Tastebud Tap Dancer

You've been swallowed by a giant serpent but you're trying to make the best of it.

  • Arrows to MOVE and JUMP
  • control-r to RESET
  • Collect hearts to GAIN LIFE
  • Touch throwing stars to LOSE LIFE
  • Going off either side of the screen IS DEADLY

Do not die and have fun! The game gets harder over time.

About

This Pico-8 game was written in just 500 characters for #TweetTweetJam 9

This is the exact length of a mastodon post. You can see me post it on mastodon!

Changelog

v1 : the version that started it all

v2 : trimmed a few chars and fixed two exploits:

  • You could run off the right side of the screen and never die
  • The left side would kill you but only if you were not holding the jump button

The Code

I have the full 500 character source code below, but if you want to learn how this game works, I have a very heavily commented version of the code here.

This code was written in Pico-8 0.2.6b

p={x=9,y=9,v=0,t=1}l={p}h=3s=0a=abs::_::cls()if(a(p.x-64)>63)h=0
if(h>0)s+=.04b=btn()if(b<4)p.v=max(p.v,1)
if(rnd()<s/999+.02)add(l,{x=122,y=0,v=0,t=4-rnd(1.1)},1)
for i=0,128do line(i,87-sin(i/60+s)*9+sin(s)*i/9,i,128,14)end
for o in all(l)do
t=o.t
o.v+=.3o.y+=o.v
j=0z=o.x
while(pget(z,o.y)>9)o.v=1o.y-=1o.x=z-t/2j=1
d=a(p.x-o.x)+a(p.y-o.y)<7and t>1if(d)h-=t\1*2-5
?("웃♥✽")[t],o.x-3,o.y-5,6+t
if(o.x*h<1or d)del(l,o)end
?"♥"..h.."\n"..s,9,9
if(b*j>3)p.v=-5
b=b%4if(b%3>0)p.x+=(b*2-3)*2
flip()goto _
StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 4.3 out of 5 stars
(3 total ratings)
AuthorAndyMakes
Made withPICO-8
TagsPICO-8, tweetcart

Comments

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is 35 seconds good lmao

Plays well, and has probably the most entertaining one-sentence synopsis I've ever read. I think making the hearts a little less scarce would help, but otherwise great job!

Thanks! I agree about the hearts, but tragically it would take an additional char to go form 0.1 to 0.05 (or any other value that makes them less than 10%)

Well, if you'd like to adjust something, there is an easy way to free up a few characters. After ::_::, print the string ?'⁶1⁶c', this will replace cls() and flip(). Got that one from a tweet by zep.

Whoa! That's a hell of a trick. I just tried it out in a blank cart. Thank you for the heads up. I'm probably not going to update this game, but I'll be keeping it in mind for the future.

This is a great concept, well executed!

(+1)

Thanks!

Very fun! The concept is original and the controls are so smooth!

Thanks! I always try to go for that Mario jump when I can!

how do i dodge the serpent’s star organs

Jumping mostly

Oh I didn’t realize up was jump

Oh sorry I shouldn't have been snarky! Updated the instructions.

Wow, this is AMAZING!  Really stunning for the constraints.

Thanks!

This is fun, only problem is that you can't replay with a button

(1 edit)

Ignore me, I'm stupid (Best entry of the jam)

High praise! Thank you!