It’s out. Pal8tro is live on itch.io. I’m writing this with a cup of tea that went cold an hour ago, because I keep refreshing the page to check it’s still there.
Before the celebrating, here’s how the last few weeks went.
The music problem
Last time I said the game was silent and that this was unsettling. I wasn’t wrong. A card game with no music feels like a waiting room.
I wanted a proper main theme, not a 20-second loop: something you could leave running for a whole run without wanting to throw your console in a pond. PICO-8 gives you four sound channels and a limited amount of space for music patterns, which is roughly enough for a jingle and a sneeze.
So I cheated, a bit. Without getting too technical, the music streams into the sound chip in a slightly unusual way, borrowing space the cart wasn’t really meant to use for it. The result is a theme that runs for about four minutes before it loops.
The side effect: some PICO-8 clones on handhelds might struggle with it. The official PICO-8 (web and desktop) is the safest bet. I’m sorry, clones. I love you, but I wanted the song.
The darker key
My favourite little detail is this: when a boss blind shows up, the music drops into a darker key. It’s the same tune, just suddenly worried. Nobody will notice it consciously, and everyone will feel it. That’s the dream.
Testing on (too many) handhelds
I made Pal8tro to play on emulation handhelds. I have an unhealthy number of them: a Trimui Brick, a couple of Miyoos, some Anbernics, and others I won’t admit to in public.
Testing on all of them was half joy and half pain. Joy, because playing your own game on a little device in bed is a very specific kind of happy. Pain, because every device has its own opinion about buttons. Gamepads work, D-pads work, and holding UP during a round shows you what your mods do, because I kept forgetting what mine did.
The last few features
- Hard mode: higher targets, fewer discards, less starting cash. Toggle it with L/R on the title screen if you hate yourself a normal amount.
- A stats screen, so you can find out exactly how many times you’ve played a pair. (Me: too many.)
- Auto-saving for stats, best scores and settings. Runs don’t save, because finish what you start.
Pressing the button
There are two versions:
- The demo is free: antes 1 to 4 and four bosses.
- The full game is name-your-own-price: all eight antes, the final boss and hard mode.
You can play in your browser, or download it for Windows, Mac, Linux or Raspberry Pi. There’s also the cart itself, if you have PICO-8. Find it all on the Games page.
It’s not affiliated with Balatro, LocalThunk or Playstack in any way. It’s just a tiny love letter from someone who played too much of it.
What’s next
Pal8tro taught me a ridiculous amount about making a game feel good inside very tight limits. Next I’m going to learn what happens when you take most of those limits away. I’ve started learning Godot, and I’ll be writing about that here too.
In the meantime: play it, break it, and tell me what you think in the comments. I read all of them.
– TJ (Taylonius)
