#picodex — Public Fediverse posts

Anyways, if you're a Pokemon fan and haven't played it yet, please do! And please share it around. This is one of the only complete Pokemon battle sim implementations on the internet, besides roms/romhacks of the original games. And this is definitely the smallest implementation (only 32kb).

Free on lexaloffle and itch:

https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=145427

https://alanxoc3.itch.io/picodex-dual

#picodex #pokemon #aseprite #pico8

The update I just made also fixed 2 oversights I realized a few months ago that have been bugging me:

Thunder now has 50% accuracy during sunny weather: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Thunder_(move)#Generation_II_to_V

Pokemon cannot get frozen while the weather is sunny: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Freeze_(status_condition)#Generation_II

#picodex #pokemon #aseprite #pico8

You can compare it to the design from the gen1 picodex I made in 2023.

#picodex #pokemon #aseprite #pico8

This Pokedex drawing was inspired from the Johto style Pokedex.

#picodex #pokemon #aseprite #pico8

Picodex Dual is surely one of the MOST data-packed PICO-8 games. I released it almost exactly 4 months ago, so I just updated the label image! I couldn't fit a little Johto Pokedex device in the game, but at least it can be in the cover art!

#picodex #picodex-dual #pokemon #aseprite #pico8 #pixelart

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pokemon Gold/Silver, I'm releasing my 32kb gen2 battle-sim game TOMORROW at 20:00 UTC!

Just wrapped up the monochrome sprites this morning!

#picodexdual #picodex #pokemon #pico8 #gamedev #gold #silver #crystal #pixelart

I've implemented 175/250 moves and 200/250 sprites for Picodex Dual. Besides that, everything else is done.

And random battle gifs.

#picodex #picodexdual #pokemon #pico8

i'm still working on my 32kb gen2 battle sim, "picodex: dual version". and i finally finished the ui for the entire game! lemme know how you think it looks.

other progress: data packing is 100% done! sprites are maybe ~70% done. the battle system has been researched/planned, but only just started implementing it.

i've been working on this project for ~8 months, i only have free time early mornings or late nights when my toddler/job aren't distracting me. so progress is slow.. but i'm now on the tail-end of development and very excited to actually be implementing the complex battle system of gen2 pokemon. seriously, this is the most fun part.

#picodex #pokemon #pico8 #picodexdual #missingno #hotdog

About a month ago I made a monochrome pixel editor on my #playdate, so that it's convenient for me to make #pokemon sprites for #picodex in #pico8. (Hashtags done!)

The left side is the editor. Middle is preview, and right is a reference picture from Pokemon Crystal.

Originally the program took up the whole screen, but my toddler dropped my playdate on the ground and the top half of the screen started flickering, so I modified the editor to only use the bottom half :D.

Suprisingly, making sprites with this editor is much easier than making them with pico-8. Because there are only two colors, "a" toggles the current pixel. "b"+dpad moves all pixels. And "b"+crank switches to a different Pokemon.

After a month of spriting with the playdate, I'm about 40% done. 100 down and 150 left.

Picodex Dual is my attempt to fit the entire gen 2 pokemon battle system into a single 32 kb pico-8 cartridge.

My gen 1 battle sim was already nearly 32 kb, so adding all the extra content requires tradeoffs:
- Sprites are all 1 bit. Very compact and no need for token-expensive decompression.
- Trainer/item/pokemon/move are condensed to 6 or 7 characters, saves on code compression tokens and works with UI design.
- Pokemon cries just use the same data as the pokemon stats & move data I have packed into the cartridge, but with a filter applied.
- The entire UI should be virtually sprite-less, because there is no cartridge space after storing all the pokemon data.

I hope that explains better what I'm trying to achieve.

I've been experimenting with the UI even more and I discarded my previous designs. Here is what it will really look like. It reverts to a similar style the original picodex had because I like the color palette. This is a simple grid-based UI that I can reuse the code for throughout the entire game. Which is important because the battle sim part will take lots of tokens.

#picodex #picodexdual #pico8 #pokemon

11528 is the number of bytes it takes me to store all the different moves every Pokemon in GSC could possibly learn legally (no glitches/hacks).

That number includes all learn moves in GSC & RBY, TM/HM moves in GSC & RBY, egg moves in GSC, move tutor in Crystal Version, special movesets in PS1/PS2, all the variants from in-person events during the 1990s/2000s, and all the PCNY variants obtainable from 2001 to 2003.

Removing the duplicate moves that evolutions share with their previous forms takes the size to 7318. 63% the original size.

Space can be saved with only a few more tokens (~20) when move ids can be represented as continuous ranges. EX:

If bulbasaur can learn: LeechSeed, VineWhip, MegaDrain, Tackle, RazorLeaf. And each move is 1 byte, a total of 5 bytes is stored.

But if LeechSeed=1, VineWhip=2, MegaDrain=3, Tackle=4, and RazorLeaf=5. All the moves can be represented with 3 bytes instead: 1, dash, 5

Getting the number assignment perfect is NP. After crunching my CPU over the night, I got a number assignment which brings the total size down to 4737. 41% of the original size.

Pretty content with that & thought I'd share. Researching moves and data packing has taken like 2 months of my little free time. Nice to see it coming to an end.

#picodex #picodexdual #pokemon #pico8

Working on more #picodexdual ui mocks. The battle system and title screen will probably look like this...

#picodex #pokemon #pico8

I've been iterating on the #picodexdual UI more... And I've pretty much nailed down how I want it to look now :).

#picodex #pokemon #pico8

Trying lots of different things for the gen2 #picodex UI...

My current iteration is the green one with the CRT effect.

#picodexdual #pico8 #pokemon

It's hard to monochrome Pokemon sprites and I'm not very artistic, so I made a tool to help me. :D

#pico8 #picodex #pokemon

So... It's official. I'm working on a GSC/PS2 battle simulator now in PICO-8.

My goal is to implement close to the same battle mechanics that were in Pokemon Stadium 2 and fit it all within a single 32 kb cartridge.

With 80+ new moves and 100 new pokemon, there's lots of new data. So to save space, this simulator will likely be in only 2 colors. Calling it "Picodex Dual".

I'll continue working on the Johto Pokemon in color because it's cool and might be easier to monochrome them after they are already in color.

Here's a mockup of a few Pokemon in monochrome.

#pico8 #pokemon #picodex #picodexdual #monochrome

It's been like 5 months since I released #picodex. Now I'm wondering if a gen 2 battle sim in a single #pico8 cart is possible.... heh heh :)

Anyways, here is a rough draft of all the johto #pokemon. I'll improve the sprites more over the next few weeks & update here.

Picodex has finally been released! If you haven't been following my sporadic posts, this is a complete gen 1 battle simulator in PICO-8, that fits within the 32KB constraint of the fantasy console.

Play it on lexaloffle: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=52388
Or play it on itch: https://alanxoc3.itch.io/picodex

#picodex #pokemon #pixelart #pico8

Picodex is on-track to be released in the next day or two! I've been spending the past few days on polish and testing.

This has been a very large project for me and has taken a little over 3 months. I'm very excited to finish it and share it with everyone soon.

#pico8 #pokemon #picodex #retrogames #pixelart

I've been polishing up #picodex. I wanted to release this weekend, but there is still some work left.

Expect a release sometime this week though!

Today I finished the battle system 100% (there were still a few small things I had left out before).

Work left is:
- wrapping up the pokemon sprites
- maybe more ui polish
- code compression
- play testing
- documentation (plan on releasing it with a little guide)

Here's another screenshot for the fediverse.

Picodex progress!

Finished the cries. The battle sim is getting pretty close too (~90% of moves implemented). I'll likely post another update this weekend for the battle sim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO8gUo4yYmo

#pico8 #picodex #pokemon

I'm still working on my #pokemon battle sim & pokedex in #pico8. It's called #picodex, and I posted about this one time before.

I've been tweaking the UI and doing lots of code refactors. Almost everything besides the battle sim is done. I still have lots to do on the battle sim side though.

Anyways, here's what it looks like now!

I've been working on a #picodex the past few weeks. It's a #pokemon pokedex, but in #pico8 and based on the original rby games.

I'm hoping to implement a pokemon stadium 1-like battle simulator in it too as well as improve some ui stuff while still staying within the 32kb constraints.

Also, most of the pokemon pico8 sprites are from cadetthegreat (not on mastodon).

The original games had 16mb, so wish me luck I guess :D.