TiC-80 vs pico-8 vs basic8

[159th_pappavis]

What makes Basic8 worth investing.. coz Tic-80 is completeley free and open sourced.
Pico-8 is payware too.

They all save to PNG, creates standalone programs, and multiplatform.


Good luck anyways. Looks nice, though i already bought into TiC-80.
Lotsa fantasy console chat here --> https://discord.gg/uvUfU6B

[Tony Wang]

Not exactly, TIC-80 offers a paid pro version. There are many free FCs tho. Actually BASIC8 also got a channel on that Discord server, and you can ask me about BASIC8 here or there. I've also made a curated list of FCs[github.com], including both paid and free ones.

It's the very beginning of BASIC8, there are shortages and advantages, it's similar to other FCs at some points, but still different, I guess people want to know more FCs, but it's not necessary to invent PICO-8 again. I got inspired from other FCs as well, and made my own idea. People used to talk and compare about Apple ][, ZX Spectrum, Commodore64, Amiga, Amstrad, etc. That's exactly the same as what we are doing now with Fantasy Computers.

[Mop]

if it lets me build a game with a similarity to final fantasy, then i'll praise basic 8 forever. hell i'll master it, then make the next great game.
You guys get first play ♫

[VJFranzK]

^ That's not what Fantasy Console means. It's like an emulator, but the computer never existed in hardware? thus it's a "fantasy".

[Hound[BPL]]

It's not even that. It's a basic programming enviornment with artifical limitations. Fantasy is the right word. It's just a basic enviornment. Something like MicroM8 actually emulates a 6502 complete with memory, the Apple IIe to be specific. Basic is availible but so is anything else you can load down to native assembly. Learning the 6502 opens the door to lots of classic systems. In addition the 6502 still exists today in the embedded world as the 65C02 and it's still being used.


The basic is far too modern to feel like a classic computer. If you wanted something that would sell like mad use the C64 arcitecture and add in the online interactions like microm8 does. I'd drool over a C64 enviornment that had online connectivity to chat, disk sharing, cooperative coding, etc.

[VJFranzK]

OK, I guess it's a "simulator", because hardware isn't emulated. ; - )

When I was actually programming on an 8bit machine, I did often feel limited.
The question is: which of these sets of limitations would you most want to work under?

( btw - Pixel Game Maker MV will arrive soon. Yes, a semi-modern engine with retro graphics. )

...or perhaps to really focus on Unity, and try to forget the fun / difficulty of the 80's ; - )