Lasanha

Idea

After the controversies involving Unity, the engine I’ve been using to make my games since 2019, I decided to expand my horizons and, why not, have some fun?

I had plenty of options, there’s no shortage of powerful and accessible engines to learn, but I wanted something different, a challenge… so why not learn PICO-8?

I decided to make a game in honor of a frog I found inside a lasagna pan.

PICO-8

For those who don’t know, PICO-8 is a fictional retro console that imitates the graphic and sound limitations of 8-bit consoles like the SNES or Master System to encourage creativity without being intimidated by the countless possibilities of modern tools.

When you don’t have to worry about the smallest details, you can focus on what really matters: fun! It’s no wonder that one of the main uses of PICO-8 is prototyping - before Celeste won the award for best independent game of 2018, it was a simple PICO-8 game. (Another excellent tool for this is PuzzleScript)

So I decided to make a very simple game, inspired by Disc Room and Lasanha, the name I gave to that (huge) frog.

Postmortem

I did all the programming, artwork and even music for the game! In the space of five days.

Despite the graphic and sound limitations of the engine, I think the game turned out cute. I also liked the music I made, even though it was my first time making music, I was very happy with the result.

The game is also available for free on itch.io.