🎮 PICO-8 🖱️ No install to start 📦 Export a real .p8 cart Ages 8+

PICO-8 Studio

Pick one of the six games from the series, tune it, and play it right here. Then download a real .p8 cartridge and open it in PICO-8 (or a free compatible player) to keep building in Lua.

Companion to the My First Pico-8 Game series. Nothing to install here, it works on a school computer.

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Lumo says: go at your own pace. Pick a game, press Play, then change one number at a time and watch what happens. Every cart is yours to keep, and you can always make it again.
Make your own art and sounds: draw sprites in Pixel Studio and make music or sound effects in Sound Studio, then bring them into your game.

Tune your game

These values change how the game plays here and in the exported cart. Move one at a time to feel the difference.

Place it in the world

Drag where the ball serves from in Pong, or use Up and Down arrows then Enter. The spot saves into your cart.

Ball serves from the middle. Drag it and press Play.

The 16 PICO-8 colours

Every PICO-8 game is limited to 16 colours, numbered 0 to 15. Limiting yourself to a small palette is how retro games look so bold and clear. In Lua you write the number, like rectfill(0,0,10,10,8) for red.

Play your game

On a keyboard use arrows or WASD to move, and Z or Space for the action button. Nothing happening? Go back to Tune and change a value, then press reset.

Download your cartridge

This is a real PICO-8 cartridge. The code is Lua and it runs in PICO-8. Download it, then open it in PICO-8 (or a free compatible fantasy console) and keep building.

Code it live

This is the real Lua. Change a number, press Apply, and the preview updates here and in the cart.

How to open your cart

  1. Download the .p8 file with the button above.
  2. Open it in PICO-8 (Lexaloffle) with folder then load, or just drag it onto the PICO-8 window.
  3. No PICO-8? Free fantasy consoles that read .p8 carts work too, such as TIC-80 in the browser or on desktop.
  4. To edit the code, open the editor in PICO-8 and look at the __lua__ section. That is exactly what the studio made for you.