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Pyxel is a retro game engine for Python.

Thanks to its simple specifications inspired by retro gaming consoles, such as only 16 colors can be displayed and only 4 sounds can be played back at the same time, you can feel free to enjoy making pixel art style games.

The motivation for the development of Pyxel is the feedback from users. Please give Pyxel a star on GitHub!

Pyxel's specifications and APIs are inspired by PICO-8 and TIC-80.

Pyxel is open source and free to use. Let's start making a retro game with Pyxel!

• Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Web
• Programming with Python
• 16 color palette
• 256x256 sized 3 image banks
• 256x256 sized 8 tilemaps
• 4 channels with 64 definable sounds
• 8 musics which can combine arbitrary sounds
• Keyboard, mouse, and gamepad inputs
• Image and sound editor

After installing Python3 (version 3.8 or higher), run the following command:

pip install -U pyxel

If you install Python using the official installer, please check the Add Python 3.x to PATH checkbox to enable pyxel command.

After installing Homebrew, run the following commands:

brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install pyxel

To update the version after installing Pyxel, run pipx upgrade pyxel.

After installing the SDL2 package (libsdl2-dev for Ubuntu), Python3 (version 3.8 or higher), and python3-pip, run the following command:

sudo pip3 install -U pyxel

If the above doesn't work, try self-building according to the instructions in Makefile.

The web version of Pyxel does not require Python or Pyxel installation and runs on PCs as well as smartphones and tablets with supported web browsers.

For specific instructions, please refer to this page.

After installing Pyxel, the examples of Pyxel will be copied to the current directory with the following command:

pyxel copy_examples

The examples to be copied are as follows:

An examples can be executed with the following commands:

cd pyxel_examples
pyxel run 01_hello_pyxel.py
pyxel play 30SecondsOfDaylight.pyxapp

After importing the Pyxel module in your python script, specify the window size with init function first, then starts the Pyxel application with run function.

import pyxel

pyxel.init(160, 120)

def update():
    if pyxel.btnp(pyxel.KEY_Q):
        pyxel.quit()

def draw():
    pyxel.cls(0)
    pyxel.rect(10, 10, 20, 20, 11)

pyxel.run(update, draw)

The arguments of run function are update function to update each frame and draw function to draw screen when necessary.

In an actual application, it is recommended to wrap pyxel code in a class as below:

import pyxel

class App:
    def __init__(self):
        pyxel.init(160, 120)
        self.x = 0
        pyxel.run(self.update, self.draw)

    def update(self):
        self.x = (self.x + 1) % pyxel.width

    def draw(self):
        pyxel.cls(0)
        pyxel.rect(self.x, 0, 8, 8, 9)

App()

When creating simple graphics without animation, show function can be used to make the code more concise.

import pyxel

pyxel.init(120, 120)
pyxel.cls(1)
pyxel.circb(60, 60, 40, 7)
pyxel.show()

A created Python script can be executed using the python command:

python PYTHON_SCRIPT_FILE

It can also be run with the pyxel run command:

pyxel run PYTHON_SCRIPT_FILE

Additionally, the pyxel watch command enables monitoring of changes in a specified directory, automatically re-running the program when changes are detected:

pyxel watch WATCH_DIR PYTHON_SCRIPT_FILE

Directory monitoring can be stopped by pressing Ctrl(Command)+C.

The following special controls can be performed while a Pyxel application is running:

• Esc
  Quit the application
• Alt(Option)+1
  Save the screenshot to the desktop
• Alt(Option)+2
  Reset the recording start time of the screen capture video
• Alt(Option)+3
  Save the screen capture video to the desktop (up to 10 seconds)
• Alt(Option)+9
  Switch between screen modes (Crisp/Smooth/Retro)
• Alt(Option)+0
  Toggle the performance monitor (fps, update time, and draw time)
• Alt(Option)+Enter
  Toggle full screen
• Shift+Alt(Option)+1/2/3
  Save the corresponding image bank to the desktop
• Shift+Alt(Option)+0
  Save the current color palette to the desktop

Pyxel Editor can create images and sounds used in a Pyxel application.

It starts with the following command:

pyxel edit PYXEL_RESOURCE_FILE

If the specified Pyxel resource file (.pyxres) exists, the file is loaded, and if it does not exist, a new file is created with the specified name. If the resource file is omitted, the name is my_resource.pyxres.

After starting Pyxel Editor, the file can be switched by dragging and dropping another resource file.

The created resource file can be loaded with load function.

Pyxel Editor has the following edit modes.

Image Editor

The mode to edit the image banks.

Drag and drop an image file (PNG/GIF/JPEG) onto the Image Editor to load the image into the currently selected image bank.

Tilemap Editor

The mode to edit tilemaps in which images of the image banks are arranged in a tile pattern.

Drag and drop a TMX file (Tiled Map File) onto the Tilemap Editor to load its layer in the drawing order that corresponds to the currently selected tilemap number.

Sound Editor

The mode to edit sounds.

Music Editor

The mode to edit musics in which the sounds are arranged in order of playback.

Pyxel images and tilemaps can also be created by the following methods:

• Create an image from a list of strings with Image.set function or Tilemap.set function
• Load an image file (PNG/GIF/JPEG) in Pyxel palette with Image.load function

Pyxel sounds can also be created in the following method:

• Create a sound from strings with Sound.set function or Music.set function

Please refer to the API reference for usage of these functions.

Pyxel supports a dedicated application distribution file format (Pyxel application file) that works across platforms.

Create the Pyxel application file (.pyxapp) with the pyxel package command:

pyxel package APP_DIR STARTUP_SCRIPT_FILE

If the application should include resources or additional modules, place them in the application directory.

The created application file can be executed with the pyxel play command:

pyxel play PYXEL_APP_FILE

Pyxel application file also can be converted to an executable or an HTML file with the pyxel app2exe or pyxel app2html commands.

• width, height
  The width and height of the screen

• frame_count
  The number of the elapsed frames

• init(width, height, [title], [fps], [quit_key], [display_scale], [capture_scale], [capture_sec])
  Initialize the Pyxel application with screen size (width, height). The following can be specified as options: the window title with title, the frame rate with fps, the key to quit the application with quit_key, the scale of the display with display_scale, the scale of the screen capture with capture_scale, and the maximum recording time of the screen capture video with capture_sec.
  e.g. pyxel.init(160, 120, title="My Pyxel App", fps=60, quit_key=pyxel.KEY_NONE, capture_scale=3, capture_sec=0)

• run(update, draw)
  Start the Pyxel application and call update function for frame update and draw function for drawing.

• show()
  Show the screen and wait until the Esc key is pressed.

• flip()
  Refresh the screen by one frame. The application exits when the Esc key is pressed. This function does not work in the web version.

• quit()
  Quit the Pyxel application.

• load(filename, [excl_images], [excl_tilemaps], [excl_sounds], [excl_musics])
  Load the resource file (.pyxres). If an option is True, the resource will not be loaded. If a palette file (.pyxpal) of the same name exists in the same location as the resource file, the palette display color will also be changed. The palette file is a hexadecimal entry of the display colors (e.g. 1100FF), separated by newlines. The palette file can also be used to change the colors displayed in Pyxel Editor.

• mouse_x, mouse_y
  The current position of the mouse cursor

• mouse_wheel
  The current value of the mouse wheel

• btn(key)
  Return True if key is pressed, otherwise return False. (Key definition list)

• btnp(key, [hold], [repeat])
  Return True if key is pressed at that frame, otherwise return False. When hold and repeat are specified, True will be returned at the repeat frame interval when the key is held down for more than hold frames.

• btnr(key)
  Return True if key is released at that frame, otherwise return False.

• mouse(visible)
  If visible is True, show the mouse cursor. If False, hide it. Even if the mouse cursor is not displayed, its position is updated.

• colors
  List of the palette display colors. The display color is specified by a 24-bit numerical value. Use colors.from_list and colors.to_list to directly assign and retrieve Python lists.
  e.g. old_colors = pyxel.colors.to_list(); pyxel.colors.from_list([0x111111, 0x222222, 0x333333]); pyxel.colors[15] = 0x112233

• images
  List of the image banks (0-2). (See the Image class)
  e.g. pyxel.images[0].load(0, 0, "title.png")

• tilemaps
  List of the tilemaps (0-7). (See the Tilemap class)

• clip(x, y, w, h)
  Set the drawing area of the screen from (x, y) to width w and height h. Reset the drawing area to full screen with clip().

• camera(x, y)
  Change the upper left corner coordinates of the screen to (x, y). Reset the upper left corner coordinates to (0, 0) with camera().

• pal(col1, col2)
  Replace color col1 with col2 at drawing. pal() to reset to the initial palette.

• dither(alpha)
  Applies dithering (pseudo-transparency) at drawing. Set alpha in the range 0.0-1.0, where 0.0 is transparent and 1.0 is opaque.

• cls(col)
  Clear screen with color col.

• pget(x, y)
  Get the color of the pixel at (x, y).

• pset(x, y, col)
  Draw a pixel of color col at (x, y).

• line(x1, y1, x2, y2, col)
  Draw a line of color col from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2).

• rect(x, y, w, h, col)
  Draw a rectangle of width w, height h and color col from (x, y).

• rectb(x, y, w, h, col)
  Draw the outline of a rectangle of width w, height h and color col from (x, y).

• circ(x, y, r, col)
  Draw a circle of radius r and color col at (x, y).

• circb(x, y, r, col)
  Draw the outline of a circle of radius r and color col at (x, y).

• elli(x, y, w, h, col)
  Draw an ellipse of width w, height h and color col from (x, y).

• ellib(x, y, w, h, col)
  Draw the outline of an ellipse of width w, height h and color col from (x, y).

• tri(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, col)
  Draw a triangle with vertices (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3) and color col.

• trib(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, col)
  Draw the outline of a triangle with vertices (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3) and color col.

• fill(x, y, col)
  Fill the area connected with the same color as (x, y) with color col.

• blt(x, y, img, u, v, w, h, [colkey], [rotate], [scale])
  Copy the region of size (w, h) from (u, v) of the image bank img(0-2) to (x, y). If negative value is set for w and/or h, it will reverse horizontally and/or vertically. If colkey is specified, treated as transparent color. If rotate(in degrees), scale(1.0 = 100%), or both are specified, the corresponding transformation will be applied.

• bltm(x, y, tm, u, v, w, h, [colkey], [rotate], [scale])
  Copy the region of size (w, h) from (u, v) of the tilemap tm(0-7) to (x, y). If negative value is set for w and/or h, it will reverse horizontally and/or vertically. If colkey is specified, treated as transparent color. If rotate(in degrees), scale(1.0 = 100%), or both are specified, the corresponding transformation will be applied. The size of a tile is 8x8 pixels and is stored in a tilemap as a tuple of (tile_x, tile_y).

• text(x, y, s, col)
  Draw a string s of color col at (x, y).

• sounds
  List of the sounds (0-63). (See the Sound class)
  e.g. pyxel.sounds[0].speed = 60

• musics
  List of the musics (0-7). (See the Music class)

• play(ch, snd, [tick], [loop], [resume])
  Play the sound snd(0-63) on channel ch(0-3). If snd is a list, it will be played in order. The playback start position can be specified by tick(1 tick = 1/120 seconds). If True is specified for loop, loop playback is performed. To resume the previous sound after playback ends, set resume to True.

• playm(msc, [tick], [loop])
  Play the music msc(0-7). The playback start position can be specified by tick(1 tick = 1/120 seconds). If True is specified for loop, loop playback is performed.

• stop([ch])
  Stops playback of the specified channel ch(0-3). stop() to stop playing all channels.

• play_pos(ch)
  Get the sound playback position of channel ch(0-3) as a tuple of (sound no, note no). Returns None when playback is stopped.

• ceil(x)
  Returns the smallest integer greater than or equal to x.

• floor(x)
  Returns the largest integer less than or equal to x.

• sgn(x)
  Returns 1 when x is positive, 0 when it is zero, and -1 when it is negative.

• sqrt(x)
  Returns the square root of x.

• sin(deg)
  Returns the sine of deg degrees.

• cos(deg)
  Returns the cosine of deg degrees.

• atan2(y, x)
  Returns the arctangent of y/x in degrees.

• rseed(seed)
  Sets the seed of the random number generator.

• rndi(a, b)
  Returns an random integer greater than or equal to a and less than or equal to b.

• rndf(a, b)
  Returns a random decimal greater than or equal to a and less than or equal to b.

• nseed(seed)
  Sets the seed of Perlin noise.

• noise(x, [y], [z])
  Returns the Perlin noise value for the specified coordinates.

• width, height
  The width and height of the image

• set(x, y, data)
  Set the image at (x, y) by a list of strings.
  e.g. pyxel.images[0].set(10, 10, ["0123", "4567", "89ab", "cdef"])

• load(x, y, filename)
  Load the image file (PNG/GIF/JPEG) at (x, y).

• pget(x, y)
  Get the pixel color at (x, y).

• pset(x, y, col)
  Draw a pixel of color col at (x, y).

• width, height
  The width and height of the tilemap

• imgsrc
  The image bank (0-2) referenced by the tilemap

• set(x, y, data)
  Set the tilemap at (x, y) by a list of strings.
  e.g. pyxel.tilemap(0).set(0, 0, ["0000 0100 a0b0", "0001 0101 a1b1"])

• load(x, y, filename, layer)
  Load the layer in the drawing order layer(0-) from the TMX file (Tiled Map File) at (x, y).

• pget(x, y)
  Get the tile at (x, y). A tile is a tuple of (tile_x, tile_y).

• pset(x, y, tile)
  Draw a tile at (x, y). A tile is a tuple of (tile_x, tile_y).

• notes
  List of notes (0-127). The higher the number, the higher the pitch, and at 33 it becomes 'A2'(440Hz). The rest is -1.

• tones
  List of tones (0:Triangle / 1:Square / 2:Pulse / 3:Noise)

• volumes
  List of volumes (0-7)

• effects
  List of effects (0:None / 1:Slide / 2:Vibrato / 3:FadeOut / 4:Half-FadeOut / 5:Quarter-FadeOut)

• speed
  Playback speed. 1 is the fastest, and the larger the number, the slower the playback speed. At 120, the length of one note becomes 1 second.

• set(notes, tones, volumes, effects, speed)
  Set notes, tones, volumes, and effects with a string. If the tones, volumes, and effects length are shorter than the notes, it is repeated from the beginning.

• set_notes(notes)
  Set the notes with a string made of 'CDEFGAB'+'#-'+'01234' or 'R'. Case-insensitive and whitespace is ignored.
  e.g. pyxel.sounds[0].set_notes("G2B-2D3R RF3F3F3")

• set_tones(tones)
  Set the tones with a string made of 'TSPN'. Case-insensitive and whitespace is ignored.
  e.g. pyxel.sounds[0].set_tones("TTSS PPPN")

• set_volumes(volumes)
  Set the volumes with a string made of '01234567'. Case-insensitive and whitespace is ignored.
  e.g. pyxel.sounds[0].set_volumes("7777 7531")

• set_effects(effects)
  Set the effects with a string made of 'NSVFHQ'. Case-insensitive and whitespace is ignored.
  e.g. pyxel.sounds[0].set_effects("NFNF NVVS")

• seqs
  Two-dimensional list of sounds (0-63) with the number of channels

• set(seq0, seq1, seq2, ...)
  Set the lists of sound (0-63) of channels. If an empty list is specified, that channel is not used for playback.
  e.g. pyxel.musics[0].set([0, 1], [], [3])

Pyxel has "advanced APIs" that are not mentioned in this reference because they "may confuse users" or "need specialized knowledge to use".

If you are familiar with your skills, try to create amazing works with this as a clue!

Use the Issue Tracker to submit bug reports and feature/enhancement requests. Before submitting a new issue, ensure that there is no similar open issue.

Anyone manually testing the code and reporting bugs or suggestions for enhancements in the Issue Tracker are very welcome!

Patches/fixes are accepted in form of pull requests (PRs). Make sure the issue the pull request addresses is open in the Issue Tracker.

Submitted pull request is deemed to have agreed to publish under MIT License.

• Q&A
• User Examples
• Developer X account

Pyxel is under MIT License. It can be reused within proprietary software, provided that all copies of the software or its substantial portions include a copy of the terms of the MIT License and also a copyright notice.

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