🎮 My First Pico-8 Game · Episode 4 of 6 · See All Episodes
🚀 Episode 4 · Intermediate · Builds on Episodes 1-3

Galactic
Blaster!

Pilot a ship through waves of enemies, fire bullets and grab power-ups. Learn spawn systems, hit detection and increasing difficulty.

👶 Ages 8+⏱️ ~1.5 Hours🎮 Pico-8✓ Free
🔫 Bullets🌊 Waves💪 Powerups💥 Collision⭐ Score
🚀 Let's Build! Start Step 1← All Episodes🖨️ Print Guide
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Level 1
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Reference cartridge: download the finished, playable Pico-8 cart for this workshop: ⬇ pico8-shooter-reference.zip. Every code block also has a Copy button.
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How to run: Open PICO-8, paste the code in the CODE tab, and press Ctrl+R to run!
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How it works: write the code in each step, and the canvas on the right shows what your code does. It is a live preview that builds the game as you go. Type to see it update, or press Apply to Canvas to test it straight away.
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Lumo says: every step adds one feature to the same game. Type a little, click Apply to Canvas, and test it straight away. There is no wrong answer you can't undo.

Build Space Shooter Step by Step

Each step adds one feature. Write the code, watch it come alive in the canvas, then make it your own.

Step 1 / 6
A ship dodging and shooting waves of aliens
🎉🚀💥👾🔫
You Built a Space Shooter!

Amazing, you've made a real shoot-em-up with bullets, enemies, waves, power-ups and score. Now try Episode 5!

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🧩 Episode 5: Match-3 →

This workshop was free and took many hours to build. If it helped you learn something new, consider supporting the project.

☕ Support on Ko-fi
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Code Order: PICO-8 Game Loop
+20 XP
Drag these PICO-8 Lua lines into the correct order for the _update() and _draw() functions.
if btn(1) then player_x += speed end
function _update()
function _draw()
if btn(0) then player_x -= speed end
end
cls(0)
spr(1, player_x, player_y)
end
🎮 Build a Shooter in the PICO-8 Studio Pick the game in the browser, tune it, play it live at 128x128, then download a real .p8 cart for PICO-8. No install. Open the Studio →