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It doesn't need to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your program gets too

It doesn't need to do that, though. It's an interesting set of visual limitations, but the size limit is an arbitrary pain in the ass if your program gets too big. Nobody's hosting is going to break at 256kb.

danbolt 11y ago
You certainly make a good point. There aren't really any real constraints that make the size so small. At the same time, I feel the size limit is intended to have the same spirit as the audiovisual ones. Or, if one really wanted the PICO-8's features, but with more space, she could easily recreate the same functionality with another game framework pretty quickly. Perhaps it's almost like a tribute to stuff seen in the C64 demoscene.
- byron_fast 11y ago
  Oh for sure it's about "staying on theme" but it's arbitrary. Based on some of the amazing stuff people are doing with Pico-8 it seems reasonable that more space could make it even more interesting. The fact that processing speed isn't a limitation reveals that even such a truncated screen can communicate beautiful things. As a programmer who's not good at compressing stuff, it would be annoying to have to spend time bashing code to fit an arbitrary limit.
walkingolof 11y ago
Your missing the point, it has nothing to do with download speed. 32k is not a pita, its the point, this is a fantasy retro consol, giving it 32 MB would do what ? make it pointless probably Its also a excellent opportunity to show off, for example, nobody would have thought you could make this on a C64 1984 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0
- greggman 11y ago
  I agree. Those limits including the 32k code limit really focus what to aim for. Google online game editors and there's plenty with few limits and ... No one is using them. To me it's kind of one of the reasons minecraft has done so well. The limit style frees people from feeling like they need mad skillz Also note pico-8 limits the number of instructions executed per frame. So a faster CPU will not increase what you can do. The goal is to make sure all games run even on the least powered hardware.

danbolt 11y ago

You certainly make a good point. There aren't really any real constraints that make the size so small. At the same time, I feel the size limit is intended to have the same spirit as the audiovisual ones. Or, if one really wanted the PICO-8's features, but with more space, she could easily recreate the same functionality with another game framework pretty quickly. Perhaps it's almost like a tribute to stuff seen in the C64 demoscene.

byron_fast 11y ago
Oh for sure it's about "staying on theme" but it's arbitrary. Based on some of the amazing stuff people are doing with Pico-8 it seems reasonable that more space could make it even more interesting. The fact that processing speed isn't a limitation reveals that even such a truncated screen can communicate beautiful things. As a programmer who's not good at compressing stuff, it would be annoying to have to spend time bashing code to fit an arbitrary limit.

walkingolof 11y ago

Your missing the point, it has nothing to do with download speed. 32k is not a pita, its the point, this is a fantasy retro consol, giving it 32 MB would do what ? make it pointless probably Its also a excellent opportunity to show off, for example, nobody would have thought you could make this on a C64 1984 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kJz_XfbxX0

greggman 11y ago
I agree. Those limits including the 32k code limit really focus what to aim for. Google online game editors and there's plenty with few limits and ... No one is using them. To me it's kind of one of the reasons minecraft has done so well. The limit style frees people from feeling like they need mad skillz Also note pico-8 limits the number of instructions executed per frame. So a faster CPU will not increase what you can do. The goal is to make sure all games run even on the least powered hardware.