37 | Memosaic is a tiny, ASCII fantasy console. You can play, create, and share games and other programs
38 | all within the console. It feels and acts like a physical console, but runs on your computer!
39 |
40 | Here are some resources to help you get started with Memosaic:
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41 | Memosaic v0.2.1-alpha (Cookie)
42 | (c) Copyright 2025 JJ, Hot Noggin Studios, and contributors
43 | https://jjgame.dev/memo
44 |
45 | Made using:
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82 | Memosaic is a tiny, ASCII fantasy console. It feels and acts like a physical console, 83 | but runs on your device! Memosaic has limitations that are fun and cozy to work within 84 | and challenging to work around. Carts made with it all have that signature feel. 85 |
86 | 87 |89 | Display 90 | - 16x16 tiles, 128x128 pixels 91 | - 16-color palette 92 | - 2 colors/tile 93 | 94 | Audio 95 | - 4 channels (square, sine, sawtooth, noise) 96 | - 256 samples/channel 97 | - 60 samples/second 98 | 99 | Input 100 | - D-pad (WASD on QWERTY, ZQSD on AZERTY) 101 | - X (X or J) and O (C or K) buttons 102 | - START and SELECT (ENTER and SHIFT)* 103 | 104 | Cart Data 105 | - Up to 32KiB cart 106 | - Up to 2KiB of font data 107 | - Up to 2KiB of sound data 108 | - Up to 8KiB of ROM* 109 | 110 | CPU 111 | - ~1 million vm instructions/second* 112 |113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 |
120 | When you first boot Memosaic, you'll be met with the command line interface 121 | (or CLI for short). Input commands or Lua code to interact with it. 122 | Try some of these commands to test it out: 123 |
124 |
125 | > print("hello")
126 | > beep(0, 30, 7, 20)
127 | > for i=0,16 do print(i) end
128 |
129 | 130 | Install some demo carts using these commands: 131 |
132 |133 | > demos 134 | > cd demos 135 | > ls 136 |137 | Try a cart out using
> load and > run. For example:
138 | 139 | > load spincube 140 | > run 141 |142 |
143 | Stop the running cart by pressing ESC. 144 |
145 | 146 |148 | You can create Memosaic carts using Lua (or Mimosa) scripts. 149 | To make a new cart, use these commands: 150 |
151 |152 | > new 153 | > save mycart 154 |155 |
156 | You can save your new Lua cart with the .memo or .lua extension (or as .mosa for a Mimosa cart).
157 | Use > edit or press ESC to switch to the editor.
158 | Navigate to the code tab* using the toolbar at the top of the editor and try this code:
159 |
161 | x = 7 162 | y = 7 163 | 164 | function tick() 165 | clrs() 166 | text(2, 5, "move with \14", 9, 0) 167 | if btn(0) then x = x - 0.2 end 168 | if btn(1) then x = x + 0.2 end 169 | if btn(2) then y = y - 0.2 end 170 | if btn(3) then y = y + 0.2 end 171 | tile(flr(x), flr(y), "@", 8, 0) 172 | end 173 |174 |
175 | Navigate back to the CLI using the toolbar or ESC, then run the cart. 176 |
177 | 178 |
180 | Memosaic supports external editors. Simply open your cart elsewhere to make changes to it.
181 | Use > folder to open the cart folder in your file explorer.
182 | You can also write .lua scripts in an external editor, then use #include* in your cart to copy
183 | the scripts' contents into the cart at the desired location. This allows carts like this:
184 |
186 | #include code 187 | 188 | function boot() 189 | reset() 190 | end 191 | 192 | function tick() 193 | run() 194 | end 195 |196 |
197 | In this example, the file named code.lua can be safely edited externally,
198 | without affecting the loaded cart.
199 | It is as if the text from code.lua was written where #include code was placed.
200 |
208 | CTRL + s save loaded cart 209 | CTRL + r run loaded cart (without saving) 210 | CTRL + SHIFT + r reload loaded cart (without saving) 211 | ESC stop running cart (while running) 212 | ESC switch to CLI (from editor) 213 | ESC switch to editor (from CLI) 214 |215 | 216 |
218 | The toolbar is the bar at the top of the editor. You can use it to navigate to different
219 | editor tabs, and to run* and save* the cart. The editor tabs may add tab-specific tools*
220 | to the toolbar.
221 |
222 | The tooltip appears at the bottom of the editor and shows extra information about your most
223 | recent editor interaction.
224 |
228 | The core means of interacting with the file system is with the CLI (command line interface). 229 | Interact with it using commands. You can scroll the console output using the arrow keys, or 230 | using the mousewheel for vertical scrolling and SHIFT + mousewheel for horizontal scrolling*. 231 | The CLI also has various helpful commands unrelated to the file system. 232 | Some of the most important commands are: 233 |
234 |235 | > help [topic?] (Lists commands or info on a topic) 236 | > load [cart] (Loads a cart from the filesystem) 237 | > run (Runs the loaded cart) 238 | > reload (Reloads the loaded cart) 239 | 240 | (Arguments are in square brackets) 241 | (Optional arguments are marked with a question mark) 242 |243 |
244 | You can give multiple commands in one line by separating them with a semicolon. 245 |
246 |247 | > demos;cd demos 248 | > load snek; run 249 |250 |
251 | The CLI supports interactive mode. You can type Lua code instead of a command to execute it.
252 | The CLI code has access to the loaded cart's Lua state, including variables and functions.
253 | For example, if you > load and > run a cart with the code below,
254 | then stop the cart and use the command below, the message from the cart will be printed.
255 |
257 | -- In cart.lua -- 258 | msg = "hello world" 259 | 260 | -- In the CLI -- 261 | > load cart.lua 262 | > run 263 | > print(msg) 264 |265 |
266 | The CLI's interactive mode is not limited to Lua. You can switch to Mimosa mode using
267 | > mimosa and input Mimosa code while in Mimosa mode. To switch back to Lua mode,
268 | use > lua. The following is the same as the Lua example above, but using Mimosa:
269 |
271 | (In cart.mosa) 272 | "hello world" msg = 273 | 274 | (In the CLI) 275 | > load cart.mosa 276 | > run 277 | > mimosa 278 | > msg out 279 |280 |
281 | Mimosa is a programing language made for Memosaic. You can choose to make your carts in Mimosa
282 | instead of Lua, but this is optional. You won't encounter problems from choosing Lua over Mimosa.
283 |
284 | A comprehensive list* of commands can be found below.
285 |
289 | The cart editor is divided into multiple tabs. Each tab has tooling that allows you to easily edit 290 | a part of your cart. The Editor tabs are: 291 |
301 | The font editor allows you to edit the ASCII font your cart uses to draw characters.
302 | Select a character on the right side of the font editor by clicking it, or use WASD* or
303 | the arrow keys* to select a character near the currently selected character.
304 | Paint pixels on the selected character using the 1-bit canvas. There is no pen or erase
305 | tool; simply click a set pixel to clear it and click an unset pixel to set it.
306 | Click and drag to draw multiple pixels.
307 |
308 | Preview how the selected character looks in different colors using the two palettes
309 | below the character canvas. Copy*, paste*, and delete* characters using the top bar.
310 |
311 | The font editor's hotkeys are:
312 |
314 | CTRL + c copy character* 315 | CTRL + v paste character* 316 | CTRL + x cut character* 317 | DEL delete character* 318 |319 | 320 |
37 | Example text! 38 |
39 | 40 |47 | -- This is a codebox 48 |49 | 50 |