Introduction

Stretched City is a tiny room editor for PICO-8 games. It can be used for other programs as well, but then you have to parse the string yourself.

The tool works in the web, but for a more smoother experience I would recommend you to download a binary version.

The tool saves the room in one string to your clipboard, a valid room look like this: 

1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,13,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,13,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,12,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1

The result of that String in Stretched City would look like this: 



If you want to change the look of the sprites I included the source code for you to edit if you own PICO-8.

A room is 16x16 in tile-size. It goes from row to row writing down the id of that tile. 0 represent an empty tile. So if you want to use this in another program it should not be that difficult to parse the string.

To load your string into the map in PICO-8 use this method: 

function load_room(room_str)
    local room=split(room_str)
    local m_x=0
    local m_y=0
    for i=1,#room do
        mset(m_x,m_y,room[i])
        if m_x < 15 then
            m_x+=1
        else
            m_x=0
            m_y+=1
        end
    end
end

Controls

Move cursor

Keyboard: Arrow keys | Controller: D-pad or Joystick

Add tile

Keyboard: Z | Controller: A / Y

Remove tile

Keyboard: X | Controller: B / X

Change tile id

Hold x and press z

Copy tile

Stand still for a while on a tile you want to copy

Press P to open the pause menu where you can Save/  Load/ Delete current room and show controls.

Sometimes you have to press Ctrl+C before you press load the room for PICO-8 to read the clipboard.

Have fun and hopefully this can be used in some ways when you need a lot of levels in your PICO-8 game! Do not hesitate to leave a comment about anything! If you enjoy the tool then donations are welcome, it supports further development of more games and tools.

/ Sebastian Lind @Elastiskalinjen