Unicorn Console

Unicorn Console (previously known as PX8 in the past, but I think Unicorn is a better name) is a quick and dirty engine that let you do what you want with a resolution of 128x128 pixels. After few iterations, I try to keep some compatibility with as it is the first and still the best fantasy console (unfortunately not opensource, but go grab a license it is really valuable).

The main engine is not dependant of a specific GFX library so you can use it where you want:

• unicorn: Main engine source code
• unicorn-devkit: SDL2 version
• unicorn-libretro: libretro API version
• unicorn-web: Webassembly version
• unicorn-android: Android version

TOC:

• Features
• Requirements
• Download
  • Build
• File format
• Create
• API

Features

• Display: 128x128 pixels, 8 bits color
• Palette: predefined palettes/extend existing one
• Font: predefined list of fonts (pico8, bbc, trollmini, etc)
• Sprites: Single bank of 128 8x8 sprites
• Dynamic sprites: create sprites dynamically with all size
• Code: No limit size (lua, python, rust, javascript)
• Map: 128x32 8-bit cells
• Editor: GFX editor (code/audio editor in progress)
• Audio (still in progess)

Download

Build

Cargo feature:

• cpython: enable python support
• unicorn_plugin_lua: enable lua support
• duktape: enable duktape (javascript) support

You can choose to build the main UI to play/edit games:

cd unicorn-devkit
cargo build --release

and run it with the default embedded game:

./target/release/uc-devkit

or load an existing one:

./target/release/uc-devkit ../unicorn-games/floppybird/floppybird.uni

You can also choose to build the libretro version:

cd unicorn-libretro
cargo build --release

And load the shared library with retroarch:

retroarch -L target/release/libunicorn_libretro.so ../unicorn-examples/api_demos.uni

File format

Create

API

The API is available for Rust/Javascript/Python/Lua.

• Graphics
  • camera
  • circ
  • circfill
  • clip
  • cls
  • color
  • ellipse
  • ellipsefill
  • fget
  • font
  • line
  • mode
  • pal
  • palt
  • pget
  • print
  • pset
  • rect
  • rectfill
  • sget
  • spr
  • sset
  • sspr
  • trigon
• MAP
  • map
  • mget
  • mset
• Noise
  • noise
  • noise_set_seed
• Math
• Memory
• Mouse Input
• Palettes
• Cart Data

Graphics

camera

camera([x, y])

Set the camera position.

• x/y are the coordinates to set the camera, and they could be optional (in this case, 0/0 will be used)

circ

circ(x, y, r, [col])

Draw a circle:

• x/y are the coordinates
• r is the radius of the circle
• col is the color of the circle

circfill

circfill(x, y, r, [col])

Draw a filled circle:

• x/y are the coordinates
• r is the radius of the circle
• col is the color of the circle

[[https://j.gifs.com/nZl3GE.gif]]

clip

clip([x, y, w, h])

Set a screen clipping region where:

• x/y are the coordinate
• w is the width
• h is the height

cls

Clear the screen.

color

color(col)

set default color

ellipse

ellipse(x, y, rx, ry, [col])

Draw an ellipse

ellipsefill

ellipsefill(x, y, rx, ry, [col])

draw filled ellipse

fget

fget(n, [f])

get values of sprite flags

font

font(name)

Change the font policy ("pico8", "bbc", "cbmII", "appleII")

fset

fset(n, [f], v)

set values of sprite flags

line

line(x0, y0, x1, y1, [col])

draw line

pal

pal(c0, c1)

Switch the color c0 to color c1.

palt

palt(col, t)

Set the transparency for color 'col', where 't' is a boolean

pget

pget(x, y)

Get the pixel color in x/y coordinate

print

print (str, [x, y, [col]]) [Python: unicorn_print]

Display a string on the screen

pset

pset(x, y, col)

Set the pixel color with the value 'col' in x/y coordinate

rect

rect(x0, y0, x1, y1, [col])

draw a rectangle

rectfill

rectfill(x0, y0, x1, y1, [col])

draw filled rectangle

[[https://j.gifs.com/76MGDr.gif]]

sget

sget(x, y)

get spritesheet pixel colour

spr

spr(n, x, y, [w, h], [flip_x], [flip_y])

Draw a sprite:

• n is the sprite number
• x/y are the coordinate
• w and h specify how many sprites wide to blit and are 1/1 values by default
• flip_x to flip horizontally the sprite
• flip_y to flip vertically the sprite

Color 0 will be transparent by default (see palt

sset

sset(x, y, [col])

set spritesheet pixel colour

sspr

sspr(sx, sy, sw, sh, dx, dy, [dw, dh], [flip_x], [flip_y])

draw texture from spritesheet

trigon

trigon(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, [col])

draw trigon

Keyboard Input

btn([i, [p]])

get button i state for player p

btnp([i, [p]])

only true when the button was not pressed the last frame; repeats every 4 frames after button held for 15 frames

Map

map

map(cel_x, cel_y, sx, sy, cel_w, cel_h, [layer])

[Python: spr_map]

Draw map; layers from flags; sprite 0 is empty

mget

mget(x, y)

Get a map value

mset

mset(x, y, v)

Set a map value

Noise

noise

noise(x, y, z)

noise_set_seed

noise_set_seed(x)

Math

Memory [WIP]

Mouse input [WIP]

Palettes [WIP]

Cart Data [WIP]