Space 8 v3.0

My first PICO-8 game, created in the week leading up to the Pioneer Valley Game Developers Pico Jam 2025 — and still growing. Space 8 is a compact arcade survival shooter: fly a small ship through escalating debris fields, scoop up credits mid-flight, and dock at the Station between rounds to upgrade for the next launch. The pressure never stops climbing, so every run is a score chase that eventually ends. How far can you get?

🚀 New in v3.0

v3.0 is the biggest update yet — a near top-to-bottom overhaul of how Space 8 looks, feels, and ramps. The short version:

• Endless escalation: the difficulty curve no longer tops out. After the roster is fully introduced it keeps climbing speed and density forever, so even a maxed-out ship eventually gets overwhelmed. Space 8 is now a pure score-attack survival run.
• New enemy — Popcorn gunners: little alien shooters that weave in, wind up, and fire shots aimed straight at you. They turn dodging into a real threat instead of just avoiding rocks.
• New power-up — Bomb: a rare drop from red comets that detonates an expanding shockwave, vaporising every obstacle it sweeps over. The panic button you'll wish you'd saved.
• New power-up — Magnet: dropped by pink comets, it pulls nearby credits and pickups toward your ship so you stop leaving money on the field.
• Tiered credits: money now drops as animated bronze, silver, and gold coins — rarer coins are worth more, so collecting feels chunkier and more rewarding.
• Black hole overhaul: gravity wells now drag in your ship, asteroids, comets, loot, and even bullets. Touching one is instant death — your shield won't save you, so thrust away early.
• Round Clear summary: a new between-round screen that absorbs the remaining field for loot and totals up your run before the next launch.
• A whole new ship: redrawn at 16×16 with banking lean, twin exhaust trails, a hybrid muzzle flash, animated lasers, and a much smaller hitbox that rewards precise flying.
• New Shield Shock upgrade: charge your shield to retaliate with a damaging pulse that zaps nearby enemies when you take a hit.
• Presentation glow-up: screen shake on impacts, animated block-letter logos, a remastered HUD, a redrawn in-game guide, new cart label art, and remastered sound effects.

Features

• Endless arcade survival: a score-attack run that keeps ramping long after your ship is fully upgraded
• 7 ship upgrades: customize your playstyle at the Station shop
• 4 distinct threats: asteroids, color-coded comets, black holes, and alien gunners — each with their own behavior
• Collectible credits & power-ups: scoop up tiered coins and comet-dropped power-ups mid-mission
• Three difficulty tiers: Easy, Normal, and Veteran, each with its own persistent leaderboard
• Original chiptune soundtrack: written entirely in PICO-8's sound editor
• Optimized for web: smooth browser play with pixel-perfect rendering

How to Play

• Move: Arrow Keys / D-Pad
• Shoot: 🅾️ (Z/C/N)
• Shield: ❎ (X/V/M) — hold to activate

Avoid hazards, grab power-ups, collect credits, and survive long enough to reach the Station. Upgrade wisely and see how many rounds you can outlast!

Ship Upgrades

• Fire Rate: faster weapon recharge for rapid shots
• Shield: energy barrier that blocks all damage when held
• Phaser Spread: fire extra side beams in a wider arc
• Hull+: add hull segments for more health capacity
• Thrusters: higher top speed for nimble maneuvering
• Shield Shock: emit a damaging retaliation pulse when hit (requires Shield)
• Repair Hull: restore a damaged hull segment between missions

Threats

• Asteroids: slow but durable; split into fragments when destroyed and drop credits
• Comets (color-coded): fast movers that arrive from round 3. Two hits to break, and each color drops a different power-up — or just dodge them
• Popcorn: alien gunners that weave down from round 2, wind up, and fire a shot tracked toward you. Two hits to pop, and they usually drop credits
• Black Holes: gravity wells from round 5 that pull everything inward. Death on contact — thrust away early

Power-ups

Dropped by comets during missions. Effects are temporary and reset at the end of each round.

• Hull (green comets): +1 HP if you have room
• Charge (blue comets): fully recharges your shield plus a stretch of free shield time
• Rapid Fire (yellow comets): a short burst of faster fire
• Magnet (pink comets): pulls nearby loot and pickups toward you
• Bomb (red comets, rare): an expanding shockwave that vaporises every obstacle it sweeps over

Credits

Coins dropped by destroyed asteroids and enemies. Scoop them up mid-mission to fund upgrades at the Station — they come in three tiers, and rarer coins are worth more.

• Bronze: 2 credits (common)
• Silver: 4 credits
• Gold: 8 credits (rare)

Free Tileset

I released a free copy of the old tileset with 2.0. I plan to update it with new art from 3.0, but for now you can find it as it is below!

Feedback Welcome!

I'd love to hear your thoughts! What worked? What could be better? Did you find any strategies for surviving longer, or a favorite power-up to chase? Drop a comment below with suggestions, bug reports, or just to share your best run.

Follow for updates on Space 8 and future PICO-8 projects!