picolove

PICOLOVE

Run PICO-8 games and computer programs with free and open-source software.

On github at: https://github.com/picolove/picolove

Requires LÖVE 11.5 (default), 0.10.2 or 0.9.2

What it is:

• An implementation of PICO-8's API in LÖVE

What is PICO-8:

• See http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

What is LÖVE:

• See https://love2d.org/

Why:

• For a fun challenge!
• Allow standalone publishing of PICO-8 games on other platforms
• Should work on mobile devices *
• Configurable controls
• Extendable
• No arbitrary cpu or memory limitations
• No arbitrary code size limitations
• Better debugging tools available
• Free and open-source software

What it isn't:

• A replacement for PICO-8
• A perfect replica
• No dev tools, no image editor, map editor, sfx editor, music editor
• No modifying or saving carts
• Not memory compatible with PICO-8

Not Yet Implemented:

• Memory modification/reading
• PICO-8 cartridge versions > 8

Differences:

• Uses floating point numbers not fixed point
• sqrt doesn't freeze
• Uses LuaJIT not lua 5.2

Extra features:

• ipairs() standard lua function
• log(...) function prints to console for debugging
• error(message) bluescreens with an error message
• warning(message) prints warning and stacktrace to console
• setfps(fps) changes the consoles framerate
• _keyup, _keydown, _textinput allow using direct keyboard input
• _touchup, _touchdown allow using touch input
• _getcursorx(), _getcursory() allow access to the cursor position
• _getpicoloveversion() returns the version of picolove
• _hasfocus() window focus state (only false on first blur frame in _draw)

Development requirements:

• Runtime: LÖVE 11.5 (default), 0.10.2 or 0.9.2
• Building: make
• Formatting: sed and stylua
• Linting: luacheck
• Packaging: zip

Development:

• Run in endless loop: make dev
• Modify code
• Press ctrl+q to reload

Before pushing:

• Run make format
• Run make lint
• Run make test
  or
• Run make all

Android Packaging:

Replace the default cartridge (nocart.p8) with your game. Text (P8) or PNG (P8.PNG) is supported.
Follow the Android Game Packaging steps.
Optionally, for orientation rotation support (Portrait and Landscape), remove android:screenOrientation="landscape" in the AndroidManifest.xml