nesbox/tic-80

TIC-80 is a free, open-source fantasy computer designed for making and sharing tiny retro-style games. A fantasy computer is a self-contained creative environment that behaves like an imaginary piece of old hardware, complete with intentional limitations that give your game a consistent look and feel. TIC-80 imposes a 240x136 pixel display, a 16-color palette, 256 small sprites, and 4-channel audio, which are the kinds of constraints you would have found on home computers from the 1980s. Everything you need to make a game is built into the application itself. There is a code editor, a sprite editor, a world map editor, and sound and music editors, so you can sit down and start creating without installing anything else. Finished games are saved as cartridge files, a single file format that can be shared with anyone and played on any device TIC-80 supports, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. You can also play games made by others directly in a web browser. For writing code, TIC-80 supports a wide range of programming languages including Lua, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and several others. You can pick whichever language feels most comfortable. Games accept keyboard, mouse, and up to four game controllers as input. A paid Pro version is available on itch.io and adds a few practical extras: the ability to save and load cartridges as plain text files (which works well with version control), eight memory banks instead of one, and the ability to export a game without the editors bundled in, which makes it easier to publish to app stores. Anyone who cannot afford the Pro version can compile it themselves from the source code at no cost. The tic80.com website hosts a community library where people upload and share games, tools, and music made with the system. There is also a wiki with documentation, code examples, and game development tutorials.