Multiplay Demo

basic_multiplayer.p8

function _init()
	-- create collection for players
	players = {}
	-- p1
	player1 = {
		x = 0,
		y = 2,
		clr = 12,
		health = 10
	}
	-- p2
	player2 = {
		x = 11,
		y = 2,
		clr = 8,
		health = 10
	}
	-- add them to the player coll
	add(players,player1)
	add(players, player2)
end

-- we are calling them
function control_player(_id)

	-- you can see that we move 
	-- players[id] which is 
	-- the index we call in update
	
	-- btnp(0, _id-1) this weird 
	-- thing checks for the button
	-- press of p1, p2, see keyboard
	-- controls on pico wiki
	-- arrows for p1
	-- esdf for p2

	-- using _id-1 because btn player index
	-- is 0 based, but lua arrays are 1 based.
	-- you can either just use _id, and index players
	-- with _id+1 to the players[] array or keep it this way

	-- basic movement in 4 directions
	-- if you have other code you want to do
	-- for your player do it here
	-- but remember to call codes
	-- with players[_id] instead
	-- of your default p/player
	-- you would do in singleplayer
	-- games, alternatievly let's do
	local active_player = players[_id]
	-- which will hold it jsut the same, but will cost less tokens

	if btnp(0, _id-1) then
		active_player.x -= 1
	end
	if btnp(1, _id-1) then
		active_player.x += 1
	end
	if btnp(2, _id-1) then
		active_player.y -= 1
	end
	if btnp(3, _id-1) then
		active_player.y += 1
	end

	-- here you can also use code how you would otherswise
	-- in singleplayer, jsut call it with the current player
	-- let's say there is a saw in 32,32 and if player
	-- walks into it, they take damage
	-- 32,32 in tiles is 4,4 (remmber pixel to tile is /8)
	if active_player.x == 4 and active_player.y == 4 then
		active_player.health -= 1
	end
end

function _update()

 -- here we loop through player
 -- collection to move p1, p2
 -- by passing the i as index
	for i=1,2 do
		control_player(i)
	end
end

function _draw()
	cls()
	for player in all(players) do
		print("웃", player.x*8, player.y*8, player.clr)
	end
	print("✽", 32, 32, 7)
	print("arrow for p1, health"..players[1].health,2,100, 12)
	print("esdf for p2, health"..players[2].health, 2,108, 8)
	print("✽ is a saw that hurts", 2, 116, 7)
end

More PICO-8 Tutorials: https://github.com/Achie72/kofi-articles/blob/main/README.md#pico-8-tutorials

If you would like to read more like this, feel free to checkout my Ko-fi articles, with many devlogs and code rundowns like this!
https://github.com/Achie72/kofi-articles