Are you a fan of old school video games? What if I told you there’s an NES-style game devkit with the sound/sprite/code tools all built in? And that it can even be used to make polygonal 3D games like Star Fox, but has an intuitive and fun interface?

重新你的老同學視頻游戲迷？ 如果我告訴您，有一個內置聲音/圖片/代碼工具的NES風格游戲devkit，該怎么辦？ 而且它甚至可以用于制作Star Fox等多邊形3D游戲，但具有直觀且有趣的界面嗎？

Well, such a thing exists. And it’s beautiful to behold. Not only is it a game development platform, but there is a large library of existing games that you can play either with its built in user-sharing platform or as an HTML game you can find for free (or sold) on the internet.

好吧，這樣的事情存在。 真是美麗。 它不僅是游戲開發平臺，而且還有大量的現有游戲庫，您可以使用其內置的用戶共享平臺來玩，也可以作為HTML游戲來玩，您可以在互聯網上免費(或出售)該游戲。

First off, here’s a YouTube playlist of a few games that were designed in this platform, so you can get a feel for what to expect.

首先，這是此平臺上設計的一些游戲的YouTube播放列表 ，因此您可以對期望的感受。

The Pico-8 is a fantasy console, which is to say it’s a program (like an emulator is) of a game console that never physically existed. It is a recent creation, and on top of being able to run the games made for it, you can create your own games in it.

Pico-8是一個幻想游戲機，也就是說，它是從未真正存在過的游戲機程序(就像模擬器一樣)。 這是一個新創建的游戲，除了能夠運行為此制作的游戲外，您還可以在其中創建自己的游戲。

A fantasy console is sort of like a virtual machine, which is a program that could, for example, run a Windows XP simulation inside of Windows 10. But this particular fantasy console has based its aesthetics and limitations off of retro game systems like the NES or Game Boy or Super Nintendo. It has a sprite editor, a 32KB information limit to replicate the limitations of developing for old game systems, and a music tracker. But don’t fret about the size limit. It’s pretty hard to reach.

幻想控制臺有點像虛擬機，該程序可以在Windows 10內運行Windows XP仿真。但是，這種特殊的幻想控制臺基于NES等復古游戲系統的美學和局限性或Game Boy或Super Nintendo。 它具有一個精靈編輯器，一個32KB的信息限制(可復制用于舊游戲系統的開發限制)以及一個音樂跟蹤器。 但是不要擔心大小限制。 很難達到。

Once you’ve made your game, you can share it on the in-app Splore system or export it as a product to sell on a games marketplace like itch.io.

制作游戲后，您可以在應用內Splore系統上共享它，也可以將其導出為產品，以在itch.io等游戲市場上出售 。

Pico-8 games are called “cartridges”, but they are really just computer files. Once a game is made in it, it can be saved as a PNG file (seriously) or exported to HTML. HTML is probably the best way to do it, as that is the primary way that web browser games are played now.

Pico-8游戲被稱為“彈殼”，但實際上它們只是計算機文件。 制作完游戲后，可以將其保存為PNG文件(嚴重)或導出為HTML。 HTML可能是最好的方式，因為這是現在玩網絡瀏覽器游戲的主要方式。

共享平臺 (The sharing platform)

And there is a large and bustling community of game fans creating for this platform. Pico-8 is a .exe app on a desktop computer, like Steam is. When you open your Pico-8 application, you can input “s” right away to open the Splore section, where you can play hundreds of well-developed games.

為此平臺創建了一個龐大而繁華的游戲迷社區。 Pico-8是臺式機上的.exe應用程序，例如Steam。 當您打開Pico-8應用程序時，您可以立即輸入“ s”以打開“ Splore”部分，在這里您可以玩數百種開發良好的游戲。

People have made some brilliant things. Some of the examples pictured are just demoscene, which is to say that they’re little title screen imitations of well-known games. But you can make robust games.

人們做了一些很棒的事情。 圖中的一些示例只是場景的演示，也就是說，它們只是知名游戲的標題屏幕模仿。 但是您可以制作強大的游戲。

Have you heard of Celeste? It is a masterful indie game whose prototype was made with this program.

您聽說過Celeste嗎？ 這是一款出色的獨立游戲，其原型是使用此程序制作的。

And if you know Superhot, a very cool demake of it was published to Pico for kicks that I think is worth checking out. This and the Celeste prototype are both free on the built-in Splore function, or can be played online here and here.

而且，如果您知道Superhot ，就將它的很酷的翻版發布給Pico，以獲取我認為值得一試的腳踢。 此版本和Celeste原型都可以通過內置的Splore功能免費使用，也可以在此處和此處在線播放。

Pico-8和HTML游戲是新的Flash (Pico-8 and HTML games are the new Flash)

If someone uploaded their game to a website, you can play it on the website just like you would a Flash game. Here is a list of Pico-8 games you can play on the internet, and almost all of them are fantastic. You don’t have to have anything installed to play HTML-upload versions that you find on webpages.

如果有人將他們的游戲上傳到網站，則可以像Flash游戲一樣在網站上進行游戲。 這是您可以在互聯網上玩的Pico-8游戲的列表，幾乎所有這些都很棒。 您無需安裝任何程序即可播放在網頁上找到HTML上載版本。

Now, what’s great about Pico-8 is that when developing a game for it, it brings together all the pieces so that you don’t have to. You don’t have to get Photoshop or a music program like Ableton Live to create assets.

現在，Pico-8的優點在于，在為其開發游戲時，它會將所有部件整合在一起，因此您不必這樣做。 您無需獲取Photoshop或諸如Ableton Live之類的音樂程序即可創建資產。

Normally, creating video games is difficult. Game engines like Unreal Engine 4, Unity, or CryEngine have fairly steep learning curves. And my prayers are with you if you try to code a game engine from scratch out of something like C++. GameMaker Studio 2 or Godot are easier to learn and make 2D games out of, but still require coding knowledge for the most part.

通常，創建視頻游戲很困難。 虛幻引擎4，Unity或CryEngine等游戲引擎的學習曲線相當陡峭。 如果您嘗試使用C ++之類的代碼從頭開始編寫游戲引擎，那么我的祈禱就在您的身邊。 GameMaker Studio 2或Godot更易于學習和制作2D游戲，但在大多數情況下仍需要編碼知識。

聲音編輯器 (The sound editor)

And not only is the programming of game logic hard in most programs, but creating video games that faithfully simulate the sound and graphics and quirks of a console like the Sega Genesis is also very hard in any game engine.

在大多數程序中，不僅很難對游戲邏輯進行編程，而且要創建忠實地模擬諸如Sega Genesis之類的控制臺的聲音，圖形和怪癖的視頻游戲，在任何游戲引擎中也非常困難。

Something else that baffles me is making music that sounds authentically like those old consoles. Not only do you have to understand synthesizer stuff, but to do it the old-school way you have to find a tracker program like DefleMask. And even that isn’t totally faithful, because the best way to make music that sounds like the original console is to wire up the original console’s sound chip.

讓我感到困惑的還有其他一些事情，那就是制作聽起來像那些舊調音臺的音樂。 您不僅需要了解合成器的內容，而且還必須以老式的方式來找到諸如DefleMask之類的跟蹤器程序。 甚至那也不是完全忠實的，因為制作聽起來像原始調音臺的音樂的最佳方法是連接原始調音臺的聲音芯片。

But Pico-8 has a sound tracker built in, and you can create your own “pew” sounds with sound bites and loops, sequence together musical notes (like F# or B flat) into melodies and full songs, and use sound distortions on individual samples to get the perfect tone to your bleep noises.

但是Pico-8內置了一個聲音跟蹤器，您可以創建帶有聲音叮咬和循環的自己的“雙腳”聲音，將音符(如F＃或B平音)排序成旋律和整首歌曲，并對單個聲音使用失真采樣，以獲得您的嗶嗶聲的完美音調。

代碼編輯器 (The code editor)

It should be noted that although this is a very all-in-one package, that there is still coding in this game engine. Similar to how GameMaker Studio 2 uses it’s C-like language to tell your sprite to move up or down or left or right, Pico-8 uses the Lua programming language to code what happens on every frame of every second that a game is running.

應該注意的是，盡管這是一個非常多合一的程序包，但是該游戲引擎中仍然存在代碼。 與GameMaker Studio 2使用類似C的語言來告訴您的精靈向上或向下或向左或向右移動一樣 ， Pico-8使用Lua編程語言來編碼游戲運行的每一秒鐘所發生的情況。

Lua is a scripting language that is often used for game development. The game engine LOVE2D also deals in Lua.

Lua是一種腳本語言，通常用于游戲開發。 游戲引擎LOVE2D也使用Lua交易。

您很快就會知道是否適合您…… (You’ll know if it’s for you pretty quickly…)

Overall, I think that if you have a remote interest in:

總體而言，我認為， 如果您對以下方面感興趣：

1. Learning to code

   學習編碼

2. Pixel art

   像素藝術

3. Video game design

   電子游戲設計

4. Music theory

   音樂理論

5. Actually playing video games

   實際玩電子游戲

… then you should check out the Pico-8. Or Voxatron. Voxatron is cool, too. It deals with voxels, which are cubic pixels laid out in 3D space. People make 3D games with it that similarly have a retro aesthetic, and, like Pico, it has a Splore function in it to easily find games within the app.

…那么您應該檢查一下Pico-8。 或Voxatron。 Voxatron也很酷。 它處理體素，這是在3D空間中布置的立方像素。 人們使用它制作具有類似復古美感的3D游戲，并且與Pico一樣，它具有Splore功能，可以在應用程序內輕松找到游戲。

The Pico-8 was created by Joseph White in Kichijoji, Japan, under his company Lexaloffle Games. He had been working on it unknowingly for years while doing contractual game development gigs that required sprite/sound design tools. In 2011 he released Voxatron, a voxel-editing fantasy console. While Voxatron was his 3D sprite/graphics editor, he also had a project called LEX500 for 2D sprites/graphics. In 2013 he renamed LEX500 to Pico-8, after the Pico Pico Cafe which serves as the studio of Lexaloffle Games in Japan.

Pico-8由約瑟夫·懷特(Joseph White)在他的公司Lexaloffle Games下在日本吉祥寺創建。 在從事需要精靈/聲音設計工具的合同游戲開發演出時，他多年來一直在不知不覺中從事這項工作。 2011年，他發布了Voxatron，這是一種體素編輯幻想控制臺。 當Voxatron是他的3D子圖形/圖形編輯器時，他還有一個名為LEX500的2D子圖形/圖形項目。 2013年，他以Pico Pico Cafe(日本Lexaloffle Games的工作室)命名，將LEX500重命名為Pico-8。

那么這一切值什么呢？ (So what’s it all worth?)

I should tell you that Pico-8 does cost money. It’s $15 USD.

我應該告訴你，Pico-8確實要花錢。 15美元。

But if you buy the Voxatron, which is $20 USD, you get the Pico-8 thrown in for free. I think that that‘s a pretty good deal for such robust game development platforms, and for all the games you can play within the Splore function of the both of them, so I bought it. I’m not even a marketer, I’m just a fan of retro games.

但是，如果您購買的Voxatron價格為20美元，您將免費獲得Pico-8。 我認為，對于如此強大的游戲開發平臺來說，這是一筆不錯的交易，對于您可以在兩個平臺的Splore功能中玩的所有游戲，我都買了它。 我什至不是營銷商，我只是復古游戲的粉絲。

Overall, I highly recommend this program for anyone looking for a fun way to learn coding or make games. Maybe you could sign up for a game jam contest and make something awesome that wins an award. Sites like itch.io are awesome for their game jams that anyone can enter.

總體而言，我強烈建議任何尋求有趣的方法來學習編碼或制作游戲的人使用此程序。 也許您可以報名參加一場游戲大賽，并做出令人贊嘆的獎項。 itch.io之類的網站真棒，任何人都可以進入。

Lastly, if you are interested, check out this YouTube video that explains in five minutes why the Pico-8 is awesome.

最后，如果您有興趣，請觀看此YouTube視頻，該視頻在五分鐘內說明了Pico-8為何很棒。

Also, there are free “zines” that have been published for the platform, such as a game development handbook. Here is the general fanzine (PDF) and here is the game development guidebook (PDF). There is also an easy-to-use cheat sheet of the coding commands.

此外，已經為該平臺發布了免費的“ zines”，例如游戲開發手冊。 這是一般的雜志 (PDF)， 這是游戲開發指南 (PDF)。 編碼命令還有一個易于使用的備忘單 。

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming! Remember that you can try the games that have been posted to the internet in HTML.

感謝您的閱讀和游戲愉快！ 請記住，您可以嘗試使用 HTML發布到互聯網上的游戲 。