Pico-JS Javascript Game library

Current version: 1.0.0

A simple JavaScript game library, which makes it easy to create canvas-based games playable through a web browser.

It is inspired by Pico-8, a Lua-based virtual game console and game creation IDE, and can be used to port Pico-8 games to JavaScript.

Getting the library

There's a single file: picoJS.js, in the repo root. picoJS.js is continuously updated in place — version history lives in git tags and CHANGELOG.md, not as parallel per-version files.

<script src="picoJS.js"></script>
<script src="mygame.js"></script>

// mygame.js
function _init()   { /* ... */ }
function _update() { /* ... */ }
function _draw()   { cls(1); spr(0, 64, 64); }

picoJS.run({
    sprites: "sprites.png",
    init:   _init,
    update: _update,
    draw:   _draw
});

Porting a real Pico-8 cart

tools/p8-to-js.js converts a .p8 cart's map, sprite flags, and sprite pixel data into a JS data module picoJS.run() can load directly (node tools/p8-to-js.js mygame.p8 mygame-data.js).

It doesn't touch __gfx__ as an image (you still need an actual spritesheet PNG for spr()/sspr() to draw with) or __lua__ at all — porting the actual game logic from Lua is a manual, cart-by-cart job. Sound sfx conversion is not supported.

games/picodiver/ is a port of an existing Pico-8 cart, used as the project's actively-maintained integration test. It is worth comparing alongside the converter if you're about to port something yourself.

More

• CHANGELOG.md — full per-version history, with worked examples for every feature.
• ROADMAP.md — what's implemented, what's planned, and open ideas.