TIC-80

**TIC-80** is a free and open-source fantasy video game console made by Nesbox. It is styled after 8-bit hardware from the 1980s. It is similar to PICO-8, which is more popular.

## Overview

Programs can be made in TIC-80 directly, including code, sprites, maps/levels, sound effects and music. When exported, they are stored in "cartridges". These can be .tic or PNG files (which look like real cartridges). PNGs use a `caRt` ancillary chunk to store data. Before then, they were stored on the image, but only stored 96KiB and were easier to break with an image editor.

Programs can also be shared on the TIC-80 website or browsed in TIC-80 itself using _SURF_.

## Specifications

|Screen|
| --- |
|240x136 pixels, 16 colors (even when a program is not running)|
|4 gamepads with 8 buttons, mouse, keyboard|
|256 foreground sprites, 256 background tiles (both 8x8 pixels)|
|240x136 tiles (1920x1088 pixels)|
|4 channels with configurable waveforms|
|512KB (8 banks of 64KB, even in the non-PRO version); can be Lua, Ruby, JavaScript, MoonScript, Fennel, Squirrel, Wren or WebAssembly|
|272KB (240KB + 32KB video RAM)|
|8 banks (PRO version only)|

### Colors

|Number|Hexadecimal RGB value|Name||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|0|#1A1C2C|style="color: white; background-color: #1A1C2C"|Black|
|1|#5D275D|style="color: white; background-color: #5D275D"|Purple|
|2|#B13E53|style="color: white; background-color: #B13E53"|Red|
|3|#EF7D57|style="color: white; background-color: #EF7D57"|Orange|
|4|#FFCD75|style="color: black; background-color: #FFCD75"|Yellow|
|5|#A7F070|style="color: black; background-color: #A7F070"|Light green|
|6|#38B764|style="color: black; background-color: #38B764"|Green|
|7|#257179|style="color: white; background-color: #257179"|Dark green|
|8|#29366F|style="color: white; background-color: #29366F"|Dark blue|
|9|#3B5DC9|style="color: black; background-color: #3B5DC9"|Blue|
|10|#41A6F6|style="color: black; background-color: #41A6F6"|Light blue|
|11|#73EFF7|style="color: black; background-color: #73EFF7"|Cyan|
|12|#F4F4F4|style="color: black; background-color: #F4F4F4"|White|
|13|#94B0C2|style="color: black; background-color: #94B0C2"|Light Grey|
|14|#566C86|style="color: white; background-color: #566C86"|Grey|
|15|#333C57|style="color: white; background-color: #333C57"|Dark Grey|

## Demoscene

Some demo parties have featured TIC-80. These include Outline 2022 in the Netherlands; Lovebyte 2021 online and a 2018 LINE Fukuoka hackathon in Japan.

## See also

- PICO-8

## Further reading

- "A Game Maker's Toolkit: Eight More Fascinating Game-Making Tools for the Pi". _The MagPi._ September 2018. Issue 73. pp. 32–33. – via Internet Archive
- Littler, Clarissa (August 2018). "Fantasy Computers and TIC-80". _beanz Magazine_ (Vol. 6, No. 1)
- Littler, Clarissa (October 2018). "TIC-80 Project". _beanz Magazine_ (Vol. 6, No. 2)
- Littler, Clarissa (February 2019). "TIC-80 Maps and Music". _beanz Magazine_ (Vol. 6, No. 4)
- Pistorio, Marco (September 2018). "Fantasy Console: TIC 80". _Retro Magazine_ (Vol. 2, No. 9) (in Italian). p. 20 – via Internet Archive

## Other websites

- GitHub Repository

## Infobox (software)

- **name**: TIC-80
- **logo**: TIC-80 Icon.svg
- **screenshot**: Tic-80-boot.gif
- **collapsible**: true
- **developer**: Vadim Grigoruk (Nesbox)
- **ver layout**: simple
- **latest release version**: 1.1.2837
- **programming language**: C (programming language), C
- **platform**: Microsoft Windows, Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Nintendo 3DS, HTML5 (WebAssembly), RetroArch
- **language**: English language, English
- **genre**: Virtual machine, game engine
- **license**: MIT License
- **website**: https://tic80.com