Updates to 0.2.5g

[iiviigames]

Updates To Make

Each h2 represents a tab in the API, and each h3 represents a section in that tab. Each element should reference a change in the API, a tweet, or otherwise worthwhile knowledge not present in the version available now. This means including a link.

P8SCII

Special Commands

These changes are reflected to match the current docs.

• Add the following:
  d -- set delay to P0 frames for every character printed
r -- set rhs character wrap boundary to P0*4

-- All of these are strings used in the print function
1..9  -- skip 1,2,4,8,16,32..256 frames
c -- cls to colour P0, set cursor to 0,0
d -- set delay to P0 frames for every character printed
g -- set cursor position to home
h -- set home to cursor position
j -- jump to absolute P0*4, P1*4 (in screen pixels)
r -- set rhs character wrap boundary to P0*4
s -- set tab stop width to P0 pixels (used by "\t")
x -- set character width  (default: 4)
y -- set character height (default: 6)

New Sections

System

This entire section is going to be created to separate what is currently just PICO-8.

Some things like _INIT and EXPORT will stay as in PICO-8 as they are engine related, while other items like FOLDER and SHUTDOWN will move to the new System tab.

Many entries need more information including:

• import
• export
• info
• help Ctrl + U

[iiviigames]

EXTCMD(CMD_STR, [P1, P2])
Special system command, where CMD_STR is a string:

"pause"         request the pause menu be opened
"reset"         request a cart reset
"go_back"       return to the previous cart if there is one
"label"         set cart label
"screen"        save a screenshot
"rec"           set video start point
"rec_frames"    set video start point in frames mode
"video"         save a .gif to desktop
"audio_rec"     start recording audio
"audio_end"     save recorded audio to desktop (no supported from web)
"shutdown"      quit cartridge (from exported binary)
"folder"        open current working folder on the host operating system
"set_filename"  set the filename for screenshots / gifs / audio recordings
"set_title"     set the host window title

Some commands have optional number parameters:

"video" and "screen": P1: an integer scaling factor that overrides the system setting. P2: when > 0, save to the current folder instead of to desktop

"audio_end" P1: when > 0, save to the current folder instead of to desktop

■ Recording GIFs

EXTCMD("REC"), EXTCMD("VIDEO") is the same as using ctrl-8, ctrl-9 and saves a gif to the desktop using the current GIF_SCALE setting (use CONFIG GIF_SCALE to change).

The two additional parameters can be used to override these defaults:

EXTCMD("VIDEO", 4)    -- SCALE *4 (512 X 512)
EXTCMD("VIDEO", 0, 1) -- DEFAULT SCALING, SAVE TO USER DATA FOLDER

The user data folder can be opened with EXTCMD("FOLDER") and defaults to the same path as the cartridge, or {pico-8 appdata}/appdata/appname for exported binaries.

Due to the nature of the gif format, all gifs are recorded at 33.3fps, and frames produced by PICO-8 are skipped or duplicated in the gif to match roughly what the user is seeing. To record exactly one frame each time FLIP() is called, regardless of the runtime framerate or how long it took to generate the frame, use:

EXTCMD("REC_FRAMES")

The default filename for gifs (and screenshots, audio) is foo_%d, where foo is the name of the cartridge, and %d is a number starting at 0 and automatically incremented until a file of that name does not exist. Use EXTCMD("SET_FILENAME","FOO") to override that default. If the custom filename includes "%d", then the auto- incrementing number behaviour is used, but otherwise files are written even if there is an existing file with the same name.