How-tos

Short, practical guides for things you might want to do with Pixl8 that don't quite fit a one-line answer.

Looking for something quicker? The FAQ covers the common single-question stuff.

• Playing multiplayer

  Two-player PICO-8 with a friend — hosting and joining over the same Wi-Fi, a direct link between two phones (including shake-to-connect), or online. Plus how to add a friend, by seeing them nearby or with a code.

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• NFC carts — tap to play

  Write a cheap NFC tag from any game and tap it to launch that game — a physical cartridge for a digital one. How to make one, how it works, and tips for turning a tag into a real cartridge.

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• Pixl8 on your watch

  Playing your library on a Wear OS smartwatch — how to send games over from your phone, how the on-screen controls work, and how the watch app is laid out (the coverflow plus the swipe-up / swipe-down carousels).

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• Pixl8 on Android TV

  Playing your library on the big screen. How to get your carts onto the TV by sending them from your phone over Wi-Fi, including whole multi-cart games, and what to check if the phone can't find the TV.

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• Setting up multicart games

  Some PICO-8 games ship as multiple cart files that load each other at runtime. This guide covers how to figure out which carts you need, where to download them, and how to lay them out so Pixl8 finds every one.

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• Using the debugger PRO

  Walk through Pixl8's source-level debugger — how to open it from the pause menu, the dual-pane layout (with optional external display), the step / breakpoint / inspect commands, and the keyboard shortcuts that make it usable.

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• Recording and playing input scripts PRO

  Record button presses to a .p8.script file, replay them frame-for-frame, and edit the script by hand. Covers the recording workflow plus the full text-file syntax (presses, releases, screenshots, save/load, pause).

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• Backing up your data

  Three ways to take your saves, scripts and screenshots off the device — the full Backup & Restore ZIP in Settings, the per-cart save state export/import, and the per-cart screenshot export. When to reach for which, and what each one covers.

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• Adding Pixl8 to game launchers

  Wire Pixl8 into Android frontends like ES-DE (Emulation Station Desktop Edition) so PICO-8 carts launch straight into Pixl8 from your existing library. The interim config recipe while native support is in the works upstream.

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More guides will land here over time. If there's something specific you'd like covered, open an issue on GitHub and we'll add it to the queue.