What you can build

picogame is a retained-mode 2D engine: it redraws only what moved, so it shines where a mostly-still screen carries a few busy things on top. In practice that makes it strong at:

• Tile-based worlds — top-down RPGs and maze games: big boards for almost no RAM.
• Scrolling shoot-’em-ups — pooled bullets and enemies streaming across the screen.
• Single-screen arcade & platformers — a hero, platforms, animated art, a framed HUD.
• Pseudo-3D racing — a perspective road that bends as you steer, drawn by StripDraw with no extra RAM.

Platformer — hero on platforms, animated art.

Pseudo-3D racer — a StripDraw road that bends, ghost lap.

Top-down RPG — tilemap world, NPCs, encounters.

Scrolling shooter — pooled sprites, torpedoes to dodge.

Maze chase — tilemap board, ghost AI.

Breakout — paddle, brick wall, particles.

▶ Open the full gallery & playany of them in your browser — Asteroids, Snake, Tetris, Flappy, soccer, pinball & more

Every title is downloadable from the picogame repo, and its header comment lists exactly what it uses — so the closest example doubles as your template.

Small effects, clear feedback

The same engine gives you the juice that makes a game feel good — screen shake, particles, eased motion, palette tricks — each a couple of lines:

Screenshake — trauma-based, on every hit.

Particles — bursts and fountains.

Tweens — eased motion, no snapping.

Palette tricks — recolour with no extra art.

Effects referencefor developers: the API and when to reach for each

What it’s not: picogame is 2D — not a 3D engine, no heavy physics, and on the RP2040 not full-screen 60 FPS. Design within those limits and lean into them.

Ready to make one?

• Make your first game — five minutes to something moving.
• The tutorials — build a Breakout, a shooter, and an RPG step by step.