Smooth Ride
One button tiny physic-based platformer made in Pico 8 with code under 1024 compressed bytes, made for Pico1k jam 2023
- Use RIGHT ARROW to accelerate when on the ground
- Release RIGHT ARROW to fall faster when in the air
- Press UP ARROW to start a new level
- Press ENTER and select SEED in the menu to start from level 1 if you want a fixed series of levels
Number on top left is a timer for your run of the level, counted in frames (at 60fps), on top right is the sum for all the levels in your session. For example a casual run of all the seeded levels from 1 to 10 took me 14027 frames. My PB for level 1 is 1071.
Source as p8 are available in two versions, the "comment" version is what I coded with additional comments, so it's readable but the "minimal" version uses a tool (https://thisismypassport.github.io/shrinko8/) to makes it even tinier, it's not readable but it fits into the 1k compressed bytes target
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I had fun. Thanks for making it!
its a little butt baby has butt for legs. littlee butt baby. when they ride, ride so smooth mmm it feels good yeah
This is really cool - I love how expressive the little character's movement is!
This is really fun.
So satisfying! I can't begin to imagine the code behind it. Can't wait to take a peek!
Not sure to get what are numbers print, but love the background with colorful circle. I feel may be the ground is to raw. All in 1k, crazy :o Well done!
The numbers on top are timers but it's displayed in frames (at 60fps) displaying them as minutes/seconds/milliseconds would have took a lot of space in code. Yeah you are right, I didn't have a good idea for how to make the ground really pop, I should maybe have tried using a gradient or something.
I wonder if it would be deeper if it were possible to see further ahead, to plan more.
I'm generally reluctant to get into pico8, because the screen resolution genuinely limits how much information can be presented at once, which means there are lots of designs you can't try.
it sure would be better with a wide screen for a game like that. It was a bit hard to balance the view distance, because zooming out was causing performance issues, and I wanted to stay at 60fps. Still, I find pico 8's constraints interesting, it limits the scope, forces you to remove excess features, but it's not ideal for everything
As usual (and as usual I use these words - as usual) you made a solid entry - a fun game with clever gameplay for a minimalist aesthetic. No matter what you do, each time it seems like something new - pushing the Pico8 limits. Well done ++
thanks, that means a lot! Ludum Dare is around the corner, will you take part in it? I would love to make something for it but, as with the last few times, I will probably bail after a few hours of prototyping and not release anything :(
As usual I'm in :)
Et je serai très heureux de considérer ton entrée. On garde le contact. A bientôt ++
Love your games, and this one is no exception. A nice little challenge that wastes no time.
It was more of a challenge for me as there is now a bug with pico-8 when playing on iOS, at least for my old iPhone, in that it can highlight the game as if it’s text when using the touch controls, so I had to chain presses of short durations or unselect the text after long presses.
I have to commend you for managing the arcane art of making compressible games.
Some random ideas for if it wasn’t so size limited:
1. A section where fully smooth travel is always possible, taking from a few preset waveforms, perhaps placed at the end.
2. Maybe improve the colours of the circles (all dark colours (no black) except for rainbow at the end, perhaps coloured by size).
Thank you a lot! I'm sorry to hear about those issues on IOS, maybe there is a way to block that using javascript or something, I should check that
I think it's possible to have a pretty smooth ride in a lot's of case, but as you don't know the level before you it's hard to do it in practice. Playing the seeded level is a bit more interesting as you start to find skips in the levels and ways to keep your speed. Putting pre-made sections could be great for a larger version, but then I would have to actually make do some level design, which is not easy for me :D
For the colours of the circles, yeah I wanted to but didn't have the space to make something more complex. Changing the colour according to circle size is a pretty cool idea tho
Nice work, Very fun !