@russellashby.bsky.social - Russ

25 Aug 2026 18:51 +0000

Made a bit of progress on spawning blocks row by row. I'm guessing what Ball X Pit does is figure out the highest and spawns behind it. Next up will be generating different types of block enemies. #pico8 #gamedev

24 Aug 2026 09:46 +0000

It's not a survivors game until you have a damage display going. #gamedev #pico8

23 Aug 2026 19:04 +0000

Weekend Ball X Pit beginnings... #pico8 #gamedev

08 Jun 2026 15:33 +0000

I think I've created the world's oddest paint program, where the ink comes to you. #picotron #pico8

28 May 2026 13:53 +0000

Went back to my 2d racer prototype and now I finally have elevation and opponents. (and a lot of math I can't follow properly yet). Credit to: https://jakesgordon.com/writing/javascript-racer-v3-hills/ #picotron #pico8 #gamedev

14 May 2026 12:52 +0000

All my focus goups say that the world is crying out for a 'weird fish plays underwater snooker' game. #picotron #pico8 #gamedev

13 May 2026 14:09 +0000

1.0 release of Pac Rescue, my tribute to Magic Garden I suck at my own game, can you rescue 200? I can only get to 130... https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=156852 #picotron #gamedev #pico8 #magicgarden #ufo50

11 May 2026 19:09 +0000

The larger grid size doesn't work for Magic Garden, it removes all the tension. I've kept the wrap around and increased speed. Been pouring over wikis and forums to work out the scoring and potion mechanics. #picotron #pico8 #ufo50 #magicgarden #gamedev

09 May 2026 21:15 +0000

Well, it's **something**. #picotron #pico8

08 May 2026 14:53 +0000

A splash of polish, changing drop zones, scoring, different potions, multipliers all in. Still need to do that thing that pops into my head every play test that I forget to right down. Probably important. #picotron #pico8 #gamedev #ufo50 #magicgarden

07 May 2026 14:58 +0000

Coming along..it's funny what you miss studying someone else's game frame by frame. It's a different kind of fun. The original is tense due to the likelihood of making a mistake. This version feels more exhilarating - but might become dull quickly. #picotron #pico8 #gamedev #ufo50 #magicgarden

06 May 2026 14:20 +0000

Taking a mini-break from Seaside Drive to go back to my Magic Garden remake. I want to answer a few questions about fun. Is it more fun if: 1) it's faster, 2) there's no wall, and 3) the map is bigger. #picotron #pico8 #ufo50 #magicgarden #gamedev

02 May 2026 07:44 +0000

Added a bit more polish. Where we are going we are definately going to need two roads. #picotron #ufo50 #gamedev #downwell #pico8

28 Apr 2026 13:05 +0000

Well, that works suprisingly well. We now have a max_bullets that are recharged when we flip up/down. Enemies can now be stomped from above/below. #ufo50 #picotron #pico8 #gamedev #downwell

28 Apr 2026 09:05 +0000

The question on nobody's lips - "what is Seaside Drive really was Sidewell?". I am determined to find out. It seems to work as an idea, but the player needs incentive to leap between floor and ceiling. #picotron #pico8 #ufo50 #gamedev #seasidedrive #downwell

27 Apr 2026 13:30 +0000

Playable WIP released. I've got a bit more tidy up to do but then I'll call it quits as this is just a POC. I want to experiment with turning this into the real 1-bit Sidewell. https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=188615#p #pico8 #picotron #gamedev

24 Apr 2026 13:07 +0000

The makings of a complete level. Janky as heck but getting there. I'm going frame by frame from the original to work out what is happening - much like early 8-bit arcade conversion teams. Would be more authentic if I had a VHS tape. #picotron #gamedev #ufo50 #pico8

23 Apr 2026 15:28 +0000

One of the benefits of using a single entity, behaviour components and factories is that is can be very easy to spin up new enemies in the game. I've got 75% of this boss working in about 20 minutes. Naturally the remaining 25% will take days... #picotron #gamedev #pico8 #ufo50

21 Apr 2026 12:23 +0000

Most sytems are in place now, just need scoring, the boss battle and lots of number tweaking. Oh, and everything else. #picotron #ufo50 #pico8 #gamedev

17 Apr 2026 07:36 +0000

The Seaside Drive / Star Waspir mashup nobody asked for. Making good progress. #ufo50 #pico8 #picotron #gamedev

15 Apr 2026 12:46 +0000

Token anxiety got the better of me and I converted my Seaside Drive demake to Picotron. Having to render to a 384x216 screenbuffer to support ripped UFO50 sprites (they look too small at 480x270 and don't look well scaled). #pico8 #picotron #gamedev #ufo50

13 Apr 2026 11:53 +0000

Starting to flesh out waves. The funny thing about this demake is that it's taken me until now to realise that Seaside Drive is just a single screen locked yaxis Shmup. The horiztonal scrolling of the background tricks your brain into thinking it is something different. #pico8 #gamedev #ufo50

12 Apr 2026 20:44 +0000

Is anyone else on this infinite loop? #pico8 (too constrained, I'm worried about tokens, I know, I'll use) -> #picotron (well, I'm might as well use) -> #love2d (now I'm obsessing over architectural correctness and graphics, I know, I'll use) -> Pico-8...and so on. #gamedev

12 Apr 2026 18:39 +0000

Adding a bit of that outrun feel. Also added spatial partioning so I can fire a ton of bullets and maintain 13%CPU at 60fps. #pico8 #seasidedrive #ufo50

11 Apr 2026 20:31 +0000

Working on a spatial partioning test for my Sunset Drive demake. Strangely cathartic and more importantly, quite performant with 200 entities + bullets at 60fps. #pico8 #gamedev

10 Apr 2026 12:04 +0000

Moving along nicely. Sunset Drive is one of my favourite ufo50 games. One of the few games in the collection that is deceptively easy - once you realise that waggling left/right is the way to keep charge at 100%. #pico8 #ufo50 #gamedev #sunsetdrive

10 Apr 2026 10:49 +0000

The beginnings of a Sunset Drive demake, charging and firing is done. #pico8 #gamedev #ufo50 #sunsetdrive

03 Apr 2026 12:45 +0000

Trying to learn batching graphics with userdata in #picotron. Massive performance difference compared to a more traditional AoS approach. I can shift 2000 sprites with < %50 CPU. #picotron #pico8 #gamedev

23 Jan 2026 12:11 +0000

Having fun making things interactable. Papers Please? #picotron #gamedev #pico8