JAjamesgeck0·Apr 6, 2026
People talk about the stuff they use, and there are _a lot_ of fantasy consoles.
https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Luapaladin-t
fantasy
OPEN SOURCE2018–2026
paladin-t / fantasy
fantasy
A curated list of available fantasy consoles/computers.
16Distinct people
17Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
1.6KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
A curated list of available fantasy consoles/computers.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year17 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-05-02 13:28:42 UTC to 2026-04-06 17:54:32 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
17 sourcesI'm confused by your advice, honestly. Defold is definitely not ultra-light, it's a whole ide/studio engine. If I was recommending for ease of entry, I'd 100% pick a "fantasy console" like Pico-8[1] or one of the many alternatives[2] that are free and use a different language if Lua isn't the person's thing.
Second, Phaser[3] actually IS regular javascript. It's the opposite of Defold that is a whole node based editor thing. Phaser is just a an API you use in a script file, that you just splonk into your html page. I don't know how much more standard JS you can get than that.
[1]: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
[2]: https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
[3]: https://docs.phaser.io/phaser/getting-started/set-up-dev-env... (linked to the hello world example)
In Starting game development in JavaScript with no experienceA curated list of available fantasy consoles/computers
5 points · Open discussionThere are other fantasy computers, too. Check out https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy.
An open issue [1] makes a point that MMIXX [2], which adds graphics to Knuth's MMIX, is a fantasy computer.
[1] https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy/issues/109
[2] https://www.malgil.com/mmix/graphics/
In Pyxel: A retro game engine for PythonThere are plenty of alternatives you could find on [1] in the context of fantasy console, almost all of them, oss or proprietary, active or dormant. And honestly many of them were inspired by PICO-8.
Disclaimer: I'm one of the contributors of the list of [2].
[1]: https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
[2]: https://github.com/pico-8/awesome-PICO-8
In Picotron Is a Fantasy WorkstationComes from things like: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
More here: https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game developersLots of activity in this space recently, there are more at https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In Show HN: Akedo – Retro gaming and coding platformA curated list of fantasy consoles/computers
9 points · Open discussionNot an exhaustive list but check this out: https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In TIC-80 Tiny ComputerA related topic (that the title initially made me think of) is fantasy consoles like the PICO-8, although those appear to commonly use high-level programming languages like Lua.
https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In Implement an emulator for a fantasy CPU in JavaScriptThere are all sorts of open-source alternatives!
Here's a list:
https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
My personal favorite is the TIC-80:
https://tic.computer/
And if you're looking for a straight clone of the PICO-8, check out PicoLove:
https://github.com/picolove/picolove
In Pico-8: Enabling more than 16 colors on the screenYou can have a look there: https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In Software Library: MS-DOS GamesI hypothesize "fantasy consoles"* are potentially fertile ground for young developers. They impose a lot of restrictions, but to someone starting out that means fairly low limits to understanding the basics of the environment (as opposed to something like UE4). They're also cheap or free. And some of them (like PICO-8) host user-created games.
*https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In The future of my games on Apple and what this means for art gamesPixelVision8:
https://www.pixelvision8.com/
Found it via this list https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy.
In Pico-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game makerhere are some other fantasy consoles:
https://github.com/paladin-t/fantasy
In Pico-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game makerShowing the 15 most recent of 17 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.