Maps Overview

Maps are grids of tiles that form levels, backgrounds, and game worlds. Each cell references a sprite by ID.

The Map Grid

In PICO-8 style, the default map is:

128 tiles wide × 128 tiles tall
Each tile is 8×8 pixels
Total: 1024×1024 pixels (when fully rendered)

Map coordinates (tiles):
(0,0)  (1,0)  (2,0)  ...  (127,0)
(0,1)  (1,1)  (2,1)  ...  (127,1)
  ...
(0,127)              ...  (127,127)

map.json Format

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "Level 1",
  "width": 128,
  "height": 128,
  "name": "world1",
  "cells": [
    {"x": 0, "y": 0, "sprite": 1},
    {"x": 1, "y": 0, "sprite": 1},
    {"x": 2, "y": 0, "sprite": 2}
  ]
}

The cells array is sparse—only non-zero tiles are listed.

Map Functions Summary

Function	Purpose
`Map(mx, my, sx, sy, w, h, layers)`	Draw map tiles to screen
`Mget(x, y)`	Get sprite ID at tile position
`Mset(x, y, sprite)`	Set sprite ID at tile position

Creating Maps

PIGO8 Editor

go run github.com/drpaneas/pigo8/cmd/editor

From PICO-8

go run github.com/drpaneas/parsepico -input game.p8 -output .

Procedural Generation

func (g *game) Init() {
    for y := 0; y < 16; y++ {
        for x := 0; x < 16; x++ {
            if p8.Rnd(10) < 2 {
                p8.Mset(x, y, 5)  // Random obstacles
            }
        }
    }
}

PIGO8 Documentation