nesbox/TIC-80

Features

• Fantasy Consoles - Implements a virtual retro console environment with fixed resolution, color palette, and memory constraints.
• Fantasy Consoles - Operates as a complete fantasy console platform with integrated asset editors and a bytecode virtual machine.
• Bytecode Virtual Machines - Provides a bytecode virtual machine that emulates a retro console with fixed memory and display constraints.
• Multi-Language Script Execution - Supports the execution of game logic written in multiple scripting languages including Lua, JavaScript, and Ruby.
• Integrated Asset Editors - Ships an integrated suite of editors for creating pixel art, tile maps, and chiptune audio.
• Animated Tilemap Rendering - Pico-8 draws a rectangular region of the map to the screen with sprite animation callbacks.
• Chiptune Audio Production - Provides an integrated pattern-based audio workstation for composing chiptune music and sound effects.
• Game Logic Scripting - Supports writing game logic using a unified API across Lua, JavaScript, and Ruby.
• Real-time Input Processing - Pico-8 detects state changes for gamepads, keyboards, and mouse movements to drive real-time interactivity.
• Retro Game Engines - Offers a complete engine for creating games with vintage aesthetics and constrained technical specifications.
• Chiptune Trackers - Includes an integrated pattern-based chiptune audio workstation for composing music and sound effects.
• Pixel Art Editors - Includes built-in editors for designing pixel-perfect sprite sheets and grid-based world maps.
• Direct Memory Access - Implements low-level raw memory access via peek and poke operations to manage the virtual machine's memory space.
• Fixed-Timestep Loops - Executes game logic at a constant, fixed frame rate to ensure consistent simulation speed across different hardware.
• Volatile Register Access - Provides access to memory-mapped system registers for low-level hardware interaction within the virtual console.
• Virtualized Filesystem Layers - Implements a virtual filesystem to organize and manage project files within the sandboxed environment.
• Debugging Consoles - Includes an embedded console for printing debug messages to track execution flow and variable states.
• Execution Environment Controllers - Ships an execution environment controller for managing debug logging, session resets, and exiting to the system prompt.
• Standalone Binary Packaging - Packages the virtual machine and game assets into native standalone executables for multiple platforms.
• Cross-Platform Execution - Ensures that packaged game files can be executed across multiple operating systems and devices.
• Cross-Platform Game Compilation - Provides a pipeline to build native binaries for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Raspberry Pi from a single project.
• 2D Primitive Rendering - Draws basic geometric shapes and text to a fixed-resolution screen.
• Audio Playback - Provides controls for playing back sound effects and music with adjustable pitch, volume, and looping.
• In-Engine Track Streaming - Streams pre-composed music tracks with integrated controls for tempo and looping.
• Dynamic Pixel Renderers - Programmatically calculates and draws shapes, sprites, and maps on a pixel display.
• Shape Rendering - Renders filled or outlined circles, rectangles, triangles, and lines.
• Sprite Manipulation Tools - Supports placing, scaling, flipping, and rotating individual or composite sprites on screen.
• Sprite State Managers - Provides built-in state storage by attaching eight boolean flags to each sprite for game metadata.
• Boolean State Flags - Allows developers to set and read boolean flags on sprites to manage game-specific object states.
• Tile Map Renderers - Renders grid-based map sections to the screen with support for real-time tile replacement.
• Tilemap Data Modification - Allows getting and setting sprite identifiers at specific map coordinates to modify game worlds.
• Scanline Interrupts - Enables raster effects by executing custom logic during the vertical blanking interval.
• Interactive Sound Effect Managers - Triggers specific sound identifiers across multiple channels to provide interactive audio feedback.
• Textured Mesh Rendering - Fills triangles using textures sampled from image RAM to simulate 3D graphics.
• Memory Banking Implementation - Implements a bank-switching memory model to manage RAM and persistence within the virtual console.
• Persistent Memory Banks - Saves and loads runtime memory to persistent banks for game progress and save-state features.
• Stateful Bank Synchronization - Synchronizes runtime memory to specific banks to manage stateful game progression.
• Bytecode Compilation - Compiles multiple scripting languages into a unified bytecode format for execution on the virtual machine.
• Bit Manipulation Techniques - Provides the ability to manipulate individual bits and bytes in RAM to modify sprites, maps, and sounds.
• Double-Buffered Rendering - Utilizes double-buffered rendering with dual VRAM banks to eliminate screen flicker.
• Bitmap Font Rendering - Renders text strings by mapping characters to custom fonts defined within the sprite set.
• Sprite & Particle Rendering - Displays tiles from sprite sheets with support for scaling, flipping, and rotation.

Star history