moechofe 2026-07-17 08:01
This community is very solid; people who frequent this website have been here for years, and that's great.
However, most of the programs shared by members are short experiments, unfinished projects, or simple, relaxing interactions. I was wondering: where are the games?
This tool, like another popular fantasy console (PICO-8), was designed to create games, but I don't see many of them here. When I talk about games, I mean projects that are playable, finishable, polished, and self-explanatory.
Why do you think this community doesn't produce more complete games? Is it a lack of interest, a steep learning curve, or just a preference for smaller creative sketches? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Timo 2026-07-17 10:34
I think BASIC makes it hard to write large programs, because it can get chaotic easily.
The authentic approach of NX makes technical experiments more interesting, but it makes it harder to focus on game design. So people more interested in making full games might be more comfortable with the PICO-8 approach.
The community is small. If you put a lot of effort into a project, you probably want a larger audience for it. Of course you could publish it on something like itch.io, but then there is TOO MUCH competition. I guess a community like PICO-8 is the better audience.
In conclusion: LowRes NX seems to be better suited for small technical experiments.
C-script 2026-07-17 16:27
As for myself I guess I don’t feel that all of my projects are worth sharing because I’m not the most advanced at BG, CELL’s and more. I try to just use text for most things since that’s what I learned first. Funny story when I first started learning BASIC in LowRes NX I didn’t see the manual so I started breaking apart the pre-installed programs and the simplest one that I could understand was a text game. After a month I learned about the manual. I would love to make a game like sNOw ESCAPE which is a favorite of mine but I simply don’t understand how to or where to start.
qwaffe 2026-07-17 18:51 (Edited)
Definitely when you think of an idea, the first thing you would think about is whether it's even possible in NX, and it might not be . also, it's not very straightforward to turn a gameplay idea into a complete game because you would have to (re)structure the whole thing, add a functional GUI ... it sounds very time consuming to do in NX.
moechofe 2026-07-18 08:56
@C-script: you learn BASIC the hard way, that funny.
Is Snow Escape an Escape Game? A type of game that required a lot of drawing.
@qwaffe: That's true but not always. There are solutions to demake a game and still get something descent. My Poink game start by being a demake and finally become my own vision of the an existing game that fit with the limitation of LowResNX.
AkiPot 2026-07-18 11:09
Pico-8 also has tons of projects that you can't really call full-blown games. It's just that Pico-8 happened to become the most popular fantasy console. It has the biggest community and more people who are actually down to make finished games.
Game dev is pretty tough and takes a lot of time. You gotta come up with a concept, draw the art, and nail down the overall design. Then, ideally, you need to add SFX and music. And finally, write the code to tie it all together and make it actually work.
From my own experience, I wouldn't say Pico-8 makes the whole process easier compared to Lowres NX. If you’re making a complex project, you'll have to do some heavy lifting regardless. That said, drawing 3D on Pico-8 (and TIC-80) really is easier since they support vector graphics.
Personally, I prefer to only make fully finished games. But for the reasons I mentioned above, it takes a ton of time. Still, it's super engaging and a lot of fun.
C-script 2026-07-18 17:25
@moechofe I decided to try to make a game because of this post but with a real story. The time of grassy plains
was8bit 2026-07-18 18:32 (Edited)
For those wanting to explore the possibilities of NX, just browse thru all my posted stuff... i have tons of things that you can pick apart to see how things work
I dont have much time to focus on big games, so i post alot of ideas...
... i DO have games posted, but you usually have to wade thru all my postings to find most of them
qwaffe 2026-07-19 05:59
@moechofe You're right, Poink is awesome (i suck at it). That's an interesting approach to polishing a game idea into a full game, i'll have to try it sometime.
moechofe 2026-07-20 08:56
@AkiPot: I agree with everything you said. I think I spent two years on my Poink, but it was worth it.
@C-script: I'm glad to hear that. At some point, I was thinking of starting a series of posts on how to make finished games (I've been a professional game developer since 2012). Let me know if you want that; I would be happy to help at least one person.
@qwaffe: You can find my game on the Play Store and the App Store. The control feel is better because I improved the LowResNX code for it.
@was8bit: Browsing your stuff will take us mounths, Ahaha :D
was8bit 2026-07-20 16:16
;)
C-script 2026-07-20 17:09
@moechofe I think I’ll be mostly fine but if I have any questions I’ll ask, thank you though.
Also updated The Time Of Grassy Plains, the name was too long of a name so I’m going to call it TTOGP. Tell me what you think of it.
was8bit 2026-07-20 17:37
I like "Grassy Plains" better
It sounds poetic and inviting ;)
was8bit 2026-07-20 17:38
You can always add a splash title that shows the full title and such
was8bit 2026-07-20 17:40 (Edited)
"The Legend of Grassy Plains"
Gives a more mystical feel
C-script 2026-07-20 18:35
The text based version talked about the name more but it’s supposed to be a happy season because the people survived the harsh winter. But I do like “Grassy plains”
was8bit 2026-07-20 23:43
Well, the "Legend" part could use the "surviving the harsh winter" as part of the legend of the people, so anyone could learn the lessons of how they stuck together, worked together, etc, and then anyone could remember the story and be inspired to survive their own hardships ...
C-script 2026-07-21 01:34
@was8bit would you mind telling me what you thought of the newest update? Do you understand how to shoot or break things?
was8bit 2026-07-21 05:36
I would recommend reworking your controls, to be more intuitive....
Directions with no (A) and no (B) will scroll the map
Hold (A) + directions will fire in the direction
Hold (B) + directions will break things in that direction
For a pop-up, try: disable PAUSE, then use ON PAUSE to bring up and/or close the pop-up