PicoJS

PicoJS is a tool to 'pack' and 'unpack' .p8 files so that you can more easily work on them in other editors / programs.

Installation

Assuming you have node installed:

1. npm install
2. tsc
3. npm link

Following these steps should link the generated dest/app.js to the command picojs

Use

PicoJs assumes that your .p8 file is in a directory specifically for that game or project. E.g. dungeongame/dungeongame.p8

Unpack: picojs unpack

Unpacking is the process of taking the .p8 file and breaking it up into its component parts.

Go to the directory containing your .p8 file and type picojs unpack.

This will create the following subfolders and files where <FILENAME> is the name of your .p8 file with the file ending removed. E.g. dungeongame.p8 -> dungeongame:

• src/lua/<FILENAME>.lua: the code of your p8 game.
• src/spritesheet/<FILENAME>_ss.png: the spritesheet rendered as a png.
• src/map/<FILENAME>_map.json: the map as a json file.

Pack: picojs pack

Pack reverses the process and composes the component files in the locations generated by unpack back into a .p8 file.

To pack, simply: picojs pack in the folder containing your .p8 file.

Init: picojs init

Will create a new .p8 file as well as the subfolders and files created by the unpack command. The .p8 file will be named the directory name. E.g. if you run picojs init in a directory named dungeongame then the created .p8 file will be dungeongame.p8.