"Let's make a PICO-8 Game in 30 Minutes!" is a video published by GDC, where the speaker, Matt Lindsey, demonstrates how to use PICO-8 for rapid game development and prototyping. PICO-8 is a fantasy console creation suite that provides simple, rapid development tools with useful constraints to help developers create games faster. The video walks through the process of creating a simple game using PICO-8, including creating sprites, designing levels, programming game mechanics, and exporting the game for others to play.
PICO-8 offers a variety of simple tools, such as sprite editing, tile map editing, sound editing, and a scripting language based on a subset of Lua. It also enforces a token limit to prevent code bloat. The speaker demonstrates how to create sprites and maps quickly, as well as how to generate sound effects and music using the built-in tools.
The video showcases the process of building a simple platformer game using PICO-8, starting with importing the movement code from the original Celeste game, which has been released under an MIT license. The speaker then modifies the code to create a new game with different mechanics, such as throwing shurikens and skating on ice.
Throughout the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of rapid iteration and experimentation in game development. The PICO-8 environment allows developers to quickly test new ideas, change mechanics, and experiment with level designs to refine their prototypes.
Some examples of modifications made to the base code include adding new movement states for the player, such as clinging to ceilings and hang gliding, as well as creating new object types like shurikens and targets. The speaker also demonstrates how to export the game as a web page, an executable, or a PICO-8 cart, making it easy to share the prototype with others for feedback.
The video concludes with a discussion of the limitations of PICO-8, such as the difficulty of creating 3D games or text-heavy games within the platform. Despite these limitations, PICO-8 remains a valuable tool for rapid game prototyping and experimentation, allowing developers to quickly iterate on their ideas and create engaging, playable prototypes.
