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https://github.com/elgopher/pi

The retro game development engine for Go, inspired by Pico-8 and powered by Ebitengine.
https://github.com/elgopher/pi

ebiten ebitengine game game-development game-engine game-library gamedev go golang pi pico-8 pico8 pixel-perfect pyxel tic-80

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The retro game development engine for Go, inspired by Pico-8 and powered by Ebitengine.

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README 

        
# pi 



[![Go Reference](https://pkg.go.dev/badge/github.com/elgopher/pi.svg)](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/elgopher/pi)

[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/elgopher/pi/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/elgopher/pi)

[![Project Status: Active – The project has reached a stable, usable state and is being actively developed.](https://www.repostatus.org/badges/latest/active.svg)](https://www.repostatus.org/#active)



The retro game development engine for Go, inspired by [Pico-8](https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php) and powered by [Ebitengine](https://ebiten.org/).



[![Hello World example](docs/screenshot-hello.png)](examples/hello)

[![Controller example](docs/screenshot-controller.png)](examples/controller)

[![Keyboard example](docs/screenshot-keyboard.png)](examples/keyboard)

[![Palette swapping example](docs/screenshot-pal.png)](examples/pal)



## FAQ



### Is this a new fantasy console?



No, it's not. It's rather a game development library with dev-tools which make it simple (and fun!) to write retro games in Go.



### What is a retro game?



It's a game that resembles old 8-bit/16-bit games. This usually means:



* (extremely) Low resolution (like 128x128 pixels)

* Limited number of colors (like 16)

* Very small number of assets (like 256 sprites, map having up to 8K tiles)

* Small number lines of code (thousands rather than millions)

* Sound effects and music made using predefined synth instruments and effects 



### What similarities does Pi have with Pico-8?



* Most concepts are similar: game loop, drawing sprites and shapes, printing text, clipping, camera, palette swapping, handling user input. Some functions have even same names.

* Screen resolution is small, and the number of colors is limited. Although in Pi you can change the resolution and palette.

* You have one small sprite sheet.



### Why would I use it?



Because it's the easiest way to write a game in Go. IMHO ;)



### Is Pi ready to use?



Pi is under development. Only limited functionality is provided. API is not stable. See [ROADMAP](docs/ROADMAP.md) for details.



## How to get started?



1. Install dependencies 

   * [Go 1.20+](https://go.dev/dl/)

   * If not on Windows, please install additional dependencies for [Linux](docs/install-linux.md) or [macOS](docs/install-macos.md).

2. Try examples from [examples](examples) directory.

3. Create a new game using provided [Github template](https://github.com/elgopher/pi-template).

4. Read the [documentation](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/elgopher/pi).



### How to edit PNG files like sprite-sheet.png and custom-font.png?



* Use a pixel-art editor which supports indexed color mode, such as [Aseprite](https://www.aseprite.org/) or [LibreSprite](https://libresprite.github.io/).

* Palette for the game is stored inside sprite-sheet.png. 



## Attributions



* system font used by Pi is the [original Pico-8 font](https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=faq) created by Zep - [CC-0 license](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

* default palette is the [original Pico-8 palette](https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=faq) created by Zep - [CC-0 license](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)