Today I learned that the creator of PICO-8 is working on another fantasy video game console called Picotron that is releasing in March. Unlike PICO-8, which is an 8-bit fantasy console modelled after third generation video game consoles (like the NES), Picotron is a 16-bit console modelled after the fourth generation (like the SNES). It can run PICO-8 games and its Lua syntax is largely backwards compatible, but it has a lot more features like 64 colours, an 480 x 270 pixel (widescreen) display and – and this is pretty important – no size limit for cartridges. It also includes an operating system written in Lua that can be modified. And you can code your own apps for it. And all of this runs on the web!
Although Picotron is conceptually similar to PICO-8 — an imaginary machine that you can make things for with built-in tools — it aims to be a more practical and flexible development environment. The two main differences are in specifications (larger display and cartridge capacity), and the way that built-in tools are implemented.
Unlike PICO-8 and Voxatron, all of the design tools in Picotron are written in Lua and are editable from inside the machine itself. Even things like the file browser, code editor and the terminal are implemented in userland. Custom tools can be created from scratch that run in fullscreen workspaces alongside the bundled editors. These additions and the subsequent shift in focus of the machine give Picotron the title of ‘Workstation’ rather than ‘Console’. Instead of ‘Plug in a keyboard to get a devkit!’ It feels more like: ‘Unplug the keyboard to get a console!'
Holy shit this is exciting!