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First program in #love #love2d!! A port of a fractal algorithm I first did for #pico8. I read about the algorithm that generates this; couldn't believe it worked until I coded it for myself. Looks nice at 800x600!
#buildinpublic #gamingcommunity #gamedevelopment #indiedevhour
Post-release bug fix on Picofender!

Check it out: protonperson.itch.io/picofender

In response to a player request, I've added the ability to enter a few additional characters for high score initials.

Honored folks are playing

#arcade #shmups #pico8 #gaming #videogames #buildinpublic
OMG! I just saw that someone added my first game, Picofender, to their list of the best action games on #pico8
mattwidmann.net/notes/pico-8-g…
I wholeheartedly agree!
Check it out at protonperson.itch.io/picofender
#pixelart #indie #arcade #shmups #videogames #buildinpublic #retrogaming #retro
Update on #picofender for #pico8 on #screenshotsaturday.

Working on the high score system. Thinking about the best way to pack/unpack six high score initials into pico-8'a very limited persistent data storage.

#buildinpublic #gamedev #RetroGaming
The sounds of #picofender for #pico8:

This is a live recording of me playing the game with some of the sound effects in place. You can see more of the enemies, progress with the shield.

#screenshotsaturday #indiedev #buildinpublic #arcade #RetroGaming #ArcadeGaming #gamedev
😱

8192/8192 Getting close to feature completion for #picofender, but I've run out of tokens again!

I'm pretty sure the tokens I need are there, but will have to dig a little deeper to find them than before. Hopefully this is the last round.

#gamedev #pico8 #buildinpublic
Update on #Picofender #pico8, my demake/remix of Defender adding features of Resogun, Geometry Wars, and Nuclear Throne. You can start see some of the "remix" features: score multiplier, deadline mode, and shield.
#screenshotsaturday #RetroGaming #indiegame #buildinpublic
#picofender bug tracking, extreme gore edition:

Check out how this bug completely maxes out #pico8 CPU and memory very quickly. It keeps bleeding the humans forever instead of mercifully killing them at once.

lmao.

#buildinpublic #gamedev #pixelart #retrogame #RetroGaming
After another round of token optimizations, I've saved >1,000 tokens w/o losing any functionality and now have ~1,300 tokens remaining to try and complete #picofender for #pico8 soon.

Here's some footage of me testing the newly rewritten collision system
#buildinpublic #gamedev
I'm approaching, but not yet at, the feature set I want for #picofender, but I'm also using 96% of the maximum token allocation for #pico8 right now. So, it's time to do battle with the token monster to get what I need to do the features I want and polish/balance.

#buildinpublic
Solid progress on #picofender today, though not quite enough where I'm ready to share the first alpha.
I'm starting to run into the #pico8 token limit. Not sure how much optimizing saves, but I'm at 75% and nowhere near feature complete. Will have to cut
#buildinpublic #indiedev
#picofender development is going well, except that I'm approaching the #pico8 hard limit of 8192 tokens. I've been putting this off for awhile, but now can't really implement new features (or finish original scope) without *serious* token optimization.

#buildinpublic #gamedev
Token optimization in #pico8 is a brutal grind for me. It's tons of work; adds no new features; and breaks things that already work. It's taken me about 3 hours to save 211 tokens: just 2.5% of the total😢.

I hope this at least makes me a better coder?
#buildinpublic #Grinding
I think one of the casualties of token optimization is likely to be this cool tracking beam the aliens use to harvest humans. This takes about 4-5 hundred tokens.

Doesn't add to gameplay, it's just a special effect that's taking 6% of my tokens!

#buildinpublic #PICO8
More early #gamedev on #picofender for #pico8:

Earliest terrain that's in the current version. I set #procgen aside and hard coded a series of vertices with lines. I suppose I could have just used a big sprite, but this seemed more flexible.

#buildinpublic #screenshotsaturday
Early #gamedev on #picofender for #pico8:

First test with moving sprite and particle effect: notice: (1) no acceleration on the ship, only constant speed; (2) no terrain to move around in; (3) no shooting, no sound, no animation.

#buildinpublic #screenshotsaturday #RetroGaming
I've been asked why build for #pico8? #picofender isn't a commercial project: It'll be on @itchio as a pay what you want, but, this is kind of like of a business card for me. When it's done, people can get an idea of what I do in seconds without me saying a word. #buildinpublic
While #picofender is inspired by Defender, I want to "demake" formula in different ways.

Compare WIlliams' Defender (1981), which has a resolution of 320x256 with the #picofender mockup, which runs on #pico8 at 128x128.

#buildinpublic #retrogames
This is the earliest "interactive" version of #picofender which is really just a line moving back and forth. The purpose of this for me was just to test my familiarity with the #pico8 camera() function; keeping track of an object as it moves on/off screen.
#buildinpublic #gamedev
I can't #gamedev #picofender for #pico8 fast enough to show new features every day, so I'd like to share some early dev history.
This is the earliest mockup. It looks similar to the current build, but there is no movement, no interaction, no animation, no sound.
#buildinpublic
Instead of just "humans,"I decided to add some diversity. Meet Alex, Jamie, Terry, Khalil, and Gramma:

We humans celebrate diversity, but we are nothing but identical food pellets to the evil Picoaliens.

Lay waste to the alien scum with #picofender for #pico8!

#buildinpublic
I showed off #picofender for #pico8 to my 13 year old nephew. He was nice, but I could tell he was unimpressed 😂 He just sees retro-styled game as "old-fashioned," and doesn't notice the subtle things that make my demake/remix of Defender a mix of old and new.

#buildinpublic
More features coming in on #picofender for #pico8 I've added a pretty need lighting-bomb effect you can see here along with a few other subtle improvements since the last gameplay I've shown. Can you tell?

I can't wait to share this: hopefully soon.

#buildinpublic #RetroGaming
I've been playing with #Processing. Check out these early sketches!

I love #pico8, but Processing may be a better fit for some of my work.

I'm a big believer that no #gamedev or #art tool is "better" than another, it's only a matter of what I'm comfortable with.

#buildinpublic
First update on #picofender for #pico8 in awhile. This is my first stab at a title screen. Spent quite a bit of time doing the PICOFENDER logo by hand, pixel by pixel in Photoshop. Also testing persistent cart data here. Definitely new stuff for me!

#buildinpublic #videogames