microw8/site/content/_index.md

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About

MicroW8 is a WebAssembly based fantasy console inspired by the likes of TIC-80, WASM-4 and PICO-8.

The initial motivation behind MicroW8 was to explore whether there was a way to make WebAssembly viable for size-coding. (Size coding being the art of creating tiny (often <= 256 bytes) graphical effects and games.) The available examples so far are all in this space, however, I very carefully made sure that all design decisions make sense from the point of view of bigger projects as well.

Specs

• Screen: 320x240, 256 colors, 60Hz
• Modules: Up to 256KB (WASM)
• Memory: 256KB
• Gamepad input (D-Pad + 4 Buttons)

For detailed documentation see here.

Examples

• Skip Ahead (249 bytes): A port of my TIC-80 256byte game from LoveByte'21, now with sound
• Fireworks (127 bytes): Some fireworks to welcome 2022.
• OhNoAnotherTunnel (175 bytes): A port of my entry in the Outline'21 bytebattle final
• Technotunnel (157 bytes): A port of my entry in the Outline'21 bytebattle quater final
• Font & Palette: Just a simple viewer for the default font and palette.

Examplers for older versions:

• Technotunnel B/W (199 bytes uncompressed): A port of my entry in the Outline'21 bytebattle quater final (older MicroW8 version with monochrome palette)
• XorScroll (50 bytes uncompressed): A simple scrolling XOR pattern. Fun fact: This is the pre-loaded effect when entering a bytebattle.
• CircleWorm (126 bytes uncompressed): Just a test for the circle fill function.

Versions

v0.2.2

• Web runtime
• Linux
• MacOS
• Windows

Changes:

• call start function after loading cart if the cart exports one
• fix sndGes having the wrong name and not being included in the auto imports
• fix control codes 4-6 (change text output mode) being invoked when used as parameters in other control sequences
• only open browser window once a cart was compiled sucessfully when running with -b

v0.2.1

• Web runtime
• Linux
• MacOS
• Windows

Changes:

• new gpu accelerated renderer with (optional) crt filter
• optimized hline function, a big speed-up when drawing large filled circles or rectangles
• print fractional size of packed uw8 cart

v0.2.0

• Web runtime
• Linux
• MacOS
• Windows

Changes:

• add sound support!
• add support to redirect text output to the console for debugging using control code 6
• update curlywas:
  • add support for else if
  • add support for escape sequences in strings
  • add support for char literals
  • add support for binop-assignment, eg. +=, ^=, <<= etc. (also support for the tee operator: +:=)
  • "integer constant cast to float" literal syntax in CurlyWas (ex. 1_f is equivalent to 1 as f32)

Older versions

Find older versions here.