I was feeling the urge to tinker on a fun project for a change so I started looking more closely into the TIC-80 fantasy console after hearing it mentioned on a podcast.

It’s a lot of fun to develop for. You have certain technical limitations you have to work under, such as a 240x136 display, 16 color palette, and more. Those limitations are oddly freeing in a way. There’s not a lot of pressure to create something groundbreaking or innovative, and I found that being restricted only encouraged me to have fun with it.

It wasn’t too long before I’d completed a simple runner inspired by the Chrome dino game.

Play it in a web browser here

Both versions come with the editing tools so people can poke around the code if they like.

You can code for the TIC-80 in several languages, most notably lua and javascript. I went with javascript just because I’m already familiar with it. Most examples and demos I’ve seen seem to be written in lua, so maybe later I’ll have to look and see if there’s something I’m missing out on there.

The editing tools are well made and even pretty fun to use. You can create everything you need for a game – code, sprites, audio – while staying inside the TIC-80 environment.

If you’re looking for a quick and fun coding project, definitely give the TIC-80 a spin.

I may make a few more of these later. I’ve already thought up a few ideas that might be fun just while making this game.

The TIC-80 website where you can play games others have made and share your own
TIC-80 on GitHub