF_RESET_MODE 1The gif format can not match 30fps exactly, so PICO-8 instead uses the closest match: 33.3fps.
If you have trouble saving to the desktop, try configuring an alternative desktop path in config.txt
There are three ways to share carts made in PICO-8:
- Share the .p8 or .p8.png file directly with other PICO-8 users. Type
FOLDERto open the current folder in your host operating system. - Post the cart on the Lexaloffe BBS to get a web-playable version http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=submit
- Export the cartridge to a stand-alone html/js or native binary player (see the exporters section for details)
SPLORE is a built-in utility for browsing and organising both local and bbs (online) cartridges. Type SPLORE [enter] to launch it, or launch PICO-8 with -splore.
It is possible to control SPLORE entirely with a joystick:
LEFT and RIGHT to navigate lists of cartridges
UP AND DOWN to select items in each list
X,O or MENU to launch the cartridge
While inside a cart, press MENU to favourite a cartridge or exit to splore. If you're using a keyboard, it's also possible to press F to favourite an item while it is selected in the cartridge list view.
When viewing a list of BBS carts, use the top list item to re-download a list of cartridges. If you are offline, the last downloaded list is displayed, and it is still possible to play any cartridges you have downloaded.
If you have installed PICO-8 on a machine with no internet access, you can also use INSTALL_GAMES to add a small selection of pre-installed BBS carts to /games
Press ESC to toggle between console and editor.
Click editing mode tabs at top right to switch or press ALT+LEFT/RIGHT.
Hold shift to select (or click and drag with mouse)
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| CTRL-X, C, V | to cut copy or paste selected |
| CTRL-Z, Y | to undo, redo |
| CTRL-F | to search for text in the current tab |
| CTRL-G | to repeat the last search again |
| CTRL-L | to jump to a line number |
| CTRL-UP, DOWN | to jump to start or end |
| ALT-UP, | DOWN to navigate to the previous, next function |
| CTRL-LEFT, RIGHT | to jump by word |
| CTRL-W,E | to jump to start or end of current line |
| CTRL-D | to duplicate current line |
| TAB | to indent a selection (shift to un-indent) |
| CTRL-B | to comment / uncomment selected block |
To enter special characters that represent buttons (and other glyphs), use SHIFT-L,R,U,D,O,X There are 3 additional font entry modes that can be toggled:
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| CTRL-J Hiragana | type romaji equivalents (ka, ki, ku..) |
| CTRL-K Katakana + shift-0..9 | for extra symbols |
| CTRL-P Puny font | hold shift for the standard font |
By default, puny font characters are encoded as unicode replacements when copying/pasting, and both upper and lower case ASCII characters are pasted as regular PICO-8 characters. To copy/paste puny characters as uppercase ASCII, make sure puny mode (CTRL-P) is on.
Click the [+] button at the top to add a new tab. Navigate tabs by left-clicking, or with CTRL-TAB, HIFT-CTRL-TAB. To remove the last tab, delete any contents and then moving off it (CTRL-A, DEL, CTRL-TAB)
When running a cart, a single program is generated by concatenating all tabs in order.
The number of code tokens is shown at the bottom right. One program can have a maximum of 8192 tokens. Each token is a word (e.g. variable name) or operator. Pairs of brackets, and strings each count as 1 token.
Commas, periods, LOCALs, semi-colons, ENDs, and comments are not counted.
Right click to toggle through other stats (character count, compressed size). If a limit is reached, a warning light will flash. This can be disabled by right-clicking.
The sprite editor is designed to be used both for sprite-wise editing and for freeform pixel-level editing. The sprite navigator at the bottom of the screen provides an 8x8 sprite-wise view into the sprite sheet, but it is possible to use freeform tools (pan, select) when dealing with larger or oddly sized areas.
Click and drag on the sprite to plot pixels, or use RMB to select the colour under the cursor. All perations apply only to the visible area, or the section if there is one. Hold CTRL to search and replace colour.
Click to stamp whatever is in the copy buffer. Hold CTRL to treat colour 0 (black) as transparent.
Click and drag to create a rectangular selection. To remove the selection, press ENTER or click anywhere.
If a pixel-wise selection is not present, many operations are instead applied to a sprite-wise selection, or the visible view. To select sprites, shift-drag in the sprite navigator. To select the sprite sheet press CTRL-A (repeat to toggle off the bottom half shared with map data)
Click and drag to move around the sprite sheet.
Fill with the current colour. This applies only to the current selection, or the visible area if there is no selection.
Click the tool button to cycle through: oval, rectangle, line options.
Hold CTRL to get a filled oval or rectangle.
Hold SHIFT to snap to circle, square, or low-integer-ratio line.
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| CTRL-Z | Undo |
| CTRL-C/X | Copy/Cut selected area or selected sprites |
| CTRL-V | Paste to current sprite location |
| Q/A,W/Z | Switch to previous/next sprite |
| 1,2 | Switch to previous/next colour |
| TAB | Toggle fullscreen view |
| Mousewheel | or < and > to zoom (centered in fullscreen) |
| CTRL-H | to toggle hex view (shows sprite index in hexadecimal) |
| CTRL-G | totoggle black grid lines when zoomed in |
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| F | Flip sprite horizontally |
| V | Flip sprite vertically |
| R | Rotate (requires a square selection) |
| Cursor keys | to shift (loops if sprite selection) |
| DEL/BACKSPACE | to clear selected area |
The 8 coloured circles are sprite flags for the current sprite. These have no particular meaning, but can be accessed using the @FGET() / @FSET() functions. They are indexed from 0 starting from the left.
See @FSET() for more information.
To load a png file of any size into the sprite sheet, first select the sprite that should be the top-left corner destination, and then either type "IMPORT IMAGE_FILE.PNG" or drag and drop the image file into the PICO-8 window. In both cases, the image is colour-fitted to the current display palette.
The PICO-8 map is a 128x32 (or 128x64 using shared space) block of 8-bit values. Each value isshown in the editor as a reference to a sprite (0..255), but you can of course use the data torepresent whatever you like.
WARNING: The second half of the sprite sheet (banks 2 and 3), and the bottom half of the mapshare the same cartridge space. It's up to you how you use the data, but be aware that drawing on the second half of the sprite sheet could clobber data on the map and vice versa.
The tools are similar to the ones used in sprite editing mode. Select a sprite and click and drag to paint values into the map.
To draw multiple sprites, select from sprite navigator with shift+drag To copy a block of values, use the selection tool and then stamp tool to paste To pan around the map, use the pan tool or hold space Q,W to switch to previous/next sprite Mousewheel or < and > to zoom (centered in fullscreen) CTRL-H to toggle hex view (shows tile values and sprite index in hexadecimal)
To move sprites in the sprite sheet without breaking references to them in the map:
- Select the area of the map you would like to alter (defaults to the top half of the map) press ctrl-A twice to select the full map including shared memory
- Select the sprites you would like to move (while still in map view), and press Ctrl-X
- Select the destination sprite (also while still in map view) and press Ctrl-V
Note: this operation modifies the undo history for both the map and sprite editors, but PICO-8 will try to keep them in sync where possible. Otherwise, changes caused by moving map sprites can be reverted by also manually undoing in the sprite editor.
There are 64 SFX ("sound effects") in a cartridge, used for both sound and music.
Each SFX has 32 notes, and each note has:
| thing | value |
|---|---|
| A frequency | (C0..C5) |
| An instrument | (0..7) |
| A volume | (0..7) |
| An effect | (0..7) |
Each SFX also has these properties:
| property | description |
|---|---|
| A play speed (SPD) | the number of 'ticks' to play each note for. This means that 1 is fastest, 3 is 3x as slow, etc. |
| Loop start and end | this is the note index to loop back and to Looping is turned off when the start index >= end index |
When only the first of the 2 numbers is used (and the second one is 0), it is taken to mean the number of notes to be played. This is normally not needed for sound effects (you can just leave the remaining notes empty), but is useful for controlling music playback.
There are 2 modes for editing/viewing a SFX: Pitch mode (more suitable for sound effects) and tracker mode (more suitable for music). The mode can be changed using the top-left buttons, or toggled with TAB.
Click and drag on the pitch area to set the frequency for each note, using the currently selected instrument (indicated by colour).
Hold shift to apply only the selected instrument.
Hold CTRL to snap entered notes to the C minor pentatonic scale.
Right click to grab the instrument of that note.
- Each note shows: frequency octave instrument volume effect
- To enter a note, use q2w3er5t6y7ui zsxdcvgbhnjm (piano-like layout)
- Hold shift when entering a note to transpose -1 octave .. +1 octave
- New notes are given the selected instrument/effect values
- To delete a note, use backspace or set the volume to 0
Click and then shift-click to select a range that can be copied (CTRL-C) and pasted (CTRL-V). Note that only the selected attributes are copied. Double-click to select all attributes of a single note.
Navigation:
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| PAGEUP/DOWN or CTRL-UP/DOWN | to skip up or down 4 notes |
| HOME/END | to jump to the first or last note |
| CTRL-LEFT/RIGHT | to jump across columns |
| keys | description |
|---|---|
| - + | to navigate the current SFX |
| SPACE | to play/stop |
| SHIFT-SPACE | to play from the current SFX quarter (group of 8 notes) |
| A | to release a looping sample |
| Left click or right click | - to increase / decrease the SPD or LOOP values. Hold shift when clicking to increase / decrease by 4. Alternatively, click and drag left/right or up/down |
| Shift-click | an instrument, effect, or volume to apply to all notes. |
| value | effect | description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 none | ||
| 1 slide | Slide to the next note and volume | |
| 2 vibrato | Rapidly vary the pitch within one quarter-tone | |
| 3 drop | Rapidly drop the frequency to very low values | |
| 4 fade in | Ramp the volume up from 0 | |
| 5 fade out | Ramp the volume down to 0 | |
| 6 arpeggio fast | Iterate over groups of 4 notes at speed of 4 | |
| 7 arpeggio slow | Iterate over groups of 4 notes at speed of 8 |
If the SFX speed is <= 8, arpeggio speeds are halved to 2, 4
Each SFX has 5 filter switches that can be accessed while in tracker mode:
| filter | description |
|---|---|
| NOIZ | Generate pure white noise (applies only to instrument 6) |
| BUZZ | Various alterations to the waveform to make it sound more buzzy |
| DETUNE-1 | Detunes a second voice to create a flange-like effect |
| DETUNE-2 | Various second voice tunings, mostly up or down an octave |
| REVERB | Apply an echo with a delay of 2 or 4 ticks |
| DAMPEN | Low pass filter at 2 different levels |
When BUZZ is used with instrument 6, and NOIZ is off, pure brown noise is generated.
Music in PICO-8 is controlled by a sequence of 'patterns'. Each pattern is a list of 4 numbers indicating which SFX will be played on that channel.
Playback flow can be controlled using the 3 buttons at the top right.
When a pattern has finished playing, the next pattern is played unless:
- there is no data left to play (music stops)
- a STOP command is set on that pattern (the third button)
- a LOOP BACK command is set (the 2nd button), in which case the music player searches back for a pattern with the LOOP START command set (the first button) or returns to pattern 0 if none is found.
When a pattern has SFXes with different speeds, the pattern finishes playing when the left-most non-looping channel has finished playing. This can be used to set up double-time drum beats or unusual polyrhythms.
For time signatures like 3/4 where less than 32 rows should be played before jumping to the next pattern, the length of a SFX can be set by adjusting only the first loop position and leaving the second one as ero. This will show up in the sfx editor as "LEN" (for "Length") instead of "LOOP".
To select a range of patterns: click once on the first pattern in the pattern navigator, then shift-click on the last pattern. Selected patterns can be copied and pasted with CTRL-C and CTRL-V. When pasting into another cartridge, the SFX that each pattern points to will also be pasted (possibly with a different index) if it does not already exist.
In addition to the 8 built-in instruments, custom instruments can be defined using the first 8 SFX. Use the toggle button to the right of the instruments to select an index, which will show up in the instrument channel as green instead of pink.
When an SFX instrument note is played, it essentially triggers that SFX, but alters the note's attributes:
- Pitch is added relative to C2
- Volume is multiplied
- Effects are applied on top of the SFX instrument's effects
- Any filters that are on in the SFX instrument are enabled for that note
For example, a simple tremolo effect could be implemented by defining an instrument in SFX 0 that rapidly alternates between volume 5 and 2. When using this instrument to play a note, the volume can further be altered as usual (via the volume channel or using the fade in/out effects). In this way, SFX instruments can be used to control combinations of detailed changes in volume, pitch and texture.
SFX instruments are only retriggered when the pitch changes, or the previous note has zero volume. This is useful for instruments that change more slowly over time. For example: a bell that gradually fades out. To invert this behaviour, effect 3 (normally 'drop') can be used when triggering the note. All other effect values have their usual meaning when triggering SFX instruments.
The EXPORT command can be used to generate png, wav files and stand-alone html and native binary cartridge applications. The output format is inferred from the filename extension (e.g. .png).
You are free to distribute and use exported cartridges and data as you please, provided that you have permission from the cartridge author and contributors.
> IMPORT BLAH.PNG -- EXPECTS 128X128 PNG AND COLOUR-FITS TO THE PICO-8 PALETTE
> EXPORT BLAH.PNG -- USE THE "FOLDER" COMMAND TO LOCATE THE EXPORTED PNGWhen importing, -x and -y switches can be used to specify the target location in pixels: -s can be used to shrink the image (3 means scale from 384x384 -> 128x128)
> IMPORT BLAH.PNG -X 16 -Y 16 -S 3Use the -l switch with IMPORT and EXPORT to instead read and write from the cartridge's label:
> IMPORT -L BLAH.PNGWhen importing spritesheets or labels, the palette is colour-fitted to the current draw state palette.
To export music from the current pattern (when editor mode is MUSIC), or the current SFX:
> EXPORT FOO.WAV To export all SFXs as foo0.wav, foo1.wav .. foo63.wav:
> EXPORT FOO%D.WAVA cartridges map or source code can be exported as a single image named .map.png or .lua.png:
> EXPORT FOO.MAP.PNG
> EXPORT FOO.LUA.PNG Map images are 1024x512 (128x32 8x8 sprites). Lua images are sized to fit, but each line is fixed (and cropped) at 192 pixels wide.
Using EXPORT to save a cartridge is the same as using SAVE, but without changing the current working cartridge. This can be useful for example, to save a copy in .p8.png format for distribution without accidentally continuing to make changes to that file instead of the original .p8 file.
EXPORT can also be used to perform cartridge file format conversions from commandline. For example, from a Linux shell:
> pico8 foo.p8 -export foo.p8.pngTo generate a stand-alone html player (mygame.html, mygame.js):
> EXPORT MYGAME.HTMLOr just the .js file:
> EXPORT MYGAME.JSUse -f to write the files to a folder called mygame_html, using index.html instead of mygame.html
> EXPORT -F MYGAME.HTMLOptionally provide a custom html template with the -p switch:
> EXPORT MYGAME.HTML -P ONE_BUTTONThis will use the file {application data}/pico-8/plates/one_button.html as the html shell,replacing a special string "##js_file##" (without quotes), with the .js filename, and optionally replacing the string "##label_file##" with the cart's label image as a data url.
Use -w to export as .wasm + .js:
> EXPORT -W MYGAME.HTMLWhen exported as .wasm, the page needs to be served by a webserver, rather than just opening it directly from the local file system in a browser. For most purposes, the default .js export is fine, but .wasm is slightly smaller and faster.
To generate stand-alone executables for Windows, Linux (64-bit), Mac and Raspberry Pi:
> EXPORT MYGAME.BINBy default, the cartridge label is used as an icon with no transparency. To specify an icon from the sprite sheet, use -i and optionally -s and/or -c to control the size and transparency.
| flag | description |
|---|---|
| -I N | Icon index N with a default transparent colour of 0 (black). |
| -S N | Size NxN sprites. Size 3 would be produce a 24x24 icon. |
| -C N | Treat colour N as transparent. Use 16 for no transparency. |
For example, to use a 2x2 sprite starting at index 32 in the sprite sheet, using colour 12 as transparent:
> EXPORT -I 32 -S 2 -C 12 MYGAME.BINTo include an extra file in the output folders and archives, use the -E switch:
> EXPORT -E README.TXT MYGAME.BIN Windows file systems do not support the file metadata needed to create a Linux or Mac executable. PICO-8 orks around this by exporting zip files in a way that preserves the file attributes. It is therefore ecommended that you distribute the outputted zip files as-is to ensure users on other operating systems an run them. Otherwise, a Linux user who then downloads the binaries may need to "chmod +x mygame" the file o run it, and Mac user would need to "chmod +x mygame.app/Contents/MacOS/mygame"
If you would like to upload your exported cartridge to itch.io as playable html:
- From inside PICO-8: EXPORT -F MYGAME.HTML
- Create a new project from your itch dashboard.
- Zip up the folder and upload it (set "This file will be played in the browser")
- Embed in page, with a size of 750px x 680px.
- Set "Mobile Friendly" on (default orientation) and "Automatically start on page load" on. // no need for the fullscreen button as the default PICO-8 template has its own.
- Set the background (BG2) to something dark (e.g. #232323) and the text to something light (#cccccc)
Up to 16 cartridges can be bundled together by passing them to EXPORT, when generating stand-alone html or native binary players.
> EXPORT MYGAME.HTML DAT1.P8 DAT2.P8 GAME2.P8During runtime, the extra carts can be accessed as if they were local files:
RELOAD(0,0,0X2000, "DAT1.P8") -- LOAD SPRITESHEET FROM DAT1.P8
LOAD("GAME2.P8") -- LOAD AND RUN ANOTHER CARTExported cartridges are unable to load and run BBS cartridges e.g. via LOAD("#FOO")
Use the -export switch when launching PICO-8 to run the exporter in headless mode. File paths are relative to the current directory rather than the PICO-8 file system.
Parameters to the EXPORT command are passed along as a single (lowercase) string:
pico8 mygame.p8 -export "-i 32 -s 2 -c 12 mygame.bin dat0.p8 dat1.p8"PICO-8 programs are written using Lua syntax, but do not use the standard Lua library. The following is a brief summary of essential Lua syntax.
For more details, or to find out about proper Lua, see www.lua.org.
-- USE TWO DASHES LIKE THIS TO WRITE A COMMENT
--[[ MULTI-LINE
COMMENTS ]]Types in Lua are numbers, strings, booleans and tables:
NUM = 12/100
S = "THIS IS A STRING"
B = FALSE
T = {1,2,3}Numbers in PICO-8 are all 16:16 fixed point. They range from -32768.0 to 32767.99999
Hexadecimal notation with optional fractional parts can be used:
?0x11 -- 17
?0x11.4000 -- 17.25Numbers written in decimal are rounded to the closest fixed point value. To see the 32-bit hexadecimal representation, use PRINT(TOSTR(VAL,TRUE)):
?TOSTR(-32768,TRUE) -- 0x8000.0000
?TOSTR(32767.99999,TRUE) -- 0X7FFF.FFFFDividing by zero evaluates to 0x7fff.ffff if positive, or -0x7fff.ffff if negative.
IF NOT B THEN
PRINT("B IS FALSE")
ELSE
PRINT("B IS NOT FALSE")
END
-- with ELSEIF
IF X == 0 THEN
PRINT("X IS 0")
ELSEIF X < 0 THEN
PRINT("X IS NEGATIVE")
ELSE
PRINT("X IS POSITIVE")
END
IF (4 == 4) THEN PRINT("EQUAL") END
IF (4 ~= 3) THEN PRINT("NOT EQUAL") END
IF (4 <= 4) THEN PRINT("LESS THAN OR EQUAL") END
IF (4 > 3) THEN PRINT("MORE THAN") ENDLoop ranges are inclusive:
FOR X=1,5 DO
PRINT(X)
END
-- PRINTS 1,2,3,4,5
X = 1
WHILE(X <= 5) DO
PRINT(X)
X = X + 1
END
FOR X=1,10,3 DO PRINT(X) END -- 1,4,7,10
FOR X=5,1,-2 DO PRINT(X) END -- 5,3,1Variables declared as LOCAL are scoped to their containing block of code (for example, inside a FUNCTION, a FOR loop, or IF THEN END statement).
Y=0
FUNCTION PLUSONE(X)
LOCAL Y = X+1
RETURN Y
END
PRINT(PLUSONE(2)) -- 3
PRINT(Y) -- 0In Lua, tables are a collection of key-value pairs where the key and value types can both be mixed. They can be used as arrays by indexing them with integers.
A={} -- CREATE AN EMPTY TABLE
A[1] = "BLAH"
A[2] = 42
A["FOO"] = {1,2,3}Arrays use 1-based indexing by default:
A = {11,12,13,14}
PRINT(A[2]) -- 12But if you prefer 0-based arrays, just write something the zeroth slot:
A = {[0]=10,11,12,13,14}Tables with 1-based integer indexes are special though. The length of such an array can be found with the # operator, and PICO-8 uses such arrays to implement ADD, DEL, DELI, ALL and FOREACH functions.
PRINT(#A) -- 4
ADD(A, 15)
PRINT(#A) -- 5Indexes that are strings can be written using dot notation
PLAYER = {}
PLAYER.X = 2 -- is equivalent to PLAYER["X"]
PLAYER.Y = 3See the @{Table_Functions} section for more details.
PICO-8 also allows several non-standard, shorter ways to write common patterns.
IF (NOT B) I=1 J=2Is equivalent to:
IF NOT B THEN I=1 J=2 ENDNote that brackets around the short-hand condition are required.
Shorthand assignment operators can also be used if the whole statement is on one line. They can be constructed by appending a '=' to any binary operator, including arithmetic (+=, -= ..), bitwise (&=, |= ..) or the string concatenation operator (..=)
A += 2 -- EQUIVALENT TO: A = A + 2note that the LHS appears twice, so for TBL[FN()]+=1, FN() will be called twice.
Not shorthand, but pico-8 also accepts != instead of ~= for "not equal to"
PRINT(1 != 2) -- TRUE
PRINT("FOO" == "FOO") -- TRUE (STRING ARE INTERNED)When a PICO-8 programs runs, all of the code from tabs is concatenated (from left to right) and executed. It is possible to provide your own main loop manually, but typically PICO-8 programs use 3 special functions that, if defined by the author, are called during program execution:
| function | description | | _UPDATE() | Called once per update at 30fps. | |_DRAW() | Called once per visible frame. | | _INIT() | Called once on program startup. |
A simple program that uses all three might look this:
FUNCTION _INIT()
-- ALWAYS START ON WHITE
COL = 7
END
FUNCTION _UPDATE()
-- PRESS X FOR A RANDOM COLOUR
IF (BTNP(5)) COL = 8 + RND(8)
END
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS(1)
CIRCFILL(64,64,32,COL)
END_DRAW() is normally called at 30fps, but if it can not complete in time, PICO-8 will attempt to run at 15fps and call_UPDATE() twice per visible frame to compensate.
When _UPDATE60() Is defined instead of _UPDATE(), PICO-8 will run in 60fps mode:
Both _UPDATE60() and _DRAW() are called at 60fps
half the PICO-8 CPU is available per frame before dropping down to 30fps.
Note that not all host machines are capable of running at 60fps. Older machines, and / or web versions might also request PICO-8 to run at 30 fps (or 15 fps), even when the PICO-8 CPU is not over capacity. In this case, multiple _UPDATE60 calls are made for every_DRAW call in the same way.
Source code can be injected into a program at cartridge boot (but not during runtime), using "#INCLUDE FILENAME", where FILENAME is either a plaintext file (containing Lua code), a tab from another cartridge, or all tabs from another cartridge:
#INCLUDE SOMECODE.LUA
#INCLUDE ONETAB.P8:1
#INCLUDE ALLTABS.P8When the cartridge is run, the contents of each included file is treated as if it had been pasted into the editor in place of that line.
Filenames are relative to the current cartridge (so, need to save first)
- Includes are not performed recursively.
- Normal character count and token limits apply.
When a cartridge is saved as .P8.PNG, or exported to a binary, any included files are flattened and saved with the cartridge so that there are no external dependencies.
#INCLUDE can be used for things like
- Sharing code between cartridge (libraries or common multi-cart code)
- Using an external code editor without needing to edit the .p8 file directly.
- Treating a cartridge as a data file that loads a PICO-8 editing tool to modify it.
- Loading and storing data generated by an external (non-PICO-8) tool.
Common gotchas to watch out for:
- The bottom half of the sprite sheet and bottom half of the map occupy the same memory.
Best use only one or the other if you're unsure how this works. - PICO-8 numbers have limited accuracy and range; the minimum step between numbers is approximately 0.00002 (0x0.0001), with a range of -32768 (-0x8000) to approximately 32767.99999 (0x7fff.ffff)
If you add 1 to a counter each frame, it will overflow after around 18 minutes! - Lua arrays are 1-based by default, not 0-based. FOREACH starts at TBL[1], not TBL[0].
- @COS() and @SIN() take 0..1 instead of 0..PI*2, and @SIN() is inverted.
- @SGN(0) returns 1.
Although PICO-8 does not have a clearly defined CPU, there is a virtual CPU speed of 8MHz, where each lua vm instruction costs around 2 cycles. Built-in operations like drawing sprites also have a CPU cost. This means that a PICO-8 cartridge made on a host machine with a powerful CPU can still be guaranteed to run (reasonably) well on much slower machines, and to not drain too much battery on phones / when running on the web.
To view the CPU load while a cartridge is running, press CTRL-P to toggle a CPU meter, or print out @STAT(1) at the end of each frame.
PICO-8 is built on the Lua programming language, but does not include the Lua standard library. Instead, a small api is offered in keeping with PICO-8's minimal design and limited screen space. For an example program that uses most of the api functions, see /DEMOS/API.P8
Functions are written here as:
FUNCTION_NAME(PARAMETER, [OPTIONAL_PARAMETER])Note that PICO-8 does not have upper or lower case characters -- if you are editing a .p8 or .lua file directly, function names should all be in lower case.
System functions called from commandline can omit the usual brackets and string quotes. For example, instead of LOAD("BLAH.P8"), it is possible to write:
> LOAD BLAH.P8Load or save a cartridge
When loading from a running cartridge, the loaded cartridge is immediately run with parameter string PARAM_STR (accessible with STAT(6)), and a menu item is inserted and named BREADCRUMB, that returns the user to the previous cartridge.
Filenames that start with '#' are taken to be a BBS cart id, that is immediately downloaded and run:
> LOAD("#MYGAME_LEVEL2", "BACK TO MAP", "LIVES="..LIVES)If the id is the cart's parent post, or a revision number is not specified, then the latest version is fetched. BBS carts can be loaded from other BBS carts or local carts, but not from exported carts.
Open the carts folder in the host operating system.
List files in the current directory. When called from a running program, returns a list of all .p8 and .p8.png files in the same directory.
Run from the start of the program.
RUN() Can be called from inside a running program to reset.
When PARAM_STR is supplied, it can be accessed during runtime with STAT(6)
Stop the cart and optionally print a message.
Resume the program. Use R for short.
Use a single "." from the commandline to advance a single frame. This enters frame-by-frame mode, that can be read with stat(110). While frame-by-frame mode is active, entering an empty command (by pressing enter) advances one frames.
If CONDITION is false, stop the program and print MESSAGE if it is given. This can be useful for debugging cartridges, by ASSERT()'ing that things that you expect to be true are indeed true.
ASSERT(ADDR >= 0 AND ADDR <= 0x7FFF, "OUT OF RANGE")
POKE(ADDR, 42) -- THE MEMORY ADDRESS IS OK, FOR SURE!Reboot the machine Useful for starting a new project
Reset the values in RAM from 0x5f00..0x5f7f to their default values. This includes the palette, camera position, clipping and fill pattern. If you get lost at the command prompt because the draw state makes viewing text impossible, try typing RESET! It can also be called from a running program.
Print out some information about the cartridge: Code size, tokens, compressed size
Also displayed:
- UNSAVED CHANGES When the cartridge in memory differs to the one on disk
- EXTERNAL CHANGES When the cartridge on disk has changed since it was loaded (e.g. by editing the program using a separate text editor)
Flip the back buffer to screen and wait for next frame. This call is not needed when there is a @_DRAW() or @_UPDATE() callback defined, as the flip is performed automatically. But when using a custom main loop, a call to FLIP is normally needed:
::_::
CLS()
FOR I=1,100 DO
A=I/50 - T()
X=64+COS(A)*I
Y=64+SIN(A)*I
CIRCFILL(X,Y,1,8+(I/4)%8)
END
FLIP()GOTO _If your program does not call FLIP before a frame is up, and a @_DRAW() callback is not in progress, the current contents of the back buffer are copied to screen.
Print a string to the host operating system's console for debugging.
If filename is set, append the string to a file on the host operating system (in the current directory by default -- use FOLDER to view).
Setting OVERWRITE to true causes that file to be overwritten rather than appended.
Setting SAVE_TO_DESKTOP to true saves to the desktop instead of the current path.
Use a filename of "@clip" to write to the host's clipboard.
Use stat(4) to read the clipboard, but the contents of the clipboard are only available after pressing CTRL-V during runtime (for security).
Returns the number of seconds elapsed since the cartridge was run.
This is not the real-world time, but is calculated by counting the number of times _UPDATE or @_UPDATE60 is called. Multiple calls of TIME() from the same frame return the same result.
Get system status where X is:
| status no. | description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Memory usage (0..2048) |
| 1 | CPU used since last flip (1.0 == 100% CPU) |
| 4 | Clipboard contents (after user has pressed CTRL-V) |
| 6 | Parameter string |
| 7 | Current framerate |
| 46..49 | Index of currently playing SFX on channels 0..3 |
| 50..53 | Note number (0..31) on channel 0..3 |
| 54 | Currently playing pattern index |
| 55 | Total patterns played |
| 56 | Ticks played on current pattern |
| 57 | (Boolean) TRUE when music is playing |
| 80..85 | UTC time: year, month, day, hour, minute, second |
| 90..95 | Local time |
| 100 | Current breadcrumb label, or nil |
| 110 | Returns true when in frame-by-frame mode |
Audio values 16..26 are the legacy version of audio state queries 46..56. They only report on the current state of the audio mixer, which changes only ~20 times a second (depending on the host sound driver and other factors). 46..56 instead stores a history of mixer state at each tick to give a higher resolution estimate of the currently audible state.
Special system command, where CMD_STR is a string:
| string | description |
|---|---|
| "pause" | request the pause menu be opened |
| "reset" | request a cart reset |
| "go_back" | return to the previous cart if there is one |
| "label" | set cart label |
| "screen" | save a screenshot |
| "rec" | set video start point |
| "rec_frames" | set video start point in frames mode |
| "video" | save a .gif to desktop |
| "audio_rec" | start recording audio |
| "audio_end" | save recorded audio to desktop (no supported from web) |
| "shutdown" | quit cartridge (from exported binary) |
| "folder" | open current working folder on the host operating system |
| "set_filename" | set the filename for screenshots / gifs / audio recordings |
| "set_title" | set the host window title |
Some commands have optional number parameters:
- "video" and "screen": P1: an integer scaling factor that overrides the system setting. P2: when > 0, save to the current folder instead of to desktop
- "audio_end" P1: when > 0, save to the current folder instead of to desktop
EXTCMD("REC"), EXTCMD("VIDEO") is the same as using ctrl-8, ctrl-9 and saves a gif to the desktop using the current GIF_SCALE setting (use CONFIG GIF_SCALE to change).
The two additional parameters can be used to override these defaults:
EXTCMD("VIDEO", 4) -- SCALE *4 (512 X 512)
EXTCMD("VIDEO", 0, 1) -- DEFAULT SCALING, SAVE TO USER DATA FOLDERThe user data folder can be opened with EXTCMD("FOLDER") and defaults to the same path as the cartridge, or {pico-8 appdata}/appdata/appname for exported binaries.
Due to the nature of the gif format, all gifs are recorded at 33.3fps, and frames produced by PICO-8 are skipped or duplicated in the gif to match roughly what the user is seeing. To record exactly one frame each time @FLIP() is called, regardless of the runtime framerate or how long it took to generate the frame, use:
EXTCMD("REC_FRAMES")The default filename for gifs (and screenshots, audio) is foo_%d, where foo is the name of the cartridge, and %d is a number starting at 0 and automatically incremented until a file of that name does not exist. Use EXTCMD("SET_FILENAME","FOO") to override that default. If the custom filename includes "%d", then the auto- incrementing number behaviour is used, but otherwise files are written even if there is an existing file with the same name.
PICO-8 has a fixed capacity of 128 8x8 sprites, plus another 128 that overlap with the bottom half of the map data ("shared data"). These 256 sprites are collectively called the sprite sheet, and can be thought of as a 128x128 pixel image.
All of PICO-8's drawing operations are subject to the current draw state. The draw state includes a camera position (for adding an offset to all coordinates), palette mapping (for recolouring sprites), clipping rectangle, a drawing colour, and a fill pattern.
The draw state is reset each time a program is run, or by calling @RESET().
Colour indexes:
0 black 1 dark_blue 2 dark_purple 3 dark_green
4 brown 5 dark_gray 6 light_gray 7 white
8 red 9 orange 10 yellow 11 green
12 blue 13 indigo 14 pink 15 peach
Sets the screen's clipping region in pixels CLIP() to reset When clip_previous is true, clip the new clipping region by the old one.
Sets the pixel at x, y to colour index COL (0..15).
When COL is not specified, the current draw colour is used.
FOR Y=0,127 DO
FOR X=0,127 DO
PSET(X, Y, X*Y/8)
END
ENDReturns the colour of a pixel at (X, Y), or 0 when (X, Y) is outside the clipping region.
WHILE (TRUE) DO
X, Y = RND(128), RND(128)
DX, DY = RND(4)-2, RND(4)-2
PSET(X, Y, PGET(DX+X, DY+Y))
ENDGet or set the colour (COL) of a sprite sheet pixel.
Get or set the value (VAL) of sprite N's flag F.
F is the flag index 0..7.
VAL is TRUE or FALSE.
The initial state of flags 0..7 are settable in the sprite editor, so can be used to create custom sprite attributes. It is also possible to draw only a subset of map tiles by providing a mask in @MAP().
When F is omitted, all flags are retrieved/set as a single bitfield.
FSET(2, 1 | 2 | 8) -- SETS BITS 0,1 AND 3
FSET(2, 4, TRUE) -- SETS BIT 4
PRINT(FGET(2)) -- 27 (1 | 2 | 8 | 16)Print a string STR and optionally set the draw colour to COL.
Shortcut: written on a single line, ? can be used to call print without brackets:
?"HI"When X, Y are not specified, a newline is automatically appended. This can be omitted by ending the string with an explicit termination control character:
?"THE QUICK BROWN FOX\0"Additionally, when X, Y are not specified, printing text below 122 causes the console to scroll. This can be disabled during runtime with POKE(0x5f36,0x40).
PRINT returns the right-most x position that occurred while printing. This can be used to find out the width of some text by printing it off-screen:
W = PRINT("HOGE", 0, -20) -- returns 16See @{Appendix A} (P8SCII) for information about control codes and custom fonts.
Set the cursor position.
If COL is specified, also set the current colour.
Set the current colour to be used by drawing functions.
If COL is not specified, the current colour is set to 6
Clear the screen and reset the clipping rectangle.
COL defaults to 0 (black)
Set a screen offset of -x, -y for all drawing operations
CAMERA() to reset
Draw a circle or filled circle at x,y with radius r
If r is negative, the circle is not drawn
Draw an oval that is symmetrical in x and y (an ellipse), with the given bounding rectangle.
Draw a line from (X0, Y0) to (X1, Y1)
If (X1, Y1) are not given, the end of the last drawn line is used.
Draw a rectangle or filled rectangle with corners at (X0, Y0), (X1, Y1).
PAL() swaps colour c0 for c1 for one of three palette re-mappings (p defaults to 0):
-
Draw Palette The draw palette re-maps colours when they are drawn. For example, an orange flower sprite can be drawn as a red flower by setting the 9th palette value to 8:
PAL(9,8) -- draw subsequent orange (colour 9) pixels as red (colour 8) SPR(1,70,60) -- any orange pixels in the sprite will be drawn with red instead
Changing the draw palette does not affect anything that was already drawn to the screen.
-
Display Palette The display palette re-maps the whole screen when it is displayed at the end of a frame. For example, if you boot PICO-8 and then type PAL(6,14,1), you can see all of the gray (colour 6) text immediate change to pink (colour 14) even though it has already been drawn. This is useful for screen-wide effects such as fading in/out.
-
Secondary Palette Used by @FILLP() for drawing sprites. This provides a mapping from a single 4-bit colour index to two 4-bit colour indexes.
PAL() resets all palettes to system defaults (including transparency values) PAL(P) resets a particular palette (0..2) to system defaults
When the first parameter of pal is a table, colours are assigned for each entry. For example, to re-map colour 12 and 14 to red:
PAL({[12]=9, [14]=8})Or to re-colour the whole screen shades of gray (including everything that is already drawn):
PAL({1,1,5,5,5,6,7,13,6,7,7,6,13,6,7,1}, 1)Because table indexes start at 1, colour 0 is given at the end in this case.
PALT(C, [T])Set transparency for colour index to T (boolean) Transparency is observed by @SPR(), @SSPR(), @MAP() AND @TLINE()
PALT(8, TRUE) -- RED PIXELS NOT DRAWN IN SUBSEQUENT SPRITE/TLINE DRAW CALLSPALT() resets to default: all colours opaque except colour 0
When C is the only parameter, it is treated as a bitfield used to set all 16 values. For example: to set colours 0 and 1 as transparent:
PALT(0B1100000000000000)Draw sprite N (0..255) at position X,Y
W (width) and H (height) are 1, 1 by default and specify how many sprites wide to blit.
Colour 0 drawn as transparent by default (see @PALT())
When FLIP_X is TRUE, flip horizontally.
When FLIP_Y is TRUE, flip vertically.
Stretch an rectangle of the sprite sheet (sx, sy, sw, sh) to a destination rectangle on the screen (sx, sy, dw, dh). In both cases, the x and y values are coordinates (in pixels) of the rectangle's top left corner, with a width of w, h.
Colour 0 drawn as transparent by default (see @PALT())
dw, dh defaults to sw, sh
When FLIP_X is TRUE, flip horizontally.
When FLIP_Y is TRUE, flip vertically.
The PICO-8 fill pattern is a 4x4 2-colour tiled pattern observed by: @CIRC() @CIRCFILL() @RECT() @RECTFILL() @OVAL() @OVALFILL() @PSET() @LINE()
P is a bitfield in reading order starting from the highest bit. To calculate the value of P for a desired pattern, add the bit values together:
.-----------------------.
|32768|16384| 8192| 4096|
|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| 2048| 1024| 512 | 256 |
|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| 128 | 64 | 32 | 16 |
|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
'-----------------------'
For example, FILLP(4+8+64+128+ 256+512+4096+8192) would create a checkerboard pattern.
This can be more neatly expressed in binary: FILLP(0b0011001111001100).
The default fill pattern is 0, which means a single solid colour is drawn.
To specify a second colour for the pattern, use the high bits of any colour parameter:
FILLP(0b0011010101101000)
CIRCFILL(64,64,20, 0x4E) -- brown and pinkAdditional settings are given in bits 0b0.111:
When this bit is set, the second colour is not drawn
-- checkboard with transparent squares
FILLP(0b0011001111001100.1) When set, the fill pattern is applied to sprites (spr, sspr, map, tline), using a colour mapping provided by the secondary palette.
Each pixel value in the sprite (after applying the draw palette as usual) is taken to be an index into the secondary palette. Each entry in the secondary palette contains the two colours used to render the fill pattern. For example, to draw a white and red (7 and 8) checkerboard pattern for only blue pixels (colour 12) in a sprite:
FOR I=0,15 DO PAL(I, I+I*16, 2) END -- all other colours map to themselves
PAL(12, 0x87, 2) -- remap colour 12 in the secondary palette
FILLP(0b0011001111001100.01) -- checkerboard palette, applied to sprites
SPR(1, 64,64) -- draw the spriteWhen set, the secondary palette mapping is also applied by all draw functions that respect fill patterns (circfill, line etc). This can be useful when used in conjunction with sprite drawing functions, so that the colour index of each sprite pixel means the same thing as the colour index supplied to the drawing functions.
FILLP(0b0011001111001100.001)
PAL(12, 0x87, 2)
CIRCFILL(64,64,20,12) -- red and white checkerboard circleThe secondary palette mapping is applied after the regular draw palette mapping. So the following would also draw a red and white checkered circle:
PAL(3,12)
CIRCFILL(64,64,20,3)The fill pattern can also be set by setting bits in any colour parameter:
POKE(0x5F34, 1) -- sets integrated fillpattern + colour mode
CIRCFILL(64,64,20, 0x114E.ABCD) -- sets fill pattern to ABCD- bit 0x1000.0000 means the non-colour bits should be observed
- bit 0x0700.0000 0x1 transparency, 0x2 apply to sprites, 0x4 apply secondary palette
- bits 0x00FF.0000 are the usual colour bits
- bits 0x0000.FFFF are interpreted as the fill pattern
The fill pattern can be applied to sprites (spr, sspr, map, tline) using bit 0b0.01
FILLP(0b0011001111001100.011)With the exception of PAIRS(), the following functions and the # operator apply only to tables that are indexed starting from 1 and do not have NIL entries. All other forms of tables can be considered as hash maps or sets, rather than arrays that have a length.
Add value VAL to the end of table TBL. Equivalent to:
TBL[#TBL + 1] = VALIf index is given then the element is inserted at that position:
FOO={} -- CREATE EMPTY TABLE
ADD(FOO, 11)
ADD(FOO, 22)
PRINT(FOO[2]) -- 22Delete the first instance of value VAL in table TBL. The remaining entries are shifted left one index to avoid holes.
Note that VAL is the value of the item to be deleted, not the index into the table. (To remove an item at a particular index, use DELI instead). DEL returns the deleted item, or returns no value when nothing was deleted.
A={1,10,2,11,3,12}
FOR ITEM IN ALL(A) DO
IF (ITEM < 10) THEN DEL(A, ITEM) END
END
FOREACH(A, PRINT) -- 10,11,12
PRINT(A[3]) -- 12Like @DEL(), but remove the item from table TBL at index I When I is not given, the last element of the table is removed and returned.
Returns the length of table t (same as #TBL) When VAL is given, returns the number of instances of VAL in that table.
Used in FOR loops to iterate over all items in a table (that have a 1-based integer index), in the order they were added.
T = {11,12,13}
ADD(T,14)
ADD(T,"HI")
FOR V IN ALL(T) DO PRINT(V) END -- 11 12 13 14 HI
PRINT(#T) -- 5For each item in table TBL, call function FUNC with the item as a single parameter.
FOREACH({1,2,3}, PRINT)Used in FOR loops to iterate over table TBL, providing both the key and value for each item. Unlike @ALL(), PAIRS() iterates over every item regardless of indexing scheme. Order is not guaranteed.
T = {["HELLO"]=3, [10]="BLAH"}
T.BLUE = 5;
FOR K,V IN PAIRS(T) DO
PRINT("K: "..K.." V:"..V)
ENDOutput:
K: 10 v:BLAH
K: HELLO v:3
K: BLUE v:5
Get button B state for player PL (default 0)
B: 0..5: left right up down button_o button_x
PL: player index 0..7
Instead of using a number for B, it is also possible to use a button glyph. (In the coded editor, use Shift-L R U D O X)
If no parameters supplied, returns a bitfield of all 12 button states for player 0 & 1
P0: bits 0..5 P1: bits 8..13
Default keyboard mappings to player buttons:
player 0: [DPAD]: cursors, [O]: Z C N [X]: X V M
player 1: [DPAD]: SFED, [O]: LSHIFT [X]: TAB W Q A
Although PICO-8 accepts all button combinations, note that it is generally impossible to press both LEFT and RIGHT at the same time on a physical game controller. On some controllers, UP + LEFT/RIGHT is also awkward if [X] or [O] could be used instead of UP (e.g. to jump / accelerate).
BTNP is short for "Button Pressed"; Instead of being true when a button is held down, BTNP returns true when a button is down AND it was not down the last frame. It also repeats after 15 frames, returning true every 4 frames after that (at 30fps -- double that at 60fps). This can be used for things like menu navigation or grid-wise player movement.
The state that BTNP reads is reset at the start of each call to @_UPDATE or @_UPDATE60, so it is preferable to use BTNP from inside one of those functions.
Custom delays (in frames @ 30fps) can be set by poking the following memory addresses:
POKE(0X5F5C, DELAY) -- SET THE INITIAL DELAY BEFORE REPEATING. 255 MEANS NEVER REPEAT.
POKE(0X5F5D, DELAY) -- SET THE REPEATING DELAY.In both cases, 0 can be used for the default behaviour (delays 15 and 4)
Play sfx N (0..63) on CHANNEL (0..3) from note OFFSET (0..31 in notes) for LENGTH notes.
Using negative CHANNEL values have special meanings:
| channel no. | description |
|---|---|
| CHANNEL -1 | (default) to automatically choose a channel that is not being used |
| CHANNEL -2 | to stop the given sound from playing on any channel |
N can be a command for the given CHANNEL (or all channels when CHANNEL < 0):
| sfx no. | description |
|---|---|
| N -1 | to stop sound on that channel |
| N -2 | to release sound on that channel from looping |
SFX(3) -- PLAY SFX 3
SFX(3,2) -- PLAY SFX 3 ON CHANNEL 2
SFX(3,-2) -- STOP SFX 3 FROM PLAYING ON ANY CHANNEL
SFX(-1,2) -- STOP WHATEVER IS PLAYING ON CHANNEL 2
SFX(-2,2) -- RELEASE LOOPING ON CHANNEL 2
SFX(-1) -- STOP ALL SOUNDS ON ALL CHANNELS
SFX(-2) -- RELEASE LOOPING ON ALL CHANNELSPlay music starting from pattern N (0..63) N -1 to stop music
FADE_LEN is in ms (default: 0). So to fade pattern 0 in over 1 second:
MUSIC(0, 1000)CHANNEL_MASK specifies which channels to reserve for music only. For example, to play only on channels 0..2:
MUSIC(0, NIL, 7) -- 1 | 2 | 4Reserved channels can still be used to play sound effects on, but only when that channel index is explicitly requested by @SFX().
The PICO-8 map is a 128x32 grid of 8-bit cells, or 128x64 when using the shared memory. When using the map editor, the meaning of each cell is taken to be an index into the sprite sheet (0..255). However, it can instead be used as a general block of data.
Get or set map value (VAL) at X,Y
When X,Y is outside of the map range, MSET returns 0.
Draw section of map (starting from CELL_X, CELL_Y) at screen position SX, SY (pixels).
To draw a 4x2 blocks of cells starting from 0,0 in the map, to the screen at 20,20:
MAP(0, 0, 20, 20, 4, 2) CELL_W and CELL_H default to 128,32 (the top half of the map). To draw the whole map, including the bottom half shared with the sprite sheet, use:
MAP(0, 0, 0, 0, 128, 64)MAP() is often used in conjunction with CAMERA(). To draw the map so that a player object (at PL.X in PL.Y in pixels) is centered:
CAMERA(PL.X - 64, PL.Y - 64)
MAP()LAYERS is a bitfield. When given, only sprites with matching sprite flags are drawn. For example, when LAYERS is 0x5, only sprites with flag 0 and 2 are drawn.
Sprite 0 is taken to mean "empty" and is not drawn. To disable this behaviour, use:
POKE(0x5F36, 0x8)Draw a textured line from (X0,Y0) to (X1,Y1), sampling colour values from the map. When LAYERS is specified, only sprites with matching flags are drawn (similar to MAP())
MX, MY are map coordinates to sample from, given in tiles. Colour values are sampled from the 8x8 sprite present at each map tile. For example:
2.0, 1.0 means the top left corner of the sprite at position 2,1 on the map
2.5, 1.5 means pixel (4,4) of the same sprite
MDX, MDY are deltas added to mx, my after each pixel is drawn. (Defaults to 0.125, 0)
The map coordinates (MX, MY) are masked by values calculated by subtracting 0x0.0001 from the values at address 0x5F38 and 0x5F39. In simpler terms, this means you can loop a section of the map by poking the width and height you want to loop within, as long as they are powers of 2 (2,4,8,16..)
For example, to loop every 8 tiles horizontally, and every 4 tiles vertically:
POKE(0x5F38, 8)
POKE(0x5F39, 4)
TLINE(...)The default values (0,0) gives a masks of 0xff.ffff, which means that the samples will loop every 256 tiles.
An offset to sample from (also in tiles) can also be specified at addresses 0x5f3a, 0x5f3b:
POKE(0x5F3A, OFFSET_X)
POKE(0x5F3B, OFFSET_Y)Sprite 0 is taken to mean "empty" and not drawn. To disable this behaviour, use:
POKE(0x5F36, 0x8)PICO-8 has 3 types of memory:
- Base RAM (64k): see layout below. Access with PEEK() POKE() MEMCPY() MEMSET()
- Cart ROM (32k): same layout as base ram until 0x4300
- Lua RAM (2MB): compiled program + variables
Technical note: While using the editor, the data being modified is in cart rom, but api functions such as @SPR() and @SFX() only operate on base ram. PICO-8 automatically copies cart rom to base ram (i.e. calls @RELOAD()) in 3 cases:
- When a cartridge is loaded
- When a cartridge is run
- When exiting any of the editor modes (can turn off with: poke(0x5f37,1))
| address | content |
|---|---|
| 0X0 | GFX |
| 0X1000 | GFX2/MAP2 (SHARED) |
| 0X2000 | MAP |
| 0X3000 | GFX FLAGS |
| 0X3100 | SONG |
| 0X3200 | SFX |
| 0X4300 | USER DATA |
| 0X5600 | CUSTOM FONT (IF ONE IS DEFINED) |
| 0X5E00 | PERSISTENT CART DATA (256 BYTES) |
| 0X5F00 | DRAW STATE |
| 0X5F40 | HARDWARE STATE |
| 0X5F80 | GPIO PINS (128 BYTES) |
| 0X6000 | SCREEN (8K) |
| 0x8000 | USER DATA |
User data has no particular meaning and can be used for anything via @MEMCPY(), @PEEK() & @POKE(). Persistent cart data is mapped to 0x5e00..0x5eff but only stored if @CARTDATA() has been called. Colour format (gfx/screen) is 2 pixels per byte: low bits encode the left pixel of each pair. Map format is one byte per cel, where each byte normally encodes a sprite index.
The GFX, MAP and SCREEN memory areas can be reassigned by setting values at the following addresses:
| address | name | description |
|---|---|---|
| 0X5F54 | GFX | can be 0x00 (default) or 0x60 (use the screen memory as the spritesheet) |
| 0X5F55 | SCREEN | can be 0x60 (default) or 0x00 (use the spritesheet as screen memory) |
| 0X5F56 | MAP | can be 0x20 (default) or 0x10..0x2f, or 0x80 and above. |
| 0X5F57 | MAP SIZE | map width. 0 means 256. Defaults to 128. |
Addresses can be expressed in 256 byte increments. So 0x20 means 0x2000, 0x21 means 0x2100 etc. Map addresses 0x30..0x3f are taken to mean 0x10..0x1f (shared memory area) Map data can only be contained inside the memory regions 0x1000..0x2fff, 0x8000..0xffff, and the map height is determined to be the largest possible size that fits in the given region.
Read a byte from an address in base ram. If N is specified, PEEK() returns that number of results (max: 8192). For example, to read the first 2 bytes of video memory:
A, B = PEEK(0x6000, 2)Write one or more bytes to an address in base ram. If more than one parameter is provided, they are written sequentially (max: 8192).
16-bit and 32-bit versions of PEEK and POKE. Read and write one number (VAL) in little-endian format:
16 bit: 0xffff.0000
32 bit: 0xffff.ffff
ADDR does not need to be aligned to 2 or 4-byte boundaries.
Alternatively, the following operators can be used to peek (but not poke), and are slightly faster:
@ADDR -- PEEK(ADDR)
%ADDR -- PEEK2(ADDR)
$ADDR -- PEEK4(ADDR)Copy LEN bytes of base ram from source to dest. Sections can be overlapping
Same as MEMCPY, but copies from cart rom.
The code section ( >= 0x4300) is protected and can not be read.
If filename specified, load data from a separate cartridge. In this case, the cartridge must be local (BBS carts can not be read in this way).
Same as memcpy, but copies from base ram to cart rom.
CSTORE() is equivalent to CSTORE(0, 0, 0x4300)
The code section ( >= 0x4300) is protected and can not be written to.
If FILENAME is specified, the data is written directly to that cartridge on disk. Up to 64 cartridges can be written in one session. See@{Cartridge Data} for more information.
Write the 8-bit value VAL into memory starting at DEST_ADDR, for LEN bytes.
For example, to fill half of video memory with 0xC8:
> MEMSET(0x6000, 0xC8, 0x1000)Returns the maximum, minimum, or middle value of parameters
?MID(7,5,10) -- 7?FLR ( 4.1) --> 4
?FLR (-2.3) --> -3Returns the closest integer that is equal to or below x
?CEIL( 4.1) --> 5
?CEIL(-2.3) --> -2Returns the cosine or sine of x, where 1.0 means a full turn. For example, to animate a dial that turns once every second:
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS()
CIRC(64, 64, 20, 7)
X = 64 + COS(T()) * 20
Y = 64 + SIN(T()) * 20
LINE(64, 64, X, Y)
ENDPICO-8's SIN() returns an inverted result to suit screenspace (where Y means "DOWN", as opposed to mathematical diagrams where Y typically means "UP").
SIN(0.25) -- RETURNS -1To get conventional radian-based trig functions without the y inversion, paste the following snippet near the start of your program:
P8COS = COS FUNCTION COS(ANGLE) RETURN P8COS(ANGLE/(3.1415*2)) END
P8SIN = SIN FUNCTION SIN(ANGLE) RETURN -P8SIN(ANGLE/(3.1415*2)) ENDConverts DX, DY into an angle from 0..1
As with cos/sin, angle is taken to run anticlockwise in screenspace. For example:
?ATAN(0, -1) -- RETURNS 0.25ATAN2 can be used to find the direction between two points:
X=20 Y=30
FUNCTION _UPDATE()
IF (BTN(0)) X-=2
IF (BTN(1)) X+=2
IF (BTN(2)) Y-=2
IF (BTN(3)) Y+=2
END
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS()
CIRCFILL(X,Y,2,14)
CIRCFILL(64,64,2,7)
A=ATAN2(X-64, Y-64)
PRINT("ANGLE: "..A)
LINE(64,64,
64+COS(A)*10,
64+SIN(A)*10,7)
ENDReturn the square root of x
Returns the absolute (positive) value of x
Returns a random number n, where 0 <= n < x
If you want an integer, use flr(rnd(x)). If x is an array-style table, return a random element between table[1] and table[#table].
Sets the random number seed. The seed is automatically randomized on cart startup.
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS()
SRAND(33)
FOR I=1,100 DO
PSET(RND(128),RND(128),7)
END
ENDBitwise operations are similar to logical expressions, except that they work at the bit level.
Say you have two numbers (written here in binary using the "0b" prefix):
X = 0b1010
Y = 0b0110A bitwise AND will give you bits set when the corresponding bits in X /and/ Y are both set
PRINT(BAND(X,Y)) -- RESULT:0B0010 (2 IN DECIMAL)There are 9 bitwise functions available in PICO-8:
BAND(X, Y) -- BOTH BITS ARE SET
BOR(X, Y) -- EITHER BIT IS SET
BXOR(X, Y) -- EITHER BIT IS SET, BUT NOT BOTH OF THEM
BNOT(X) -- EACH BIT IS NOT SET
SHL(X, N) -- SHIFT LEFT N BITS (ZEROS COME IN FROM THE RIGHT)
SHR(X, N) -- ARITHMETIC RIGHT SHIFT (THE LEFT-MOST BIT STATE IS DUPLICATED)
LSHR(X, N) -- LOGICAL RIGHT SHIFT (ZEROS COMES IN FROM THE LEFT)
ROTL(X, N) -- ROTATE ALL BITS IN X LEFT BY N PLACES
ROTR(X, N) -- ROTATE ALL BITS IN X RIGHT BY N PLACESOperator versions are also available: & | ^^ ~ << >> >>> <<> >><
For example: PRINT(67 & 63) -- result:3 equivalent to BAND(67,63)
Operators are slightly faster than their corresponding functions. They behave exactly the same, except that if any operands are not numbers the result is a runtime error (the function versions instead default to a value of 0).
Integer division can be performed with a \
PRINT(9\2) -- RESULT:4 EQUIVALENT TO FLR(9/2)Add an extra item to the pause menu
Index should be 1..5 and determines the order each menu item is displayed label should be a string up to 16 characters long callback is a function called when the item is selected by the users.
When no label or function is supplied, the menu item is removed
MENUITEM(1, "RESTART PUZZLE",
FUNCTION() RESET_PUZZLE() SFX(10) END
)If the callback returns true, the pause menu remains open. The callback takes a single parameter that is a bitfield of L,R,X button presses
MENUITEM(1, "FOO",
FUNCTION(B) IF (B&1 > 0) THEN PRINTH("LEFT WAS PRESSED") END END
)Strings in Lua are written either in single or double quotes or with matching brackets:
S = "THE QUICK"
S = 'BROWN FOX';
S = [[
JUMPS OVER
MULTIPLE LINES
]]The length of a string (number of characters) can be retrieved using the # operator:
PRINT(#S)
Strings can be joined using the .. operator. Joining numbers converts them to strings.
PRINT("THREE "..4) --> "THREE 4"When used as part of an arithmetic expression, string values are converted to numbers:
PRINT(2+"3") --> 5Convert VAL to a string.
FORMAT_FLAGS is a bitfield:
0x1: Write the raw hexadecimal value of numbers, functions or tables.
0x2: Write VAL as a signed 32-bit integer by shifting it left by 16 bits.
TOSTR(NIL) returns "[nil]"
TOSTR() returns ""
TOSTR(17) -- "17"
TOSTR(17,0x1) -- "0x0011.0000"
TOSTR(17,0x3) -- "0x00110000"
TOSTR(17,0x2) -- "1114112"Converts VAL to a number.
TONUM("17.5") -- 17.5
TONUM(17.5) -- 17.5
TONUM("HOGE") -- NO RETURN VALUEFORMAT_FLAGS is a bitfield:
| flag | description |
|---|---|
| 0x1 | Read the string as written in (unsigned, integer) hexadecimal without the "0x" prefix. Non-hexadecimal characters are taken to be '0'. |
| 0x2 | Read the string as a signed 32-bit integer, and shift right 16 bits. |
| 0x4 | When VAL can not be converted to a number, return 0 |
TONUM("FF", 0x1) -- 255
TONUM("1114112", 0x2) -- 17
TONUM("1234abcd", 0x3) -- 0x1234.abcdConvert one or more ordinal character codes to a string.
When
CHR(64) -- "@"
CHR(104,101,108,108,111) -- "@"Convert one or more characters from string STR to their ordinal (0..255) character codes.
Use the INDEX parameter to specify which character in the string to use. When INDEX is out of range or str is not a string, ORD returns nil.
When NUM_RESULTS is given, ORD returns multiple values starting from INDEX.
ORD("@") -- 64
ORD("123",2) -- 50 (THE SECOND CHARACTER: "2")
ORD("123",2,3) -- 50,51,52Grab a substring from string str, from pos0 up to and including pos1. When POS1 is not specified, the remainder of the string is returned. When POS1 is specified, but not a number, a single character at POS0 is returned.
S = "THE QUICK BROWN FOX"
PRINT(SUB(S,5,9)) --> "QUICK"
PRINT(SUB(S,5)) --> "QUICK BROWN FOX"
PRINT(SUB(S,5,_)) --> "Q"Split a string into a table of elements delimited by the given separator (defaults to ","). When separator is a number n, the string is split into n-character groups. When convert_numbers is true, numerical tokens are stored as numbers (defaults to true). Empty elements are stored as empty strings.
SPLIT("1,2,3") -- {1,2,3}
SPLIT("ONE:TWO:3",":",FALSE) -- {"ONE","TWO","3"}
SPLIT("1,,2,") -- {1,"",2,""}Returns the type of val as a string.
> PRINT(TYPE(3))
NUMBER
> PRINT(TYPE("3"))
STRINGUsing @CARTDATA(), @DSET(), AND @DGET(), 64 numbers (256 bytes) of persistent data can be stored on the user's PICO-8 that persists after the cart is unloaded or PICO-8 is shutdown. This can be used as a lightweight way to store things like high scores or to save player progress. It can also be used to share data across cartridges / cartridge versions.
If more than 256 bytes is needed, it is also possible to write directly to the cartridge using @CSTORE(). The disadvantage is that the data is tied to that particular version of the cartridge. e.g. if a game is updated, players will lose their savegames. Also, some space in the data sections of the cartridge need to be left available to use as storage.
Another alternative is to write directly to a second cartridge by specifying a fourth parameter to @CSTORE(). This requires a cart swap (which in reality only means the user needs to watch a spinny cart animation for 1 second).
CSTORE(0,0,0X2000, "SPRITE SHEET.P8")
-- LATER, RESTORE THE SAVED DATA:
RELOAD(0,0,0X2000, "SPRITE SHEET.P8")CARTDATA(ID)
Opens a permanent data storage slot indexed by ID that can be used to store and retrieve up to 256 bytes (64 numbers) worth of data using @DSET() and @DGET().
CARTDATA("ZEP_DARK_FOREST")
DSET(0, SCORE)ID is a string up to 64 characters long, and should be unusual enough that other cartridges do not accidentally use the same id. Legal characters are a..z, 0..9 and underscore (_)
Returns true if data was loaded, otherwise false.
CARTDATA can be called once per cartridge execution, and so only a single data slot can be used.
Once a cartdata ID has been set, the area of memory 0X5E00..0X5EFF is mapped to permanent storage, and can either be accessed directly or via @DGET()/@DSET().
There is no need to flush written data -- it is automatically saved to permanent storage even if modified by directly @POKE()'ing 0X5E00..0X5EFF.
Get the number stored at INDEX (0..63)
Use this only after you have called @CARTDATA()
Set the number stored at index (0..63)
Use this only after you have called @CARTDATA()
GPIO stands for "General Purpose Input Output", and allows machines to communicate with each other. PICO-8 maps bytes in the range 0x5f80..0x5fff to gpio pins that can be
POKE()ed (to output a value -- e.g. to make an LED light up) or @PEEK()ed (e.g. to read the state of a switch).
GPIO means different things for different host platforms:
| platform | mapping |
|---|---|
| CHIP | 0x5f80..0x5f87 mapped to xio-p0..xio-p7 |
| Pocket CHIP | 0x5f82..0x5f87 mapped to GPIO1..GPIO6. xio-p0 & p1 are exposed inside the prototyping area inside the case. |
| Raspberry Pi | 0x5f80..0x5f9f mapped to wiringPi pins 0..31. see http://wiringpi.com/pins/ for mappings on different models. also: watch out for BCM vs. WiringPi GPIO indexing! |
CHIP and Raspberry Pi values are all digital: 0 (LOW) and 255 (HIGH)
A program to blink any LEDs attached on and off:
T = 0
FUNCTION _DRAW()
CLS(5)
FOR I=0,7 DO
VAL = 0
IF (T % 2 < 1) VAL = 255
POKE(0X5F80 + I, VAL)
CIRCFILL(20+I*12,64,4,VAL/11)
END
T += 0.1
ENDFor more precise timing, the @SERIAL() command can be used. GPIO writes are buffered and dispatched at the end of each frame, allowing clock cycling at higher and/or more regular speeds than is possible by manually bit-banging using @POKE() calls.
| CHANNEL | description |
|---|---|
| 0x000..0x0fe | corresponds to gpio pin numbers; send 0x00 for LOW or 0xFF for HIGH |
| 0x0ff | delay; length is taken to mean "duration" in microseconds (excl. overhead) |
| 0x400..0x401 | ws281x LED string (experimental) |
ADDRESS: The PICO-8 memory location to read from / write to.
LENGTH: Number of bytes to send. 1/8ths are allowed to send partial bit strings.
For example, to send a byte one bit at a time to a typical APA102 LED string:
VAL = 42 -- VALUE TO SEND
DAT = 16 CLK = 15 -- DATA AND CLOCK PINS DEPEND ON DEVICE
POKE(0X4300,0) -- DATA TO SEND (SINGLE BYTES: 0 OR 0XFF)
POKE(0X4301,0XFF)
FOR B=0,7 DO
-- SEND THE BIT (HIGH FIRST)
SERIAL(DAT, BAND(VAL, SHL(1,7-B))>0 AND 0X4301 OR 0X4300, 1)
-- CYCLE THE CLOCK
SERIAL(CLK, 0X4301)
SERIAL(0XFF, 5) -- DELAY 5
SERIAL(CLK, 0X4300)
SERIAL(0XFF, 5) -- DELAY 5
ENDAdditional channels are available for bytestreams to and from the host operating system. These are intended to be most useful for UNIX-like environments while developing toolchains, and are not available while running a BBS or exported cart [1]. Maximum transfer rate in all cases is 64k/sec (blocks cpu).
| CHANNEL | description |
|---|---|
| 0x800 | dropped file (stat(120) returns TRUE when data is available) |
| 0x802 | dropped image (stat(121) returns TRUE when data is available) |
| 0x804 | stdin |
| 0x805 | stdout |
| 0x806 | file specified with: pico8 -i filename |
| 0x807 | file specified with: pico8 -o filename |
Image files dropped into PICO-8 show up on channel 0x802 as a bytestream with a special format: The first 4 bytes are the image's width and height (2 bytes each little-endian, like PEEK2), followed by the image in reading order, one byte per pixel, colour-fitted to the display palette at the time the file was dropped.
[1] Channels 0x800 and 0x802 are available from exported binaries, but with a maximum file size of 256k, or 128x128 for images.
Cartridges exported as HTML / .js use a global array of integers (pico8_gpio) to represent gpio pins. The shell HTML should define the array:
var pico8_gpio = Array(128);EXPERIMENTAL -- but mostly working on all platforms
Mouse and keyboard input can be achieved by enabling devkit input mode:
POKE(0x5F2D, flags) -- where flags are:| flag | description |
|---|---|
| 0x1 | Enable |
| 0x2 | Mouse buttons trigger btn(4)..btn(6) |
| 0x4 | Pointer lock (use stat 38..39 to read movements) |
Note that not every PICO-8 will have a keyboard or mouse attached to it, so when posting carts to the Lexaloffle BBS, it is encouraged to make keyboard and/or mouse control optional and off by default, if possible. When devkit input mode is enabled, a message is displayed to BBS users warning them that the program may be expecting input beyond the standard 6-button controllers.
The state of the mouse and keyboard can be found in stat(x):
STAT(30) -- (Boolean) True when a keypress is available
STAT(31) -- (String) character returned by keyboard
STAT(32) -- Mouse X
STAT(33) -- Mouse Y
STAT(34) -- Mouse buttons (bitfield)
STAT(36) -- Mouse wheel event
STAT(38) -- Relative x movement (in host desktop pixels) -- requires flag 0x4
STAT(39) -- Relative y movement (in host desktop pixels) -- requires flag 0x4PICO-8 also exposes 2 features of Lua for advanced users: Metatables and Coroutines.
For more information, please refer to the Lua 5.2 manual.
Metatables can be used to define the behaviour of objects under particular operations. For example, to use tables to represent 2D vectors that can be added together, the '+' operator is redefined by defining an "__add" function for the metatable:
VEC2D={
__ADD=FUNCTION(A,B)
RETURN {X=(A.X+B.X), Y=(A.Y+B.Y)}
END
}
V1={X=2,Y=9} SETMETATABLE(V1, VEC2D)
V2={X=1,Y=5} SETMETATABLE(V2, VEC2D)
V3 = V1+V2
PRINT(V3.X..","..V3.Y) -- 3,14Set table TBL metatable to M
return the current metatable for table t, or nil if none is set
Raw access to the table, as if no metamethods were defined.
The list of function arguments can be specifed with ...
FUNCTION PREPRINT(PRE, S, ...)
LOCAL S2 = PRE..TOSTR(S)
PRINT(S2, ...) -- PASS THE REMAINING ARGUMENTS ON TO PRINT()
ENDTo accept a variable number of arguments, use them to define a table and/or use Lua's select() function. select(index, ...) returns all of the arguments after index.
FUNCTION FOO(...)
LOCAL ARGS={...} -- BECOMES A TABLE OF ARGUMENTS
FOREACH(ARGS, PRINT)
?SELECT("#",...) -- ALTERNATIVE WAY TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS
FOO2(SELECT(3,...)) -- PASS ARGUMENTS FROM 3 ONWARDS TO FOO2()
ENDCoroutines offer a way to run different parts of a program in a somewhat concurrent way, similar to threads. A function can be called as a coroutine, suspended with
FUNCTION HEY()
PRINT("DOING SOMETHING")
YIELD()
PRINT("DOING THE NEXT THING")
YIELD()
PRINT("FINISHED")
END
C = COCREATE(HEY)
FOR I=1,3 DO CORESUME(C) ENDCreate a coroutine for function f.
Run or continue the coroutine c. Parameters p0, p1.. are passed to the coroutine's function.
Returns true if the coroutine completes without any errors Returns false, error_message if there is an error.
** Runtime errors that occur inside coroutines do not cause the program to stop running. It is a good idea to wrap CORESUME() inside an @ASSERT(). If the assert fails, it will print the error message generated by coresume.
Return the status of coroutine C as a string:
- "running"
- "suspended"
- "dead"
Suspend execution and return to the caller.
When printed with @PRINT(), some characters have a special meaning that can be used to alter things like the cursor position and text rendering style. Control characters in PICO-8 are CHR(0)..CHR(15) and can be written as an escaped sequence ("\n" for newline etc.)
Some of the control codes below take parameters which are written using a scheme that is a superset of hexadecimal format. That is, '0'..'f' also mean 0..15. But characters after 'f' are also accepted: 'g' means 16 and so on. Such parameters are written below as P0, P1.
For example, to print with a blue background ("#c") and dark gray foreground ("\f5"):
PRINT("\#C\F5 BLUE ")The only side-effects on the draw state are changes in cursor position and foreground color all other attributes are reset each time @PRINT() is called.
| code | description |
|---|---|
| 0 "\0" | terminate printing |
| 1 "*" | repeat next character P0 times. ?"*3a" --> aaa |
| 2 "#" | draw solid background with colour P0 |
| 3 "-" | shift cursor horizontally by P0-16 pixels |
| 4 "|" | shift cursor vertically by P0-16 pixels |
| 5 "+" | shift cursor by P0-16, P1-16 pixels |
| 6 "^" | special command (see below) |
| 7 "\a" | audio (see below) |
| 8 "\b" | backspace |
| 9 "\t" | tab |
| a "\n" | newline |
| b "\v" | decorate previous character (see below) |
| c "\f" | set foreground colour |
| d "\r" | carriage return |
| e "\014" | switch to font defined at 0x5600 |
| f "\015" | switch to default font |
These commands all start with "^" and take up to 2 parameters (P0, P1) For example, to clear screen to dark blue: print("^c1")
| command | description |
|---|---|
| 1..9 | skip 1,2,4,8,16,32..256 frames |
| c | cls to colour P0, set cursor to 0,0 |
| d | set delay to P0 frames for every character printed |
| g | set cursor position to home |
| h | set home to cursor position |
| j | jump to absolute P04, P14 (in screen pixels) |
| r | set rhs character wrap boundary to P0*4 |
| s | set tab stop width to P0 pixels (used by "\t") |
| x | set character width (default: 4) |
| y | set character height (default: 6) |
prefix these with "-" to disable: e.g. ?"^i on ^-i off "
| command | description |
|---|---|
| w | wide mode: scales by 2x1 |
| t | tall mode: scales by 1x2 |
| = | stripey mode: when wide or tall, draw only even pixels |
| p | pinball mode: equivalent to setting wide, tall and stripey |
| i | invert |
| b | border: toggle 1px padding on left and top // on by default |
| # | solid background // off by default, but enabled automatically by # |
The following two commands take 4-character hex parameters:
| command | description |
|---|---|
| @addrnnnn[binstr] | poke nnnn bytes to address addr |
| !addr[binstr] | poke all remaining characters to address addr |
For example, to write 4 bytes to video memory halfway down the screen:
?"\^@70000004xxxxhello"Character data can be specified and printed in-line using ^. followed by 8 bytes of raw binary data, or ^: followed by 8 2-digit hexadecimal values. The data format is the same as custom fonts; each byte specifies a row of 1-bit pixel values, with the low bit on the left.
\^.[8 chars of raw binary data]
\^:[16 chars of hexadecimal]
To print a cat:
?"\^:447cb67c3e7f0106"?"\A" -- SINGLE BEEP
?"\A12" -- PLAY EXISTING DATA AT SFX 12If an sfx index is not specified, a non-active sfx between 60..63 is selected automatically. To fill the SFX with data before playback, the following commands can then be appended.
-
(optional) SFX attributes must appear once at the start as they apply to the whole sound:
attributes description s P0 set the sfx speed l P0 P1 set the sfx loop start and end points -
Note data:
Note are written as a..g, optionally followed by a sharp # or flat -, and octave number.
PRINT "\ACE-G" -- MINOR TRIAD
Empty notes Can be written with a dot:
PRINT "\AC..E-..G" -- STACCATO MINOR TRIAD
Note attribute commands apply to following notes:
attributes description i P0 set the instrument (default: 5) v P0 set the volume (default: 5) x P0 set the effect (default: 0) For example, to play a fast (speed 4), staccato (effect 5) arpeggio starting at C1:
PRINT "\AS4X5C1EGC2EGC3EGC4"
The control character \v can be used to decorate the last printed character with another character at a given offset, without needing to otherwise manage the cursor position. After the decorating character is printed, the previous cursor position is restored.
The format is \v P0 char, where P0 is a number giving the desired offset, and char is any character to print at that offset (relative to the previous printed character).
The offset has x packed into the lowest 2 bits, and starts (-2,-8) in reading order. So 3 means (+1, -8), 4 means (-2, -7) and so on.
For example, to write "café!", using a comma to draw the acute accent:
PRINT"\NCAFE\VB,!"In this case P0 is 'b', which is read as the number 11. So the comma is drawn at:
x = (11%4)-2 = 1
y = (11\4)-8 = -6A custom font can be defined at 0x5600, consisting of 8 bytes per character * 256 characters = 2048 bytes. Each character is an 8x8 bitfield (1 bit/pixel), where starting from the top, each row is a single byte starting with 0x1 on the left.
The first five bytes (character 0 is never drawn) describes attributes of the font: | address | description | | 0x5600 | character width in pixels (can be more than 8, but only 8 pixels are drawn)| | 0x5601 | character width for character 128 and above| | 0x5602 | character height in pixels| | 0x5603 | draw offset x| | 0x5604 | draw offset y|
Although attributes are reset every time @PRINT() is called, it is possible to set their default values by writing to memory addresses 0x5f58..0x5f5b.
-
0x5f58 // bitfield
value description 0x1 when set to 0x1, bits 1..7 are observed 0x2 padding 0x4 wide 0x8 tall 0x10 solid background 0x20 invert 0x40 stripey (when wide or tall) 0x80 use custom font e.g. poke(0x5f58, 0x1 | 0x2 | 0x4 | 0x8 | 0x20 | 0x40) -- pinball everywhere
-
0x5f59 char_w (low nibble), char_h (high)
-
0x5f5a char_w2 (low nibble), tab_w (high)
-
0x5f5b offset_x (low nibble), offset_y (high)
any nibbles equal to 0 are ignored // tab_w values are mapped to 4..64
- Added: save @url -- stores code + gfx as a URL if it can be encoded in 2040 characters
- Added: html exports store volume/mute and other settings
- Added: ctrl-g in sprite editor to toggle grid lines when zoomed in
- Added: IMPORT -L FOO.PNG to import a 128x128 png to the cartridge label
- Added: EXPORT -L FOO.PNG to export a 128x128 png of the cartridge label
- Added: EXPORT -T FOO.P8.ROM to export only code section (t for tiny)
- Added: ctrl-click on character count (bottom right) to see the twitter count (glyphs count as 2)
- Added: __meta:*__ section to .p8 format -- can be used by external tools to store custom data
- Added: extcmd("audio_rec") works from exported binaries, and with custom exported filenames
- Added: read_controllers_in_background in config.txt (0 by default)
- Changed: .p8.rom files that are 0x3d00 bytes or less are loaded into code section
- Changed: saved filenames can not include gylphs, or any of !"#$%&'()*+,-:;<=>?[]^`{|}~
- Fixed: can't drag and drop png into sprite editor
- Fixed: binary exports: ctrl-r causes crash when there is no whitespace at end of source code
- Fixed: Using -run switch to launch a cart that fails to run -> get stuck in boot screen.
- Fixed: selection after ctrl-a reports length chars+1
- Fixed: draw palette is not observed after changing colours using p8scii control characters
- Fixed: music playback does not follow cursor after first pattern change (regression in 0.2.4b)
- Fixed: transform_screen (config.txt) not observed by pause menus and other overlayed elements
- Fixed: Double-clicking sfx thumbnail (in sfx overview screen) only works after playing music
- Fixed: Pressing [a] to release looping sfx in sfx editor is broken
- Fixed: sfx(46)..sfx(56) return -1 immediately after playing music but before host OS has called audio mixer
- Fixed: Tokens counted as 2 instead of 1: ..= ^= >><= <<>=
- Fixed: Negative number counted as 2 tokens instead of one when preceeded by: \ & | ^^ << >> >>> >>< <<>
- Fixed: tostr(tbl) / print(tbl) acts like tostr(tbl, 1) when tbl has a metatable
- Fixed: ?"\tx" does not advance to next tab stop
- Fixed: ?"a\*5\nb" does not repeat newline 5 times
- Fixed: exported label alpha is 0 for colour 0
- Added: l in sprite sheet navigator to set loop start / end points (then q,w or a,z to navigate)
- Added: ctrl-b in gfx editor to paste 2x2 original size ("paste big")
- Added: DEL / backspace to clear selected region in gfx / map editors, and ctrl-x to cut
- Added: aggressive_backups option in config.txt (off by default)
- Added: transform_screen in config.txt to globally rotate / flip the video output
- Added: stat(57) (boolean) true when music triggered by music() is playing or about to start
- Changed: memset() faster than using peek4/poke4; now 2 cycles per byte at 8MHz (was 4)
- Changed: "running at < 30fps" warning on boot now only for raspi builds, and w/ higher tolerance
- Changed: Controller inputs are accepted even when PICO-8 is not the foreground application
- Changed: Map can be located at 0x1000 .. 0x2f00 using poke(0x5f56, 0x11) .. poke(0x5f56,0x2f)
- Changed: Dotty text mode is now "^=" ("Stripey") instead of "^." // #gunayawuho #klax #impossible
- Fixed: (not confirmed) crash causing 0-byte .p8 when audio mixer is called during save / run
- Fixed: preprocessor not counting comments as white space; should allow: ".. end--[[]]if .."
- Fixed: pal(nil) behaving the same way as pal(0); should be same as pal() // broke #rtype-2
- Fixed: note entry in sfx tracker is silent after running cartridge until pressing space to playback
- Fixed: sub("abc", 4, 4) returns "c" (regression in 0.2.4)
- Fixed: SPLORE cart update prompt does not appear when server replies too quickly (race condition)
- Fixed: SPLORE cart update prompt only checks version once per session (can't refresh until it shows up)
- Fixed: EXPORT command does not flatten includes when exporting to .p8.png / .p8.rom format
- Fixed: EXPORT command discards source code changes since last run or load
- Fixed: printing a one-off glyph using "^." terminates the whole string when last byte is a zero
- Fixed: Crash when loading a cart with fewer tabs, then creating a new tab and pasting.
- Fixed: . command runs at 30fps even for a 60fps cart (-> _update60 is called twice,_draw once)
- Fixed: Custom menu items become broken after suspending a cart, entering a lua command, and then resuming
- Fixed: memset() with a non-zero value in shared memory region (0x1000..0x1fff) causes garbage corresponding mget() values
- Fixed: web player/exports: ctrl-r causes erroneous "external changes reloaded" message and code corruption
- Added: Video and spritesheet memory addresses can be mapped to each other
- Added: Map memory address can be mapped to 0x8000 // POKE(0x5f56, 0x80)
- Added: stat(46)..stat(56): higher resolution and more accurate reporting of audio state
- Added: Print one-off characters with ?"^:447cb67c3e7f0106 hey" (or "^." for binary data)
- Added: chr() can take multiple arguments to construct an arbitrarily long string
- Added: sub(str, pos, _) to get a single character at position pos
- Added: Warning on boot when PICO-8 is running below 30fps
- Added: Automatic scrolling caused by print() (with no x,y given) can be disabled with POKE(0x5f36,0x40)
- Added: .p8.rom format can be used by cstore(), reload() and in multicarts
- Added: EXPORT accepts .p8 .p8.png .p8.rom formats (can be used to save a copy, or convert from commandline)
- Added: 64-bit RaspberryPi OS Builds and Exporters
- Added: ASCII .txt version of manual included in archives & on website (synced with new html version)
- Added: Auto-hide mouse cursor when typing (adjustable in config.txt)
- Changed: .p8.rom file format can be less than 32k -- is padded with zeros to 32k on load
- Changed: sub() costs some cpu based on the length of the string
- Changed: Shorthand if/while no longer needs to be preceeded by a whitespace character or number
- Changed: load("#") throws a runtime error when cartridge id contains illegal characters
- Changed: 64k of Base RAM is standard (no need to set the hardware extension bit)
- Changed: By default, draw colour resets to 6 when program is suspended
- Changed: map() can take nil parameters for source_w, source_h to indicate default values
- Changed: pal(n) (a single integer) to reset a single palette 1..3 (draw, display, secondary)
- Changed: Can turn P8SCII wrap on/off with "^$", "^-$"
- Changed: config.txt is not saved on exit when changes are made to it while PICO-8 is open
- Changed: added code editor undo points when changing between identifier and non-identifier characters
- Changed: sfx(-1, -2) now behaves the same as sfx(-1). sfx(-2) stops looping on all channels.
- Changed: chip build no longer requires libcurl (calls out to wget)
- Fixed: (Mac, Linux) load("#
echo ohno") is executed // + server-side mitigation for splore - Fixed: stat(31) returns 2 parameters (bug introduced in 0.2.3)
- Fixed: split() and sub() fail on strings containing "\0"
- Fixed: ctrl-x on song pattern appears to work, but music() plays sfx 1..4
- Fixed: Text getting cut off after console scrolling when using print with draw_y_offset (0x5f5b)
- Fixed: camera(0,128) cursor(0,128) print("\n") causes unnecessary console scrolling
- Fixed: last music pattern not saved when only channel 3 is used and other channels are defaults
- Fixed: ?"\a12 sup yall" overwrites sfx 12 with a default beep (should just play and continue printing)
- Fixed: cursed console cpu refund exploit // https://carlc27843.itch.io/cursed-console
- Fixed: ctrl-r from commandline resets parameter string (stat(6)) -- should be same as the last run
- Fixed: ord() corrupting Lua stack and crashing when returning more than ~80 results
- Fixed: large camera() parameters can cause line() clipping to fail and crash
- Fixed: Crash when saving long gifs (> 90 seconds)
- Fixed: Unmapped joysticks not responding
- Fixed: Plugging in > 2 controllers causes other controller to disconnect
- Added: Lucky draw list in splore -- gives a random selection of carts
- Added: load/save carts in .p8.rom format (raw binary 32k block)
- Added: tostr(), tonum() take format_flags parameter to convert to and from 32-bit signed ints
- Added: ord(str, pos, num) returns num results starting from character at pos (similar to peek)
- Added: FOLDER takes an optional parameter to open other host directories: BACKUPS | DESKTOP | CONFIG | BBS
- Added: Live character / token count of selected text shown at bottom right of code editor
- Changed: Removed collaboration list from splore (can still search for sub:collab)
- Changed: 0x808 audio has a slight lpf filter on it by default // turn off by setting bit 0x20 at 0x5f36
- Changed: tonum(boolean_value) returns 1 or 0 instead of nil
- Changed: cursor CR x position set only by print(str,x,y) or cursor(), but not by print(str) (0x5f24)
- Changed: character wrap is on by default when using print(str)
- Changed: force-pause-menu hold duration is 500ms instead of 300ms to prevent accidentally triggering it
- Changed: default gif length for new install is 16 seconds
- Changed: ? shorthand can be used anywhere on a line e.g. if (true) ?"yes"
- Changed: allow while/if shorthand with no statement, using colon separator: WHILE(BTN()==0);
- Changed: added warning to fullscreen_method 2 in config.txt (gives erratic behaviour under some drivers)
- Changed: cheaper OP_MOVE, OP_UNM lua vm instructions so that e.g. "local a=0-b" is not faster than "local a=-b"
- Fixed: peek*() / poke*() do not charge extra cpu when reading or writing multiple values
- Fixed: fget(n) returns junk when n is out of range (0..255); should return 0 in that case
- Fixed: dropped .PNG files not detected as images when filename uses uppercase extension
- Fixed: line()/tline() illegal writes caused by faulty clipping when (x1-x0) or (y1-y0) >= 0x8000
- Fixed: -accept_future 1 only worked with .p8.png files; now also applies to .p8
- Fixed: ?"\a7f" does not play f (happens only when f is the first note)
- Fixed: abs(0x8000) return 0x0.0001 (should be 0x7fff.ffff)
- Fixed: parameter string (stat(6)) is dropped when passed via RUN command
- Fixed: preprocessing of form: "x += x<0 and -1 or 1" broken for operators <, >
- Fixed: tab not accepted as whitespace for some preprocessor operations
- Fixed: stat(1) wraps around when cpu is >= 2.0 (regression in 0.2.2)
- Fixed: pressing SHIFT+ENTER on "local function foo()" or after "if (..) else" doesn't insert "end"
- Fixed: pal() does not reset secondary palette to system default
- Fixed: 0x808 audio does not respect pausing / volume / is not recorded with extcmd("audio_rec")
- Fixed: 'h' pressed in sprite editor toggles hex mode in map editor
- Fixed: After pressing shift-tab to toggle 128x128 map view, active draw area is still only 128x112
- Fixed: Attempt to navigate to non-existant tab after running: function _update60()_update60=nil end
- Fixed: stat(101) not returning cart id when running from BBS web player
- Fixed: print() wrapping + scrolling; e.g. from commandline: while(true) print(chr(254+rnd(2)).."\0")
- Fixed: integer divide assignment operator (=) costs 2 tokens instead of 1
- Fixed: ?"\ac0" starts from d#0 instead of c0 (again -- 0.2.2b was still broken)
- Fixed: splore local directory navigation fails when using a relative home path set with -home
- Fixed: export .lua.png only shows the first 2730 lines
- Added: export foo.lua.png to get an image of the cartridge's source code
- Added: Pause menu can be forced to appear by holding down pause for 300ms (even if program blocks it)
- Added: extcmd("set_filename","foo") -- set the filename of the next screenshot or gif (can include %d)
- Added: extcmd("set_title","foo") -- set window title (useful for exported binaries)
- Added: Can toggle punyfont mode at command prompt w/ ctrl+p (useful for inspecting puny variable names!)
- Changed: Default filename is /untitled.p8 instead of no filename (auto-increments to untitled_1.p8 etc.)
- Changed: circ/oval that are not visible cost almost nothing, including circles that contain clipping region
- Changed: filled circles/ovals that contain clipping region cost the same as the equivalent rectfill
- Changed: shift+enter in code editor only auto-completes block for DO, THEN, REPEAT or FUNCTION
- Fixed: ?"\ac0" starts from d#0 instead of c0
- Fixed: preprocessor regression when using string at end of ..= statement: if (true) then a..="b" end
- Fixed: pressing L / R in paused menu is registered by running program after closing menu
- Fixed: printing text in tall mode (?"^ttall") via commandline can chop off bottom line before scrolling
- Fixed: drag-select text with cursor at bottom or top of screen scrolls too fast
- Fixed: spurious stat(0) results when using yield() to exit frame instead of flip()
- Fixed: line()/tline() sometimes draws pixels on opposite side of screen (0.2.2 regression)
- Fixed: line()/tline() fails to draw lines that have x or y coordinates > 32767 pixels apart
- Fixed: can peek() more than 8192 values in single call
- Fixed: large fill circles (> radius 900) render incorrectly close to vertical center (32-bit builds, web)
- Fixed: even-widthed filled ovals with midpoint < 0 is drawn off by 1
- Fixed: black pixels in gif / map export not completely black
- Fixed: map and spritesheet exporters do not respect current display palette and 0x5F36:0x8 (draw spr 0)
- Fixed: code editor: cursor position off by one when selecting character after glyph (0.2.2 regression)
- Fixed: code editor: tab names don't show up when 100% punyfont
- Fixed: import spritesheet.png failing under MacOS (0.2.2 regression)
- Fixed: export single sfx to .wav crashes when contains sfx instrument references
- Added: SFX filters: noiz (white noise for inst 6), buzz, detune (flange/overtone), reverb, dampen (lpf)
- Added: SFX length (leave the second loop value at 0 to use). Can be >= 32.
- Added: P8SCII control characters when using print() -- can adjust colour and cursor position etc.
- Added: User-defined font at 0x5600, accessible via control character \014
- Added: poke(addr, val0, val1, val2 .. valn) -- same for poke2, poke4
- Added: can peek multiple values: a,b,c = peek(addr, 3) -- same for peek2, peek4
- Added: Locked mouse pointer // poke(0x5f2d, 0x5) and then stat(38),stat(39) to read
- Added: right click in sfx pitch mode to grab the instrument of that note
- Added: IMPORT command can specify target location in pixels: IMPORT FOO.PNG -X 16 -Y 32
- Added: IMPORT -S to shrink the imported image (e.g. -S 3 means shrink from 384x384 -> 128x128)
- Added: ctrl-c at empty command prompt to copy the most recent error message
- Added: extcmd("screen",0,1) / extcmd("video",0,1) saves files in same path as cart / exported executable or app.
- Added: set bit POKE(0x5F36, 0x8) to treat sprite 0 as opaque when drawn by map(), tline()
- Added: shift-tab in gfx/map editor for full-fullscreen mode (with no red menu bars)
- Added: extcmd("rec_frames") to record each gif frame only when flip() is called regardless of rendering speed
- Added: extcmd("folder") to open the folder on the host operating system (where printf, extcmd saves files to)
- Added: custom menu callbacks can optionally leave the pause menu open, and can read LEFT and RIGHT button presses
- Added: ctrl-h hex mode in map / gfx views (displays current sprite in hex, and shows map tile values)
- Added: export map as a single image with export foo.map.png
- Added: @weeble's gamepad improvements to the default html shell (dpad layout detection, better mapping / hotplugging)
- Added: stack trace on bad memory access e.g. poke(-1,0)
- Added: fillp can now be applied to sprite drawing (spr / sspr / map / tline), using colours from the secondary palette
- Improved: General optimisation pass; heavy carts use 20~30% less host cpu
- Changed: Most api functions are local by default for performance. use "pico8 -global_api 1" if needed for debugging.
- Changed: unpack() now has a non-zero cost but still fairly fast
- Changed: .. operator has a small cost based on number of characters concatenated
- Changed: LOADK vm instruction costs 1 cycles (was 2) // otherwise "c=0" costs more than "c=a+b"!
- Changed: removed function cpu refunds; speed-critical calls to bitwise function should use operator counterparts instead.
- Changed: Incremental garbage collection each frame for improved performance.
- Changed: stat(0) performs garbage collection in order to obtain a meaningful result; use stat(99) for raw value
- Changed: options menu always available from pause menu (used to only be available in web exports)
- Changed: tostr() returns "" instead of nil
- Changed: exporting gif/png from web version now creates a pop-up div that can be dismissed
- Changed: print() from commandline automatically wraps long strings
- Changed: print() returns the x position of the next character to be printed (can be used to calculate text width)
- Changed: glyph constants set only when running cartridge, not when running a command from prompt
- Changed: Using printh from exported carts outputs files in the same folder as the .exe / .app
- Changed: type() returns nothing instead of causing a runtime error
- Changed: fill pattern is cleared when program is suspended by default. Use poke(0x5f2e,0x20) to preserve.
- Changed: reset() resets everything from 0x5f00..0x5f7f, same as when program is initialised (including new random seed)
- Changed: font tweaks for hiragana, katagana, ampersand characters
- Changed: (raspi) separate binaries that support gpio to remove wiringPi dependency and gpio poking-related crashes
- Fixed: Diagonal lines in editor contain an incorrect step when snapping to -1:1, 1:-1
- Fixed: rnd(tbl) is not random enough when table has 2 elements /bbs/?pid=81092#p
- Fixed: add(tbl) causes runtime error. should have no effect and return nothing
- Fixed: cursor position in code editor incorrect when changing lines contaning glyphs/tabs
- Fixed: CONFIG TAB_WIDTH does not take effect until restarting PICO-8
- Fixed: Selecting sprites from bottom right -> top left and then pasting only pastes a single sprite
- Fixed: Moving map selection around with cursor keys beyond original selection leaves streaks
- Fixed: stdout/stdin serial() streams should be binary, not text mode (causes \r chars under Windows)
- Fixed: printh("hello.txt",fn,true,true) fails to save to desktop when fn has an extention
- Fixed: IMPORT FOO.PNG using the current sprite location as target instead of 0,0
- Fixed: tonum behaving differently to parser for string numbers out of range. e.g. tonum("-0x9000") should be 0x7000
- Fixed: Exporting the same zip file multiple times creates duplicate file entries
- Fixed: tline / line clipping // sometimes off by 1px, sometimes incorrectly discarded altogether
- Fixed: poking values with bit 0x80 to 0x5f28,0x5f30,0x5f3c,0x5f3e clobbers following address
- Fixed: deli(tbl,nil) behaves the same as deli(tbl) -- should have no effect
- Fixed: stat(13),stat(15) reporting y coordinates of menu with 0 items
- Fixed: memory leak when saving gifs (causes web export to crash after a few records)
- Fixed: print() linefeeds clobber multi-line text printed at bottom of screen
- Fixed: preprocessor can not handle form: "::_::a+=1" (regression in 0.2.1)
- Fixed: When split() by group size (e.g. split("ab12",2,false)), last parameter ignored
- Fixed: partial cstore (len < 0x4300) from splore/export clobbering data outside that range on subsequent reload
- Fixed: joystick stops responding after unplug and plug back in twice (also happens when some devices sleep / wake up)
- Fixed: mkdir(nil) crashes
- Fixed: possible to edit an SFX without the cursor visible (confusing)
- Fixed: menuitem() callbacks broken when there is no_draw() or_update() defined
- Fixed: should only be able to call from commandline: cd mkdir install_games keyconfig info
- Fixed: controller menu (pause->options->controls) does not show custom key settings
- Fixed: -export failing to find files relative from current path
- Fixed: -export failing to locate html template path
- Fixed: binary export storing multicart cart names with path (should be named "dat1.p8", not "dat/dat1.p8")
- Fixed: pause menu broken when cartridge is launched from splore and run() is called inside first frame
- Fixed: text printing does not respect draw palette (was broken in 0.2) // ref: /bbs/?tid=41428
- Fixed: for backwards compatibility, non-numbery colour parameters should be taken to mean zero
- Fixed: preprocessor: self assignment with quoted function calls on RHS a+=1+cos"0"
- Fixed: ctrl-r during pause menu only takes effect after closing menu
- Fixed: (bug in RC1) pack(...).n is zero
- Fixed: (bug in RC1) using filters noiz:1, dampen:2, lpf is not applied to melodic instruments (but should be)
- Added: split(str,"") splits by single characters
- Updated: Tower of Archeos 1.1 via INSTALL GAMES
- Fixed: print(num,x,y) always prints numbers num in hexidecimal
- Fixed: .p8.png decoder can enter an infinite loop (caused exports to freeze on boot)
- Fixed: Can't save screenshot/gif when running a BBS cart with illegal characters in title.
- Fixed: INSTALL_GAMES is broken
- Fixed: Mouse is broken in HTML exports
- Added: oval() ovalfill() split()
- Added: circle drawing tool is now an oval tool (hold shift for circle)
- Added: hold shift with line tool to snap to 22.5 degree angles from origin (0:1, 1:1, 2:1 gradients)
- Added: serial() channels for stdin,stdout
- Added: raw binary and image files dropped in to PICO-8 also become byte streams readable w/ serial()
- Added: add(tbl, val, index) -- insert val into table at index
- Added: deli(tbl, index) -- delete element from table by index (index defaults to last element)
- Added: show progress while exporting binaries (can be slow now that generating zip files)
- Added: -e to add an extra file to exported binaries zip files // export -e manual.txt foo.bin
- Added: RESET command to reset the runtime / draw state
- Added: drag and drop cartridges into PICO-8 window to load them
- Added: hash stored in .p8.png so that cartridges corrupted by image quantization can show a specific error
- Added: raw data blocks in compressed code format (useful for storing long binary strings efficiently)
- Added: clip(x,y,w,h,true): 5th parameter indicates that the clipping region should be clipped by the old one
- Added: -export switch can be used to convert .p8 files to .p8.png from commandline. // pico8 foo.p8 -export foo.p8.png
- Added: extcmd("screen",scale) and extcmd("video",scale) to override the default scale (e.g. scale 2 means 256x256)
- Added: printh(str, filename, overwrite, save_to_desktop) -- 4th parameter to save output file to desktop
- Changed: add(), del() no longer implemented with Lua snippet; lower cpu cost.
- Changed: line(),rect() cost the same as rectfill() when drawing equivalent shapes
- Changed: all drawing operations in sprite editor now observe fill pattern state
- Changed: numbers can be immediately followed by identifiers (a=1b=2) // lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=38038
- Changed: Sprite editor shows only active area after shift-selecting sprites
- Changed: copy/paste in the code editor treats uppercase ascii characters as puny font only when puny mode (ctrl+p) enabled
- Changed: C0 Controls characters (except for 0x0,0x9,0xa,0xd) encoded in .p8 / clipboard with unicode replacements
- Changed: stat(4) converts characters to PICO-8 format (P -> puny p, hiragana unicode -> single character etc.)
- Changed: serial() returns number of bytes processed (1/8ths included for partial bytes)
- Changed: IMPORT SPRITESHEET.PNG now uses the current sprite as the destination coordinate instead of 0,0.
- Changed: Standardized name of the display palette to "display palette" (was sometimes referred to as "screen palette").
- Changed: tostr() returns nil (used to return "[nil]")
- Changed: don't need to set bit 0x40 at address 0x5f2c to use secondary palette.
- Improved: exported binary's data.pod file 90% smaller (~870k -> ~85k)
- Fixed: pack(...).n is shifted right 16 bits
- Fixed: ctrl-r doesn't reload external changes for carts which are over compressed code capacity
- Fixed: false positives when detecting external changes for some older cart versions
- Fixed: .p8.png carts saved with dense code (compressed size > raw size, including very small carts) stores junk
- Fixed: error message duplication when loading future version of .p8.png carts
- Fixed: Illegal colours can enter spritesheet via serach-replace after setting with color()
- Fixed: Preprocessor: "foo():a().x+=1" "a=b[1]c+=1"
- Fixed: hex numbers written with punyfont characters breaks syntax high-lighting
- Fixed: shift+- in sprite editor jumps too far vertically when zoomed in
- Fixed: clicking a note in sfx editor creates a selection (-> backspace clears without moving rows)
- Fixed: print()/printh()/stop() doesn't respect __tostring metatable method (regression)
- Fixed: time() and btnp() speed changes after stopping program, typing a command and then resuming.
- Fixed: phantom drag & drop events sent to unused music channels causing them to occasionally unmute themselves
- Fixed: undo after moving sprites in map mode only undoes the changes to the map and not the spritesheet.
- Fixed: inconsistent token counting for negative or bnot'ed numbers https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=38344
- Fixed: Crash when INSTALL_GAMES / INSTALL_DEMOS without a writeable disk
- Fixed: stat(4) (clipboard contents) does not convert unicode to corresponding glyphs
- Fixed: (MacOS) Using discrete GPU ~ drains battery. Now using integrated GPU when available.
- Fixed: screensaver is blocked while PICO-8 is running (needed to set SDL_HINT_VIDEO_ALLOW_SCREENSAVER: "1")
- Fixed: screen glitches after running for 25 days
- Fixed: (HTML Exports) touch controls not registering when running under iOS from an iframe (e.g. on an itch.io page)
- Fixed: (HTML Exports) tap and hold brings up the select menu under iOS
- Fixed: (HTML Exports) button blocked by canvas when overlapping on small screens
- Added: pack(), unpack()
- Changed: bitplane read/write mask only reset after finished running program
- Fixed: tline() doesn't draw anything when the layers argument is not given
- Added: tline() takes an optional layers parameter, similar to map()
- Added: high bits of 0x5f5e taken as colour read mask, low taken to be colour write mask
- Added: Double-click in the sfx tracker to select all attributes of a single note.
- Fixed: assignment shorthand RHS scope wrong when contains certain operators. e.g. a+=1&127
- Fixed: while/if shorthands fail when "do" or "then" appears on the same line as part of an identifier
- Fixed: ctrl-c copies the wrong sfx after clicking pencil button (next to pattern #) in organiser view
- Fixed: spinning cart icon present in video memory when cart boots from splore
- Added: Window title shows current cartridge filename while editing
- Changed: ~ preceeding a numerical constant (e.g. ~1) counts as a single token
- Fixed: >>> operator behaviour does not match lshr(a,b) when b >= 32 (again)
- Fixed: PICO-8 freezes when shift by -0x8000
- Fixed: .p8 format does not store extpal label colours
- Fixed: Can not save screenshot when filename contains ":"
- Changed: @@ operator (peek2) to %
- Fixed: Exported wasm crashes on boot when code contains a numerical constant out of range.
- Fixed: HTML Shell treats controller shoulder buttons as MENU; easy to accidentally bump.
- Fixed: shift operators behaviour undefined for negative values of n (now: x << n means x >> -(n\1))
- Fixed: >>> operator behaviour does not match lshr(a,b) when b >= 32
- Fixed: INFO crashes when code is close to 64k of random characters
- Fixed: Code editor undo step not stored when starting to edit a new line (hard to see what happened)
- Added: zip file creation (with preserved file attributes) when exporting binaries
- Added: cpu working animation when cpu usage > 120 skipped frames
- Improved: stop() / resume now works at the instruction level
- Fixed: tline clipping broken (from 0.2.0d)
- Fixed: cpu counting is wrong inside coroutines
- Fixed: coroutines interrupted by garbage collection
- Fixed: code compression suddenly much worse for carts > 32k chars
- Fixed: code compression ratio can be less than 1 in extreme cases
- Fixed: pasting a string ending in '1' into the command prompt opens the editor
- Fixed: html export can run out of pre-allocated heap when doing heavy string operations
- Fixed: hex memory addresses displayed in puny font on windows
- Fixed: devkit mouse message shown once per cart -- should be once per chain of carts
- Fixed: can't paste sfx notes after moving to another sfx via keyboard
- Fixed: copying note select vs. sfx vs. pattern range is ambiguous
- Fixed: crash after redefining type()
- Added: rnd(x) when x is an array-style table, returns a random item from that table
- Added: gif_reset_mode (in config.txt / CONFIG command). Defaults to 0.1.12c behaviour
- Added: print(str, col) form behaves the same as: color(col) print(str)
- Added: Operators: <<> >>< <<>= >><=
- Changed: tline now also observes an offset (0x5f3a, 0x5f3b)
- Changed: tline rounds down to integer screen coordinates (same as line)
- Changed: Final cpu adjustments (see release post)
- Changed: Removed experimental "!"->"this" shorthand
- Changed: clip() returns previous state as 4 return values
- Fixed: Included files remain locked (and can not be edited by external editors)
- Fixed: Carts loaded as plaintext .lua fail to handle BOM / DOS characters
- Fixed: palt() returns previous state of bitfield as a boolean instead of a number
- Fixed: CPU speed on widget doesn't exactly match stat(1)
- Fixed: stat(1) occasionally reports garbage values when above 1.0
- Fixed: Custom btnp repeat rates (0x5f5c, 0x5f5d) speed up when skipping frames
- Fixed: gif_scale setting not read from config.txt
- Fixed: tline: texture references are incorrect when sy1 < sy0
- Fixed: tline: single pixel spans are drawn as two pixels
- Fixed: binary exports' controls menu always shows 0 joyticks connected
- Fixed: Pressing DEL on first row of tracker doesn't do anything
- Fixed: host framerate regulation is slow (~1/sec) when PICO-8 frame takes < 1ms to execute
- Fixed: fillp() return value (previous state) does not include transparency bit
- Fixed: clip"" setting all clip values to 0 (should be ignored)
- Fixed: Raspberry Pi static build / static export requires GLIBC 2.0.29 (now .16)
- Fixed: stop(nil) crashes
- Fixed: print(), printh(), stop() prints "nil" with no arguments (should have no output)
- Fixed: trace() can not be used with coroutines
- Changed: Compressed size limit now 0x3d00 bytes (reclaimed an unused 0x100 byte block)
- Fixed: >>>= operator (was doing a >>= replacement instead)
- Fixed: #including large .lua files causes crashes, weird behaviour
- Fixed: Sandboxed CSTORE: writing partial data to another embedded cart clobbers the remaining data.
- Fixed: Multicart code storing regression introduced in 0.2.0 (code from head cart stored in other carts)
- Fixed: Can not edit spritesheet after panning
- Fixed: Junk error messages when syntax error contains one of the new operators
- Fixed: Crash with: 0x8000 / 1
- Changed: #include directive can be preceeded by whitespace
- Changed: Activity logger records nothing after idle for 30 seconds
- Fixed: Mouse cursor movement in editor is not smooth
- Fixed: Display palette doesn't reset after exiting splore
- Fixed: PALT() returns 0 instead of previous state as bitfield
- Fixed: Rectangle and line tools broken when used in map editor
- Fixed: INSTALL_GAMES under Windows produces broken cart files
- Fixed: Stored multicart sometimes has code section truncated (fails to load())
- Added: 8-bit character set with kana, alt font
- Added: ord(), chr()
- Added: SFX / Pattern organiser view
- Added: SFX edit buttons on pattern channels
- Added: tline // textured line drawing
- Added: SPLORE automatically updates BBS carts when online
- Added: Search for similar (shared tags) cartridges, or by thread
- Added: predefined fillp() pattern values assigned to glyphs
- Added: btnp() custom delays (poke 0x5f5c, 0x5f5d)
- Added: "." shorthand command for advancing a single frame (calls _update,_draw if they exist)
- Added: Current editor/cart view is recorded every 3 seconds to [app_data]/activity_log.txt
- Added: Cutting (ctrl-x) and pasting selected sprites while in map view to also adjust map references to those sprites
- Added: Clipboard is supported in the html exports (with some limitations) // load #wobblepaint for an example.
- Added: Can load .lua files as cartridges
- Added: Operators: ..= ^= \ = & | ^^ << >> >>> ~ &= |= ^^= <<= >>= >>>= @ @@(update: @@ replaced with %) $
- Added: New demo carts: waves.p8 dots3d.p8 automata.p8 wander.p8 cast.p8 jelpi.p8 (use INSTALL_DEMOS)
- Added: Extra pre-installed games: Embrace, 8 Legs to Love (use INSTALL_GAMES)
- Added: Splore cart labels for .p8 files
- Added: Now 16 code tabs (click on the rightmost ones to scroll)
- Added: ipairs()
- Added: SAVE from commandline to quick-save current cartridge (same as ctrl-s)
- Added: BACKUP from commandline to save a backup of current cartridge
- Added: CPU usage widget (ctrl-p while running cartridge)
- Added: Button / dpad states exposed in memory at 0x5f4c (8 bytes)
- Added: Random number generator state exposed at 0x5f44 (8 bytes)
- Added: pico8_dyn version is included when exporting to Raspberry Pi
- Added: allow_function_keys option in config.txt (CTRL 6..9 are now preferred -- will phase out F6..F9 if practical)
- Added: Visible tab characters (draw_tabs in config.txt)
- Added: pal({1,2,3..}) means: use the value for each key 0..15 in a table
- Added: palt(bitfield) means: set the colour transparency for all 16 colours, starting with the highest bit
- Added: Options menu for binary exports (sound / fullscreen / controls)
- Added: Shape drawing tools in sprite and map editor
- Improved: Miscellaneous HTML shell / player optimisations and adjustments
- Improved: Lower cpu usage for small foreground_sleep_ms values (changed host event loop & fps switching strategy)
- Changed: This update is called 0.2.0, not 0.1.12d! (grew into plans for 0.2.0, and bumped cart version number)
- ChangeD: Reverted cheaper 0.1.12*costs on bitwise operators & peek (recommend replacing with operators if need)
- Changed: negative numbers expressed with a '-' count as a single token
- Changed: glitchy reset effect does not leave residue in base RAM (but maybe on screen when using sprites / tiles)
- Changed: sset() with 2 parameters uses the draw state colour as default
- Changed: line() or line(col) can be used to skip drawing and set the (line_x1, line_y1) state on the next call to line(x1,y1)
- Changed: vital system functions (load, reboot etc.) can only be overwritten during cartridge execution
- Changed: sqrt(x) is now more accurate, and a little faster than x^.5
- Changed: sqrt(x) returns 0 for negative values of x
- Changed: btnp() delay and repeats now work independently per-button
- Changed: pairs(nil) returns an empty function
- Changed: Default screenshot scale (now 4x), gif scale (now 3x)
- Changed: gif_len now means the length when no start point is specified (used to be the maximum recordable length)
- Changed: (Multicarts) When loading data from many different carts, the swap delay maxes out at ~2 seconds
- Changed: (Raspberry Pi) removed support for (and dependency on) libsndio
- Changed: camera(), cursor(), color(), pal(), palt(), fillp(), clip() return their previous state
- Changed: Can not call folder() from a BBS cart running under splore
- Changed: F9 resets the video, so that multiple presses results in a sequence of clips that can be joined to together
- Changed: color() defaults to 6 (was 0)
- Changed: Backed up filenames are prefixed with a timestamp.
- Changed: Automatically start on the (host's) current path if it is inside PICO-8's root path
- Changed: tostr(x,true) can also be used to view the hex value of functions and tables (uses Lua's tostring)
- Changed: Can hold control when clicking number fields (spd, pattern index etc.) to increment/decrement by 4 (was shift)
- Fixed: HTML exports running at 60fps sometimes appear to repeatedly speed up and slow down
- Fixed: HTML export layout: sometimes broken -- option buttons overlapping in the same place
- Fixed: __tostring metatable methods not observed by tostr() / print() / printh()
- Fixed: Mac OSX keyboard permissions (fixed in SDL2 0.2.12)
- Fixed: Audio mixer: SFX with loop_end > 32 would sometimes fail to loop back
- Fixed: btn() firing a frame late, and not on the same frame as stat(30)
- Fixed: #include can not handle files saved by some Windows text editors in default format (w/ BOM / CRLF)
- Fixed: Exports do not flatten #include'd files
- Fixed: Default window size has too much black border (now reverted to previous default)
- Fixed: Functions yielded inbetween frames occasionally push an extra return value (type:function) to the stack
- Fixed: can't load png-encoded carts with code that starts with a :
- Fixed: .gif output unnecessarily large
- Fixed: .gif recording skipping frames when running at 15fps
- Fixed: printh does not convert to unicode when writing to console or to a file
- Fixed: cart data sometimes not flushed when loading another cart during runtime
- Fixed: Can not navigate patterns with -,+ during music playback
- Fixed: Mouse cursor not a hand over some buttons
- Fixed: Laggy mouseover messages (e.g. showing current colour index, or map coordinates)
- Fixed: Can't paste glyphs into search field
- Fixed: Tab spacing always jumps config.tab_spaces instead of snapping to next column
- Fixed: -p switch name is wrong (was only accepting "-param" in 0.12.*
- Fixed: Code editor highlighting goes out of sync after some operations
- Fixed: Multicart communication problem (affecting PICOWARE)
- Fixed: time() speeds up after using the RESUME command
- Fixed: Audio state is clobbered when using the RESUME command
- Fixed: Audio glitch when fading out music containing slide effect (1)
- Fixed: Toggling sound from splore cart->options menu has no effect
- Fixed: Devkit keyboard works when paused
- Fixed: "-32768 % y" gives wrong results
- Fixed: Replacing all text in code editor breaks undo history
- Fixed: Double click to select last word in code does not include the last character
- Fixed: Weird block comment behavior in code editor
- Fixed: HTML export: cart names can not contain quotes
- Fixed: HTML export: menu button layout under chromium
- Fixed: HTML export: Adding content above cartridge breaks mobile layout
- Fixed: HTML export: Can touch-drag PICO-8 screen around (breaks simulated mouse input)
- Fixed: LOAD("#ABC") does not always immediately yield
- Fixed: Infinite RUN() loop crashes PICO-8
- Fixed: Mouse cursor is not a finger on top of most "pressable" button-style elements
- Fixed: CD command fails when root_path is relative (e.g. "pico8 -root_path .")
- Fixed: poke in fill pattern addresses (0x5f31..0x5f33) discards some bits
- Fixed: After using ctrl-click in map editor, can not modify map outside that region
- Fixed: Shift-selecting sprites from bottom right to top left selects wrong region
- Fixed: Changing GIF_LEN from PICO-8 commandline sometimes breaks gif saving
- Fixed: pget() sometimes returns values with high bits set
- Fixed: Preprocessor: unary operator lhs is not separated in some cases (e.g. x=1y+=1)
- Fixed: Preprocessor: ? shorthand prevents other preprocess replacements on same line
- Fixed: Preprocessor: fails when multiple shorthand expressions + strings containing brackets appear on the same line
- Fixed: Loading a .p8 file with too many tabs discards the excess code.
- Fixed: Map editor's stamp tool wraps around when stamping overlapping the right edge.
- Fixed: Very quick/light tap events sometimes do not register
- Fixed: SFX tracker mode: can't copy notes with shift-cursors before clicking (whole sfx is copied instead)
- Fixed: "..." breaks syntax highlighting
- Fixed: Click on text, press up/down -> cursor reverts to previous horizontal position
- Fixed: CTRL-[a..z] combinations processed twice under some linux window managers
- Fixed: ctrl-up/down to jump to functions in the code editor breaks when "function" is followed by a tab
- Fixed: map & gfx drawing selection is not applied consistently between tools
- Fixed: Using right mouse button to pick up a colour / tile value sometimes also applies current tool
- Fixed: CPU usage reported by stat(1) is higher than actual value
- Fixed: Fail to load .p8 cartridges w/ BOM marker / CRLF endlines
- Fixed: Syntax errors / crash caused by #including files containing BOM / CRLFs
- Fixed: Can not save .p8 when contains unresolved #includes
- Fixed: Can't open pico-8.txt in Notepad.exe (added CRLFs)
- Fixed: Can delete null terminator at end of code (revealing previously deleted code)
- Added: config command (e.g. CONFIG THEME CLASSIC)
- Fixed: Windows sound resampling artifacts (moved to SDL2 2.0.9 audio:directsound)
- Fixed: Glyphs stored as unicode can not load when #include'd
- Fixed: Code highlighting is wrong after select and delete a line
- Fixed: Last line endpoint not present in draw state memory
- Fixed: Ubuntu 16.04 can not run because requires glibc 2.27 (reduced dependency to 2.14)
- Fixed: stat(102) returns nil when run from binary instead of 0 (now 0)
- Fixed: Loading cartridge from commandline fails when path contains "../"
- Fixed: (OSX) Crash when reloading external changes with CTRL-R
- Fixed: (Windows) Crash when running cart with included code
- Fixed: Can not export or include extra cartridges outside of current directory
- Fixed: Off by 1 when search for line 1 (affected ctrl-b, ctrl-l)
- Fixed: html template -- mouse cursor showing over canvas (now hidden by default)
- Added: #include a text file, or a tab from another cartridge
- Added: Unlimited undo for gfx,map,sfx
- Added: [sfx] snippets: copy and paste sound & music between PICO-8 instances and BBS posts
- Added: (BBS) sfx snippet player
- Added: CTRL-G in code editor to repeat search across all tabs
- Added: Splore search text entry with cursor key button presses
- Added: Custom tab widths (tab_width in config.txt)
- Added: Web exporter template: joystick & touch support, preview image, menu buttons, adaptive size, controls screen
- Added: .wasm exporter (use -w)
- Added: Raspberry Pi binary exporter
- Added: -export // run the EXPORT command from host commandline
- Added: Toggle flags on multiple sprites at once by selecting them first
- Added: Confirmations when loading/saving with unsaved changes
- Added: Windowed mode support for Raspberry Pi
- Added: serial() interface for Raspberry Pi // serial() -- spi, ws281x, direct bit banging // 0.2.1 update: dropped spi
- Added: api: peek2 poke2 rawset rawget rawlen rawequal next
- Added: Comment/uncomment selected block with CTRL-B
- Added: Can save screenshots and gifs from exported binaries via EXTCMD
- Added: Can exit exported binaries after runtime error / stop(), and also via EXTCMD("SHUTDOWN")
- Added: SHUTDOWN menu item added to pause menu when running via "-run cartfile"
- Added: -kiosk to run in kiosk mode: boot into splore, favourites menu only, no cart menu
- Added: -root_path to set root cartridges folder from commandline
- Added: shift+space in song view to play from the current quarter of the selected channel
- Added: CTRL-W, CTRL-E in code editor to jump to start / end of line
- Added: -accept_future to load cartides made with future versions of PICO-8
- Added: -preblit_scale (default: auto) for less blurry scaling with -pixel_perfect 0
- Added: -pixel_perfect -1 (auto) only uses pixel perfect scaling when < 10% of the containing screen axis is wasted
- Added: highlight all occurances when searching for text in code editor
- Added: tab completion across directories
- Added: In map editor, non-zero cels that are drawn all black are marked with a single blue dot
- Changed: all(), foreach() cpu cost is now much cheaper (but still a little more than using a for loop)
- Changed: cursor() can also set the current color with a third parameter
- Changed: stat 24..26 return -1 when no music is playing
- Changed: 3x4 font characters (uppercase in ascii) allowed in code editor (but not pasteable/editable)
- Changed: time() / t() always means seconds since run (but still updated once per _update() /_update60)
- Changed: line(x1,y1) can be used to draw from the end of the last line
- Changed: del() returns the item deleted on success
- Changed: single setting for audio volume (-volume switch, "volume" in config.txt)
- Changed: allow '-' in cartdat() names
- Changed: 8 and - only map to buttons 4 and 5 by default for CHIP build
- Changed: Raspberry Pi pico8_dyn build does not support gpio/serial (and so does not require wiringPi)
- Changed: Default theme is 1 (blue background in code editor)
- Changed: When loading a cart from commandline, automatically set the current path if inside PICO-8's filesystem
- Fixed: Code editor uses too much cpu / battery power
- Fixed: cstore() with an external cart name broken when run from exported cart or as bbs cart
- Fixed: Undoing changes to SFX after using pitch drawing tool clears SFX data
- Fixed: Running headless scripts under Windows / Mac OSX crashes
- Fixed: Running headless scripts with no video driver fails
- Fixed: Can not load BBS carts in headless script mode (without auto-running)
- Fixed: (Web exporter) mouse cursor doesn't work in fullscreen
- Fixed: (Web exporter) mouse button 2 brings up context menu
- Fixed: (Web exporter) Clusters of FS.syncfs calls causing error messages (and inefficient?)
- Fixed: (Windows) PICO-8 behaves as if it is not the foreground application
- Fixed: divide and abs sign flipping for 0x8000.0000
- Fixed: sqrt(0x0000.0001) freezes
- Fixed: "-1"+0 evaluates to 0xffff.0001
- Fixed: shift-tabbing to unindent alters selection range
- Fixed: background_sleep_ms reverts to default value
- Fixed: "open in thread" option appears for local carts
- Fixed: (code editor) undo markers in unexpected places
- Fixed: root_path, desktop_path in config.txt doesn't work without trailing slash
- Fixed: Audio sampling rate is wrong when device/driver doesn't support 22050MHz
- Fixed: Loading cart with less than 5 pixel rows of gfx does not clear default white cross sprite
- Fixed: cpu cycle exploit using peek4 with no parameters
- Fixed: SFX keyboard editing operations (e.g. SPD +/-) sometimes applied to the wrong SFX
- Fixed: Cursor behaviour when moving between song and sfx view, and when playing music
- Fixed: Selecting SFX notes with shift + home/end/pgup/pgdown
- Fixed: Vibrato (2) and drop (3) effects in SFX instruments not observed
- Fixed: Can not place note at C-0 in pitch mode
- Fixed: CTRL-F search in code skips matches that are close together
- Fixed: (Mac) warning about unoptimized program (built with SDL 2.0.9, + now 64-bit)
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) Keypresses leaking to desktop
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) Keyboard layout fixed to US
- Fixed: printh(nil) prints [false] instead of [nil]
- Fixed: toggling audio mute twice returns to maximum volume
- Fixed: alt+cursors moves cursor in code editor
- Fixed: del does not work on first character of code or commandline
- Fixed: preprocessor breaks on double slash in string s="\"
- Fixed: sometimes code executing a little after point of runtime error
- Fixed: Token count reported in editor is more than 0 after rebooting
- Fixed: "Removed empty tabs" message displayed when loading cart with fewer tabs
- Fixed: Member variables highlighted when same as API function names (e.g. actor.spr)
- Fixed: Hot-plugged joysticks not recognized
- Added: CTRL-C to copy contents of commandline
- Added: stat(100..102) for current breadcrumb label, bbs cart id, and hostname (web)
- Added: content_filter in config.txt
- Added: Cartverse cart id support (not live server-side yet though)
- Fixed: Tab preview does not show on mouseover
- Fixed: Can't paste uppercase characters into commandline
- Fixed: Preprocessor can't handle glyphs in form: "♥.x += 1"
- Fixed: Unsaved changes sometimes reported when filename is not set
- Fixed: Pause menu doesn't open inside infinite loop inside _draw
- Fixed: load() crashes when "parameter string" parameter is not a string
- Fixed: cstore(),reload() crash when external cart filename is not a string
- Fixed: printh(str, "@clip") fails for glyph characters in str
- Fixed: Pause menu doesn't open inside an infinite loop
- Fixed: Binary and hex string digits outside of 0xffff.ffff alter result
- Added: stat(30..31) for devkit keyboard input
- Added: extcmd("pause") extcmd("reset") extcmd("breadcrumb")
- Added: lshr(), ceil(), rotl(), rotr(), peek4(), poke4()
- Added: stat(12..15) to grab the position of the pause menu (x0,y0,y1,y1)
- Added: DPAD game controller buttons mapped to LRUD
- Added: CTRL-click on song navigator to scroll by 4 patterns
- Added: Can type and paste glyphs in commandline
- Added: Notification when CTRL-R fails to reload because of unsaved changes
- Added: Notification when code automatically converted to lower-case
- Added: INFO() checks for "external changes" (e.g. when using a separate text editor)
- Added: .p8.png format can be used with cstore() and carts bundled in multicarts
- Added: Can optionally set fill pattern using colour parameter
- Changed: Glyphs can be used as variable names
- Changed: Glyphs stored in clipboard and .p8 format as roughly corresponding unicode
- Changed: .p8 format skips storing tailing rows of data that match default state
- Changed/Fixed: shr(x,n) is now equivalent to calling shr(x,1) n times when n >= 32
- Fixed: Error message and stack trace line numbers 0 or slightly out
- Fixed: Unclosed block error navigates cursor to eof rather than start of block
- Fixed: Exported binaries can load carts outside of bundle
- Fixed: BBS cart loaded from a local cart loses data cstore()ed during previous run
- Fixed: btn() returns same as btnp()
- Fixed: btnp(6) always returns false
- Fixed: Missing mask pixels in cart download animation frame
- Fixed: Crash when try to load a directory as a cart
- Fixed: Sometimes cursor position set by keyboard mouse emulation in code editor
- Added: t() aliased to time()
- Fixed: time() always returns 0 when there is no _update function
- Fixed: (raspi) Keyboard stops responding after pressing CTRL-F, CTRL-Z
- Fixed: (raspi) Double keypresses in sound editor when entering notes
- Fixed: stat(6) pads parameter string with spaces
- Added: Local and UT time queries using stat()
- Added: host_framerate_control (config.txt) to improve performance on slower machines and web
- Added: Control over cpu usage when running in background (-background_sleep_ms / config.txt)
- Added: Windows icon in exported exe
- Added: F11 to toggle fullscreen
- Added: export -c switch to indicate transparent icon colour
- Added: show_backup_messages (config.txt) to turn off backup notifications
- Added: SFX instruments documentation in pico8.txt
- Added: Error message when trying to export carts with code size over the compressed limit
- Changed: If config.txt is not found, the same directory as the executable is searched
- Changed: If sdl_controllers.txt exists in the same directory as the executeable, it is processed first
- Changed: Shorthand if () statements must be written on a single line
- Fixed: reload() from bundled, non-primary cart in exported html multicart reads only original data
- Fixed: Exported binaries wrongly observe F7 (capture label)
- Fixed: Loading carts from earlier versions alters SFX data not intended for audio
- Fixed: Old version of fill patterns documentation near end of pico8.txt
- Fixed: 'backed up unsaved changes' message displayed during runtime for cstored() carts
- Fixed: PICO-8 runs too slowly when in background (new default background_sleep_ms: 20)
- Fixed: Saving screenshots and videos from exported binaries are named 0_*
- Fixed: Compressed size limit warning on save doesn't mention exported carts
- Fixed: btn(), btnp() don't work in infinite loops
- Fixed: btnp() timing inconsistent between 30fps / 60fps / during frame-skipping / with no_update
- Fixed: Can't move between channels while music is playing in song mode
- Fixed: Preprocessor bug regressions: "if (..) or", "a.b -= c - d"
- Fixed: Crash when pressing menu button on an empty favourites list
- Added: Binary exporters (Windows, Linux, Mac OSX)
- Added: Code tabs
- Added: Splore cart menu
- Added: Fill patterns
- Added: Custom sfx instruments
- Added: load("#1234") to load [and run] a BBS cart
- Added: -x switch // execute a cart headless, for making commandline toolchains
- Added: Compressed size display and limit warning lights in code editor
- Added: CTRL-L to jump to a line number in code editor
- Added: numbers can be written in binary: 0b10100010
- Added: tostr(), tonum()
- Added: extcmd(): audio_rec, audio_end to record all audio output.
- Added: ls() returns a list of local files if called while running
- Added: getmetatable()
- Added: coroutine error reporting // wrap coresume() in assert()
- Added: sfx() can take a 4th parameter: number of notes to play
- Added: Live sfx and music editing + better navigation controls
- Added: Transpose selected sfx notes relative to C by entering a note w/ SHIFT held
- Added: Insert and delete sfx rows with enter and backspace
- Added: Hidden note data is shown in sfx editor when relevant (slide, arps)
- Added: Warning displayed when unsaved changes backed up
- Added: Separate animation for downloading vs. loading a cart
- Added: export -p switch to supply a customized html template
- Added: Mousewheel when devkit mouse enabled: stat(36) // not supported in web
- Added: < > to change zoom level in gfx and map editors
- Changed: Rebalanced / fixed api cpu costs
- Changed: Screenshot and gif filenames based on current cart if available
- Changed: add() returns the added object
- Changed: removed global hpf on audio
- Changed: (sfx) can slide to volume 0
- Changed: removed master low pass filter
- Changed: assert() can take an optional error_message parameter
- Changed: ? (shorthand for print()) can be prefixed by whitespace
- Changed: shl(), shr() return 0 if second parameter >= 32
- Changed: Automatically drop down to software blitting mode if opengl fails
- Changed: Lua memory limit set to 2MB (was 1MB)
- Changed: Some options (-width, -show_fps) apply only to the session; not saved to config.txt
- Updated: Internal game controller mappings from SDL_GameControllerDB
- Fixed: Pops & clicks in audio when switching between playing SFX
- Fixed: Crash in audio mixer because of bad locking
- Fixed: Crash when loading .p8 files with more than 64k of code
- Fixed: Indexing of sparse tables fails after removing n/2 elements
- Fixed: Calling stat() inside an infinite loop crashes
- Fixed: Resetting cartridge corrupts cartridge data in range 0x5e00..0x5eff
- Fixed: Can not recover from a cart error caused by glitchy data on resetting
- Fixed: String->negative number conversion off by 0x0.0001 (-1 --> 0xffff0001)
- Fixed: Crash when running cart closed to 64k char limit
- Fixed: Cursor can't move to the right of last character in code editor
- Fixed: Missing highlighted keywords: in, add, del, menuitem
- Fixed: Preprocessor bugs: "a+=1+2\n*3", "a+=(1)ba=42", "a[(1)]+=1"
- Fixed: Preprocessor performs replacements inside a string printed with ?
- Fixed: Display freezes when terminating a program running at >100% cpu
- Fixed: Quick-running (CTRL-R) clobbers some editor state (e.g. current sprite page)
- Fixed: Loading a .p8 file with a future version reports a generic failure
- Fixed: alt-enter to toggle fullscreen also triggers pause menu
- Fixed: Splore scrolling jumps around when list gets too long
- Fixed: atan flips sign for very negative values of x close to zero
- Fixed: HTML exporter carts don't run
- Fixed: HTML export 60fps support broken
- Fixed: HTML export when path has a space in it (common for OSX)
- Fixed: atan2 ignores sign of y
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) Crash when access gpio not as root
- Added: Multi-cart export in html
- Added: Cart reset glitch
- Added: Demo carts: bounce, sort
- Added: .p8 format can now store cart labels
- Added: Splore navigation keys: pageup/down, home, end
- Added: Splore usage hint shown on empty favourites list
- Added: Warning on boot when data folder is read-only or can't be created
- Added: Pressing tab with code selected indents those lines (shift-tab to un-indent)
- Added: Double click word to select it
- Added: Trigger screenshot/video/label capture from inside program: extcmd()
- Changed: CTRL+left/right in code editor skips to end of word or span of non-whitespace
- Changed: When a cart terminates from splore, button press is required to continue
- Changed: load("@clip") can only be called from commandline (security)
- Fixed: Can over-allocate host memory if exceed it within one frame
- Fixed: atan2(-1, -32768) crash, and error for small values of dy
- Fixed: (Web) using cstore() on self causes unloadable cart (bug introduced in 0.1.8?)
- Fixed: (web) Pressing ctrl-v crashes the player (should do nothing)
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) WiringPi library required in static build
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) Crash on exit when launching via desktop icon
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) keyboard input broken (observed on raspi2s)
- Added: Alternative function key mapping: ctrl-6..9 for F6..F9
- Added: Alternative glyph entry method: (ctrl-k) to toggle glyph mode
- Changed: Enter glyphs with shift a..z, but can be disabled in config.txt
- Changed: Increased emscripten ram to 128MB (some carts at risk of running out)
- Fixed: Crash when window size is tiny or minified
- Fixed: Crash on toggling fullscreen mode
- Fixed: printh can write files outside filetree (security issue)
- Fixed: show_fps (can also now be toggled with ctrl-1)
- Fixed: Shorthand if/then syntax error when using the form: (functionname)(param)
- Fixed: log.txt not saved in path specified by -home switch
- Fixed: Default application data folder created even when -home specified
- Fixed: Missing dynamic builds (pico8_dyn) from linux archives
- Fixed: Removed unneeded RPATH from linux binaries
- Fixed: export foo%d.wav fails to write multiple files
- Added: Copy and paste sprites and whole cartridges directly to BBS posts
- Added: JAM category in splore
- Added: GPIO support for Raspberry Pi
- Added: Read clipboard using stat(4) after user presses CTRL-V
- Added: printh() can optionally write to a file or the host clipboard
- Added: Editor tool information and tips shown on mouseover
- Added: Set desktop path with -desktop (screenshots and gifs are saved here)
- Added: Warning on saving .p8 when compressed code size exceeds .p8.png limit
- Added: Alternative editor colours // config.txt: gui_theme 1
- Added: Dotted line every 8 rows in song view
- Added: -screenshot_scale (default: 3) and -gif_scale (default: 2)
- Added: Can use ctrl-up, ctrl-down to jump to start and end of code
- Added: CTRL-M to mute/unmute sound
- Added: HTML5-exported carts support 60fps
- Added: Timeout switch for splore downloads: -timeout
- Changed: Glyph characters typed with alt + a..z
- Changed: stat(0) does not include allocations waiting to be garbage collected
- Changed: Unfiltered screen stretching at integer scales by default
- Changed: Removed -aspect and -scale settings (use draw_rect instead)
- Fixed: -home has no effect under Windows
- Fixed: Sometimes frame skipping starts before CPU usage has reached 100%
- Fixed: Double-speed BTNP() timing in 60fps mode
- Fixed: Exported HTML fails when _update60 is used instead of_update
- Fixed: Can't copy and paste button glyphs
- Fixed: Lines containing glyphs do not scroll far enough horizontally
- Fixed: Loading .p8 renamed as .p8.png from splore freezes
- Fixed: Bucketfill in map doesn't sync to shared memory
- Fixed: fset fails when de-setting flags
- Fixed: Syntax error when beginning with the form: IF (..) [OR|AND]\n
- Fixed: cls() costs twice as much cpu as it should
- Fixed: wav file exporter missing some data / writing truncated buffers
- Fixed: Entering new notes in song view doesn't observe current volume, instrument
- Fixed: alt-tab sometimes generates alt character text entry event
- Fixed: Resuming a cancelled download in splore causes crash
- Fixed: Controller attributes in log.txt always shown as -1
- Added: 60fps support
- Added: Music exporter
- Added: Custom GIF length (maximum 120 seconds)
- Added: -,+ to navigate sprite tabs, sfx, music patterns
- Added: sfx editor: navigate with home, end, pageup/down, mousewheel
- Added: <, > to modify sfx speed, or click and drag
- Added: Middle mouse button to pan around spritesheet / map
- Added: Shortcut command for splore: S
- Added: Pre-installed selection of BBS cart (use INSTALL_GAMES)
- Added: Warning when saving .p8.png with no label
- Added: (OSX) logging to ~/Library/Logs (viewable with Console.app)
- Added: -pixel_perfect switch (on by default)
- Added: -draw_rect switch
- Changed: Can not CTRL-S save over a loaded bbs cart
- Changed: Only .p8 files listed by dir() and by splore
- Changed: Command history increased to 256
- Changed: exit() / shutdown() have no effect while running cart
- Fixed: Memory usage (stat(0)) inconsistent across host platforms
- Fixed: Spinny disks shows when reloading current cart with load()
- Fixed: GIF saver does not respect 64x64 / mirrored modes
- Fixed: Miscellaneous multi-line comments / strings issues
- Fixed: Empty map cels cost cpu in mapdraw()
- Fixed: mapdraw() slowdown when drawing bottom half of map
- Fixed: preprocess changes semantics when += and : operators on same line
- Fixed: Identifiers starting with underscore counted as extra token
- Fixed: Saving .png exceeding compressed code limit fails silently
- Fixed: Right-clicking a sprite does not set the currently edited sprite
- Fixed: (Windows) extra space added to pasted lines
- Fixed: spr() expensive when drawn with low negative coordinates
- Fixed: pipe character identical to colon character
- Fixed: (Raspberry Pi) shift key appends a character when entering text
- Fixed: Editor mode buttons are still clickable during cart runtime
- Fixed: When loading a .p8.png file, label is reset and needs to be re-captured
- Fixed: export() does not report failure
- Fixed: mset()'d changes in shared memory not readable via peek() / sget()
- Fixed: cstore() saving edited code
- Fixed: audio pop between patterns during music playback
- Added: menuitem()
- Added: button glyphs in code (shift-L, R, U, D, X, O)
- Added: Customisable data directory (e.g. pico8 -home mydata)
- Added: Web gpio pins: read and write pico8_gpio[] in javscript
- Fixed: SPLORE search doesn't reset
- Fixed: Splore skipping 33rd cart listing after loading more items
- Fixed: Crash when selecting a local binary file in splore
- Fixed: Semicolon can't be used as a list or statement separator
- Fixed: Exported html can not cstore self
- Added: SPLORE local & bbs cartridge explorer
- Added: setmetatable(), cocreate(), coresume(), costatus(), yield()
- Added: Spinning cart icon to show when a cart is swapped / written to
- Added: Permanent storage when carts played in a browser
- Added: Adjustable aspect ratio (-aspect 420 for 1:1)
- Changed: Lua memory limit: 1024k (was 512k)
- Changed: Music channel now resumes after being clobbered by an sfx
- Changed: Arpeggios double speed when SFX speed <= 8
- Changed: Exceeding compressed code limit does not block saving in .p8 format
- Changed: spr() half as expensive, to be consistent with map()
- Changed: Fractional hex number notation: 0x0.3 == 0x0.3000, (was 0x0.0003)
- Changed: : operator doesn't count as an extra token (same as .)
- Changed: cstore() writes directly to disk
- Changed: cstore(), reload() return number of bytes read / written
- Changed: save() while running does nothing. (use cstore() instead)
- Changed: load() while running loads and runs the specified cartridge
- Fixed: Small pops in audio mixer caused by sound wave discontinuities
- Fixed: HTML5-exported sound clicks badly under Chrome
- Fixed: Display palette is not oberserved when exporting GIFs
- Fixed: Rapid keypresses causes duplicate readings in tracker & text editor
- Fixed: += inside comments breaks preprocessor
- Fixed: sspr() cpu cost the same when clipped
- Fixed: cartdata() with bad parameters crashes
- Fixed: EXPORT from commandline can not be used without brackets and quotes
- Added: Raspberry Pi Build
- Added: Keyboard configuration for player buttons (KEYCONFIG)
- Added: Music tracker select / copy / paste
- Added: Single-level undo in audio tools
- Added: Live preview of frequencies in sound editor
- Fixed: Command history extends past last reboot
- Fixed: Sfx exporter broken
- Fixed: Slashes at end of path resolve to double slashes
- Fixed: Load cart from commandline under Windows
- Fixed: International character entry inserting extra characters
- Fixed: Lines with tabs have broken cursor placement and display boundary
- Fixed: OSX command-key combinations broken
- Added: spritesheet importing and exporting with import("blah.png"), export("blah.png")
- Added: sfx exporting with export("blah%d.wav")
- Added: External cartridge parameter for reload() and cstore()
- Added: Persistent cartridge data mapped to 0x5e00
- Added: Click token limit to toggle token & char limit display
- Added: assert(), type()
- Added: P to pause
- Changed: code char limit: 64k (was 32k)
- Changed: local declarations and semicolons not counted as tokens
- Changed: Pairs of brackets and block delimitations count as one token
- Changed: Only _update() or_draw() need to exist to enter main loop
- Changed: Allow forward-slash in code editor
- Changed: info() reports current (last loaded or saved) filename
- Changed: html5 version compiled with NO_DYNAMIC_EXECUTION
- Changed: can only cstore up to 64 different files in one session
- Changed: load() automatically copies data section of cart to base ram
- Fixed: Shift-drag-copy sprites -> paste only pastes 1x1
- Fixed: ".." should count as one token
- Fixed: Tracker displaying D instead of .
- Fixed: Multi-line comments
- Fixed: Crash on run when code close to char limit
- Fixed: When over token limit, can not run any command
- Fixed: Unused high bits in SFX section not saved in .p8 format
- Fixed: Camera position memory mapping out of sync
- Fixed: pico8.txt link broken in windows installer
- Fixed: print() crashes when parameter is not a string or numbers
- Fixed: Multi-line strings & escape chars mess up tokenizer and print()
- Fixed: Joystick not responding when left stick is up to the left
- Fixed: Alt-F4 saves screenshot before quitting
- Fixed: Sprite editor mode button doesn't show fullscreen mode
- Fixed: -sound parameter not working in html5 version
- Added: paste into commandline
- Fixed: lua standard libraries accessible
- Fixed: command-line loading doesn't work
- Fixed: music pattern finished too early when all tracks set to looping
- Fixed: peek()ing odd bytes in sfx address space masks bit 7
- Fixed: cstore and reload from code space should have no effect
- Added: html5 cartridge exporter
- Added: Cartridge save data (64 fixed point numbers)
- Added: 8-player input
- Added: Demo carts: COLLIDE and BUTTERFLY
- Added: Command-line parameters // load cart, -run, settings
- Added: Alternative function keys (F6..F9 aliased as F1..F4)
- Added: pairs()
- Added: printh() for debugging
- Added: Tab completion for filenames in console
- Added: stack trace on runtime error
- Changed: music pattern length taken to be first non-looping channel's length
- Changed: noise instrument (6) has low frequency white noise scaled by volume
- Changed: screenshot captures whole window contents at display resolution
- Changed: del() moves remaining items up one index to maintain a packed table
- Changed: add(),del(),count(),all() no longer store extra fields
- Changed: removed count() from docs -- now just a legacy function. Use # operator instead.
- Changed: cursor only blinks while window is active
- Changed: peek(), poke() and bitwise operations (band()..) have no function call overhead
- Changed: yellow slightly warmer
- Changed: No camera snapping after pan in map mode
- Fixed: sqrt() crashing for 0 or >= 32761
- Fixed: Semi-colon characters in text editor
- Fixed: Long lines split when saving in .p8 format
- Fixed: pget() does not respect camera position
- Fixed: Error message when peeking or poking outside of legal address space
- Fixed: Search replace colour fills one pixel outside of selected region
- Fixed: Playing an empty music pattern breaks subsequent music playback
- Fixed: Invalid sfx editing state on startup
- Fixed: Painting instruments values in frequency view also sets volumes
- Fixed: Inconsistent gif recording speeds
- Fixed: Unmapped joystick support
- Fixed: Compressed code size sometimes larger than uncompressed
- Fixed: mid() fails when first argument is not smallest
- Fixed: Scroll wheel changes sprite/map zoom while in code editor
- Fixed: CTRL-R (quick-run) drawing over current line in command mode
- Fixed: Label capture (F7) does not respect display palette state
- Fixed: Syntax highlighting of api functions and hex numbers
- Fixed: Looping to 0 with negative step finishes at 1
- Fixed: nil values printed as false instead of nil
- Fixed: Hexadecimal fractional parts
- Fixed: btnp() unresponsive when skipping frames
- Fixed: Editing mode is lost when using ctrl-r to run
- Fixed: Tracker note entry keys mapped, messing up piano-like layout
- Fixed: Shared gfx/map memory out of sync after some editor operations
- Fixed: Alt-gr character entry
- Fixed: Can map display palette to entries >= 16 using poke()
- Fixed: Using shift to select in code editor has wrong selection range
- Fixed: Dragging above top of text causes selection to flip to end
- Fixed: Duplicate at end of file listing
- Added: Token-based code limiting (8192 tokens, 32k ascii text)
- Added: Freeform move, pan and selection in sprite and map editors
- Added: Flood-fill tool (sprite and map)
- Added: .GIF saver
- Added: CTRL-Stamp to stamp with transparency
- Added: Single-step undo for map and sprites
- Added: 2x2 brush
- Added: sqrt(), atan2()
- Added: CTRL-S to quick-save
- Added: CTRL-R reloads .p8 file and runs (useful for external text editing)
- Added: Automatic backups on overwriting or quitting without saving
- Added: Scroll wheel zooms in sprite editor
- Added: Customisable resolution // e.g. pico8 -width 580
- Added: Strings highlighted as green
- Added: ALT-click can optionally simulate right click (see config.txt)
- Added: palt() to control transparency for spr(), sspr()
- Added: info()
- Changed: load() tries adding .p8.png, .png if file doesn't exist
- Changed: Draw operations apply only to selection when active
- Changed: Move operations (cursors) apply to selection if present
- Changed: Removed time()
- Changed: Random seed is random on cart startup
- Changed: api functions never read directly from cart rom
- Changed: sspr() can take negative values for dw, dh
- Fixed: Sparse table indexing with integers fails
- Fixed: Assignment operators and shortform if-then-else failing
- Fixed: sspr() failed when w0 == 128
- Fixed: Circle drawing broken when camera not (0,0)
- Fixed: CPU hogging
- Fixed: Noise instrument clobbers rnd() sequence
- Fixed: Audio system not resetting on program reset
- Fixed: % operator sometimes wrong for negative values
- Fixed: Length operator (#)
- Fixed: Power operator (^)
- Fixed: Line clipping bug on right and bottom edges
- Fixed: print() precision for whole numbers
- Fixed: print() broken for negative y values
- Fixed: tokenization and keyword highlighting
- Fixed: sprite properties not copied/pasted
- Fixed: Only sfx 0..32 could be used as music patterns
- Fixed: Saving and loading a .p8 file adds newline to end of code
- Fixed: Drag selection to left margin in code editor -> selects all
- Added: demo cart: hello.p8 (use install_demos)
- Added: CTRL-R from anywhere to run cart or restart cart
- Added: use a,s to select colour in gfx editor
- Added: consistent operation cpu costs
- Added: btn(), btnp() with no arguments returns bitfield
- Added: fget(id) returns bitfield of that sprite's flags
- Changed: renamed mapdraw() to map() for consistency
- Changed: default sleep time is 5ms (better cpu consumption for laptops)
- Fixed: memory limiter
- Fixed: wonky line and circle drawing
- Fixed: shift-click volume in sfx editor to set all
- Fixed: number formatting is now never in scientific notation
- Fixed: clipped error messages in console
- Fixed: text undo stores rollback points when chaning line number
- Fixed: print(str) carriage returns to previous x
- Added: help()
- Added: Ctrl+F / Ctrl+G to search for text, repeat search
- Added: del key in code editor
- Added: Short-hand single-line IF statements
- Added: Unary operators += -= /= *= %=
- Added: srand(), time(), added rnd() to docs
- Added: Ctrl+D to duplicate line
- Added: interactive ls() for multi-page file listings
- Added: band() bor() bxor() bnot() shl() shr()
- Added: runtime error line number
- Added: dir() (aliased to ls())
- Changed: print() only autoscrolls when called with no parameters
- Changed: alt+up/down to skip between function definitions (was ctrl)
- Changed: sspr() dw, dh defaults to sw, sh
- Fixed: Load crashes on files that are not .p8 format or directories
- Fixed: Misc editor cursor position glitches
- Fixed: Crash when syntax error occurs before viewing code
- Fixed: Broken newlines after rebooting
- Fixed: mkdir() called with no parameters creating "(null)" directory
- Fixed: scrolling past top of code with scrollwheel
- Fixed: alt-f4 to fastquit
- Added: Jelpi demo cart
- Added: Internal carts // use install_demos()
- Added: Joystick support
- Added: Undo/redo in code editor
- Added: Scroll wheel in code editor
- Added: LCTRL + UP/DOWN to navigate functions in code editor
- Added: LALT + LEFT/RIGHT to switch editing modes
- Added: btnp()
- Added: Release looping sample (a in editor , sfx(-2, channel) in code)
- Changed: Music stops when pausing program execution
- Changed: Allow 8 settable sprite flags
- Changed: Made noise instrument more bassy
- Fixed: Home, end keys
- Fixed: Sprite flags 4,5 not saved
- Fixed: mset() discarding 4 high bits
- Fixed: Crash when highlighting long strings
- Added: Palette mapping type 1 (on display)
- Added: Collections can be initialized with c={1,2,..}
- Added: holdframe() // used automatically by _draw(), update()
- Added: Sprite selections and operations across selections
- Added: Map selection and stamp tool
- Added: Immediate mode screen buffer preserved while switching views
- Added: Channel mask for music playback
- Added: Memory mapping for live sound data
- Added: .png cart format
- Added: Sprite navigation by keyboard (-, +)
- Fixed: Strict 4-channel sound
- Fixed: Automatic sfx channel selection (channel index: -1)
- Added: Command history
- Added: P2 keys
- Added: Boot sequence
- Added: Windows, 64-bit linux builds
- Added: CPU cost of internal api functions
- Added: Separate song channel index and mute status
- Added: Memory mapping
- Added: Search/replace colour in sprite editor
- Added: Copy/paste sprites and map regions
- Improved: Immediate mode command editing
- Improved: Editor cursor behaviour
- Fixed: Automatic audio channel selection
- First Alpha
- 🔑 Keys
- 🌎 Hello World
- 💾 Example Cartridges
- 📂 File System
⤴️ Loading and Saving- 📋 Using an External Text Editor
- 💽 Backups
- 🔧 Configuration
- 📸 Screenshots and GIFs
- 🔖 Sharing Cartridges
- 💖 SPLORE
- 🖼️ Sprite Sheet / Label (.png)
- 🎵 SFX and Music (.wav)
- 🤖 MAP and CODE
- 💾 Cartridges (.p8, .p8.png, .p8.rom)
- 🌐 Web Applications (.html)
- 🤖 Binary Applications (.bin)
- 🕹️ Uploading to itch.io
- 💾 Exporting Multiple Cartridges
- 🔥 Running EXPORT from the host operating system