In the beginning there was #haikuwednesday and now there is #pixelfriday
PixelFriday
pixels
Birdwatching
I and my daughter made some bird sprites in PICO-8 quite some time ago, and only now have I got around to posting them to the PICO-8 BBS. Here is the link to the post with the details, along with the cartridge for you to download and use in your own PICO-8 creations:
https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=34245
What is PICO-8?
From the website:
PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a commandline and simple built-in tools for creating your own cartridges and exploring the PICO-8 cartverse.
Specifications
Display
128×128 16 colours
Cartridge Size
32k
Sound
4 channel chip blerps
Code
Lua
Sprites
256 8×8 sprites
Map
128×32 cels
The harsh limitations of PICO-8 are carefully chosen to be fun to work with, to encourage small but expressive designs, and to give cartridges made with PICO-8 their own particular look and feel.
Creative Tools
PICO-8 has tools for editing code, music, sound, sprites, maps built right into the console. Create a whole game or program in one sitting without needing to leave the cosy development environment!
Shareable Cartridges
PICO-8 cartridges can be saved in a special .png format and sent directly to other users, shared with anyone via a web cart player, or exported to stand-alone HTML5, Windows, Mac and Linux apps.
Any cartridge can be opened again in PICO-8, letting you peek inside to modify or study the code, graphics and sound.
Explore the Cartverse
PICO-8 comes with a built-in cartridge browser called SPLORE, for searching and favouriting carts from the online collection.
Twitchers
A twitcher is someone who will go to great lengths to view new bird species. For some twitchers their pursuit can turn into an obsession and can involve extensive travel, dedicated monitoring of birding hotspots and networking with other twitchers.
https://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/bird-watching-for-beginners/what-is-a-twitcher
Discarded Pixels in Blue
I haven’t given up drawing with a pen (quite the opposite), but I thought I’d post some pixel art game concept work that I don’t think is quite right (yet). The idea was to try making some pixel art backgrounds look more “hand-drawn”. I don’t think it’s the right approach for the game I’m working on with the other Pixelgrams team, but it is something I will pursue on a personal project if I get the opportunity. This tile set was made using Pyxel Edit, which to date is the best tile editor I’ve used. I’m sure there are others out there, but that’s the one I use.
For pixel character animations I have started using Aseprite:
Hey Duggee: The Pixel Badge
You never know, this may become a thing
Whatever it becomes, everyone will be sporting a titfer.
Uh-oh I’ve started pixelling again
After waiting for over a year, I’m making some progress on one or two personal projects. Obviously, it would be best to concentrate on just one but I want to see if I can manage to make some tiny games / apps / digital toys this year, as well as pans to make a real actual book. So, here’s the toucan in 48×48 pixel splendour.
Year of the Toucan
2018 will be the Year of the Toucan, and Timmy 2 Cans will be the Mayor of Your Town.
Cheep Watch
I’ve finally updated my ‘Blackbird’ watch-face so it should run on all the Pebbles, including the new ones due out this month. Here’s the description:
A simple watchface with an elegant and business-like blackbird on it. Use this watch face if you want to feel elegant and/or business-like. Also displays the date for those who find knowing the date important.
So there you go. It’s free to download and enjoy, obviously. You can get it from Pebble here:
https://apps.getpebble.com/en_US/application/552907cadb70189938000007
Cheep cheep!
