Custom Functions

PIGO8 extends the original PICO-8 API with additional custom functions that provide enhanced capabilities for your games. These functions are not part of the official PICO-8, but they follow the same design philosophy and integrate seamlessly with the rest of the PIGO8 API.

Available Custom Functions

  • Color Collision Detection: Detect collisions between sprites based on their non-transparent pixels
  • Map Collision Detection: Detect collisions with map tiles using flags
  • Flag Constants: Pre-defined constants for easier flag operations
  • Sget/Sset Functions: Get and set individual pixels on the spritesheet
  • Alpha Transparency: Create semi-transparent colors with alpha values
  • Fade System: Create smooth transitions between scenes or palettes

Why Custom Functions?

While PIGO8 aims to recreate the feel of PICO-8, it also takes advantage of Go's capabilities to provide additional features that can make game development easier and more powerful. These custom functions:

  1. Solve common game development challenges
  2. Reduce boilerplate code
  3. Enable effects and gameplay mechanics that would be difficult to implement otherwise
  4. Maintain the spirit of PICO-8 while extending its capabilities

Using Custom Functions

Custom functions follow the same naming conventions and design patterns as the standard PIGO8 functions. They can be used alongside the standard functions without any special setup.

// Example using both standard and custom functions
func (g *Game) Update() {
    // Standard PICO-8 function to move the player
    if p8.Btn(p8.ButtonRight) {
        g.playerX++
    }
    
    // Custom function to check for collision with map
    if p8.MapCollision(g.playerX, g.playerY, 0) {
        // Handle collision
    }
}

Refer to the specific function documentation pages for detailed usage examples and implementation details.