World’s Smallest Game Engine

PolyMars
PolyMars
733,720
0
Published 2021-04-01
In 7 days, I tried to make a game with the weirdest game engine: PICO-8, a fantasy console that tries to emulate hardware restrictions of 1980s video game consoles like the NES (1985) and SNES (1991). I teamed up with the insanely talented, professional, full-time game dev and pixel artist ‪@ReeceGeofroy‬, who created the game’s art, and in one week we were able to put together "String Quest," a retro dungeon crawler game where you navigate two players connected by a string. This was also our entry to the Brackeys Game Jam 2021.1, which had a theme of “Stronger Together,” and the mechanics were inspired by Murphy's Walk, a game I made for the Extra Credits Game Jam #4 in 2019.

Check out String Quest here: polymars.itch.io/string-quest
→ Reece Geofroy’s Video (I'M IN IT):    • Creating A Retro 8-Bit Dungeon Crawle...  

→ Twitter: twitter.com/PolyMarsYT
→ Twitch: twitch.tv/PolyMars
→ Join the PolySpace Discord: discord.gg/sGecnxuwxu

--Chapters--

0:00 Intro
0:42 friendly chat
1:11 What is PICO-8?
1:51 Core
2:51 Game Idea
3:18 Lua Programming
3:52 Creating Basic Gameplay
4:08 Collisions
4:28 Animation System
4:37 Hazards
4:55 Enemy Showcase
5:36 Enemy Code
6:45 Designing Levels
6:54 Level Loading (who cares?)
7:15 End Flag
7:28 Heart Collectible
7:34 Breakable Walls
7:45 Chests
8:04 Implenting Levels
8:23 Finishing Touches
8:45 Conclusion

--Music--

"Swing" - PolarChips (   • Nocturnal (8 Bit Jazz)  )
"Breeze" - PolarChips (   • Breeze  )
"Rocket" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/)
"Glider" - INTL CMD (soundcloud.com/intlcmd)
"Operatic 3" - Vibe Mountain (   • 🎵 Operatic 3 - Vibe Mountain 🎧 No Cop...  )
"Sneaky Snitch" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/)
"il vento doro" - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
"Getting It Done" - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com/)

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All Comments (21)
  • @ReeceGeofroy
    I think we made something pretty cool here dude! String Quest will become the next big NES Exclusive 🤩😏
  • @vehicle1291
    4:39 "Reece drew some spikes, and I made them kill you." So poetic
  • @TehVulpez
    Everybody gangsta until the pixel t-pose starts bass boosting PolyMars out of his seat
  • @Anonimo-ue5pq
    Polymars: Uses pygame, pico-8, unity, and SDL. Also Polymars: Hey Bruh, checkout Core.
  • @SamiTheAnxiousBean
    "remember saying enjoying making games with limitations? well not with core" -Literally talks about one of the most restrictive modern game engines xD
  • @raynfall77_69
    4:44 the code looks oddly like a gun... It was his subconsious mind reminding him what to do if Reece GeoFortnite didnt cooperate
  • @Atellas
    Pico 8 games have given me some of my favorite browser games. Cool to see you trying it out.
  • @theannoyedmrfloyd3998
    The Atari 2600 has 128 bytes of internal RAM and addresses 4 k of straight ROM before bankswitching and no frame buffering. I never want to hear programmers saying Not Enough RAM.
  • @yalkn2073
    Threatening people with a knife through a discord call. Surprisingly effective
  • @tehbeanz5062
    top tip for collisions in pico 8: in the tile editor you can assign flags to a tile, then use the fget (i think) function to get the tile flags and check if it has the set "wall" flag you put on it. Saves you having to make a manual tile map table for every level edit: lets go with those likes and that heart!
  • @vedamaharaj
    Can we get Dani? No we have Dani at home Dani at home: but also talks about the code and is therefore superior
  • @_Fuscous
    "The enemies all have something in common" explains how they all have a position and all die when attacked by the player
  • @burgerfanman
    Ah, convincing your friends just like Dani does.
  • @aarghrai2697
    0:55 Oh ya, Mars is gonna throw the knife through the screen to hit Geo.....
  • @abigail.sullivan
    I was too busy vibing to the music to pay attention to the enemies
  • @pedroff_1
    As a modder that programs in Lua, yes, tables are basically a solution to everything! Especially using the self method, as I've seen you wisely have
  • @TurboMakesGames
    Really fascinating book recommendation for anyone who wants to learn more about retro game development is a book called "I am Error." The book goes into detail about how games were developed for the NES and how limitations were overcame with some really creative solutions. Another one I hear is good (but haven't read myself) is Racing the Beam which covers development for the Atari 2600. Anyways, cool looking game you guys, congratulations!!