prototype + playtest

pico-8 is a game engine with intentional limitations (a 16-color palette, a 128X128 sprite sheet, a code token limit) intended to breed creativity and encourage rapid prototyping.

a perfect fit for this class! over the course of 12 weeks we made over 25 games in total. we were inspired by adam saltsman's approach to making small games.

if you would like to play, pico-8 only has six buttons:

• : z or c
• : x or v
• : arrow keys

try out a game below!

i worried about microgame parsability, so every microgame has text prompts a la warioware that help get you on your feet. i playtested with maze and my roomy and worked out some kinks (arrow key inputs were unintuitive unless marked, while z button inputs were instinctual) until the learning curve felt right.

if i were to change anything it'd be the tutorial text. i'd move the prompts into the background near the center of the screen so they're more immediately in focus. i'd also move the input prompts from the bottom of the screen (periphery) to be near the things they affect (in focus), since i think that created confusion...

maze inspired the nirvana animation! say thank you

to sell the game's "disguise" the ui design screams romance vn. y/n's voice in the opening scene is specifically aping the opening scenes of danganronpa, where naegi's talking about how excited he is for his new life in kibougamine academy. it was fresh in my memory since i'd been watching socksbx play it.

i made the calendar screen first and played with it until it felt nice. based on my experience last week i placed input hints right on top of what they affected (the cursor, the current day, the dialogue box) and literally no playtester had a problem with the input scheme. i felt so smart for that

this is a toki pona lesson. don't trust it much because i'm not very familiar.

the ending was planned to be the shadow of a rescue plane passing over the screen, but i finished like an hour before class so instead your rescue message gets washed away. so sorry

solution

in games like lemmings you direct individual "troops", but what if you could only direct in groups...?

ah! the end of the semester crept up so quick. for our last class, the four of us made one game together: a fishing game in which you could catch the games we made as fish, and then play them. it had an inventory screen with descriptions for each game, and a surprise for our professor in the depths.

this is a standalone version that just includes the fishing game, with some small extra features. this was a lot of fun to make! some fish sprites are by my fellow game-makers. the music and sound effects are by the fantastic kate lyman. there's a sick as hell section right at the end of the track so if you go deep for nothing else go deep so you can listen to it (5400M)

a semester full of games... and now it's over. a good time was had by all! i hope you enjoyed some of these little carts.