Pico-8 for Beginners
Pico-8 is a tiny fantasy console for making small, retro games, and it is one of the friendliest ways to start. These free step-by-step workshops build real games you can play and share. No experience is needed, and there is nothing heavy to set up before you begin.
Stardust says: start with one tiny game. Make My First Pico-8 Game, press play, and you have made something real.
Free Pico-8 workshops
My First Pico-8 Game Start here
The gentlest start: make a tiny game you can play in one sitting.
Open workshop →Pong
The classic two-player game, rebuilt in tiny pixels.
Open workshop →Snake
Grow a snake, eat apples and avoid your own tail.
Open workshop →Platformer
Jumping, gravity and levels on a tiny screen.
Open workshop →Space Shooter
Fly a ship, dodge and shoot in a retro blaster.
Open workshop →Dungeon Crawler
Explore rooms and take on monsters in a tiny quest.
Open workshop →Match-3
Swap tiles and clear lines in a colourful puzzler.
Open workshop →Pico-8 Studio
Plan and build a game of your own, start to finish.
Open workshop →What children learn
- Setting up Pico-8 once, then reusing it
- Lua basics: the update and draw loop
- Sprites, the 16 colour palette and the sound chip
- Collisions and keeping score
- Exporting a cartridge you can play and share