thomasgauthier/unlicense-pico8

Pico-8 Unlicense Games Collection

Dataset Summary

A curated collection of all the games with code under Unlicense tagged PICO-8 from itch.io (29 games as of 2026-04-14). This dataset provides direct access to both the raw cartridge data and Lua source code for each game (extracted from the web player).

Note: The assets are sometimes licensed under non-commercial terms - not everything's free for commercial use. Check the asset_license column for game-specific details.

Dataset Details

Dataset Description

29 PICO-8 games from itch.io, with their code license listed as Unlicense. (while many games have public domain (CC0) assets, some have Non-Commercial (NC) licenses or other Creative Commons variants, see below or asset_license column)

Curated by: Thomas Gauthier-Caron

Language(s): PICO-8 (Lua-based game format)

Dataset Sources

• Repository: https://huggingface.co/datasets/thomasgauthier/unlicense-pico8
• Original Source: https://itch.io/games/code-unlicense/tag-pico-8

Uses

Direct Use

This dataset is ideal for:

• Learning PICO-8 development - Study real game code from various creators
• Modding and remixing - Create derivatives of existing games
• Game jam inspiration - Use mechanics or aesthetics as starting points
• Educational purposes - Teach game development with real-world examples
• Non-commercial learning - Study real game code (note: 8 games have NC licenses)

Out-of-Scope Use

This dataset should not be used to:

• Claim original authorship of games you didn't create
• Use in ways that violate the original creators' non-licensed works
• Apply to games not included in this specific collection

Dataset Structure

Features

Feature	Type	Description
Title	large_string	The game's title as listed on itch.io
By	large_string	The creator/author of the game
URL	large_string	Direct link to the game on itch.io
cartname	string	Filename of the PICO-8 cartridge (.p8)
cartdata	string	Plain text content of the .p8 cartridge
lua_code	string	Extracted Lua source code from the cartridge
asset_license	string	License for game assets (art, music, etc.)
code_license	string	License for the game code (always Unlicense)

Data Collection and Processing

1. Collection: Games were identified from itch.io's "Unlicense" code tag filtered to PICO-8 games
2. Extraction: Each game's .p8 file and .lua source were extracted
3. Processing: Lua code was extracted from cartridge files and stored as plain text
4. Metadata: Title, author, and URL information was preserved

Source Data Producers

The source data creators include:

• A-TOM
• Blake
• Calle Englund
• Claus
• Efraitor_
• Harmony Monroe
• Heartful Rune
• Ironchest Games
• Kieron Scott
• ManofPixels
• Mighty Pirate
• molly-cactus
• Pico-8 Community Games (icegoat9, Peteksi, lassehonnens, 2DArray, Yolwoocle, luchak)
• pixienop
• rainwarrior
• rotbrain
• SLOMOBO
• Slumma
• TLAlice
• thykka
• UpperC
• zep

Games

Title	Creator	File
Sneaky Stealy	Ironchest Games	sneakystealy.p8
Tiny Crate	Harmony Monroe	crate.p8
Virtuous Vanquisher of Evil	Ironchest Games	epicevilender.p8
Cat Nap	molly-cactus	cat.p8
Click!	Claus	click.p8
Blood of Vladula jr.	Slumma	vladula.p8
MineStorm Pico	A-TOM	minestormpico.p8
FLIP OUT	SLOMOBO	flipout_web.p8
The Excuse Machine	ManofPixels	excuses.p8
kfkgfxfcgzz	rotbrain	kfkgfxfcgzz.p8
Track and Field	ManofPixels	run.p8
L-G-Bee-T +	pixienop	lgbeet.p8
Electric Massacre	TLAlice	mj.p8
dotdot	zep	dotdot.p8
Abduction	ManofPixels	abduct.p8
Coffee Catch	ManofPixels	coffee_catch.p8
MRTR555	thykka	mrtr555.p8
Paper Plane Game	pixienop	paper-plane-game.p8
Wildfire	Calle Englund	wildfire.p8
Starry Night	Efraitor_	starrynight.p8
Snake Battle	TLAlice	snake_battle.p8
Flappy Pico	Blake	flappy_pico.p8
Obsessive	Mighty Pirate	obsessive.p8
EarthApple	UpperC	earthapple.p8
Sheep Puzzle	rainwarrior	sheep.puzzle.p8
Frogger	Kieron Scott	tweet_frogger.p8
Erilaz Runoz Waritu	Heartful Rune	runes.p8
Red Light Green Light	ManofPixels	rlgl.p8
Pico-8 Community Game 2022 (Beta)	Pico-8 Community Games	commgame_2022_beta.p8

License Breakdown

Note: This refers to asset licenses (art, music, etc.), not the game code.

The code license for all games is: Unlicense (public domain, free for any use including commercial).

Asset License	Count	Code License	Commercial Use?	Examples
CC0/Public Domain	13	Unlicense	✅ Yes	Sneaky Stealy, Click!, Paper Plane Game
CC-BY-NC 4.0	4	Unlicense	❌ No	Cat Nap, Track and Field, Abduction, Red Light Green Light
CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0	3	Unlicense	❌ No	The Excuse Machine, Coffee Catch, Starry Night
CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0	1	Unlicense	❌ No	dotdot
CC-BY / CC-BY-SA 4.0	2	Unlicense	✅ Yes	Blood of Vladula jr., Pico-8 Community Game
Unknown (N/A)	3	Unlicense	?	MineStorm Pico, Electric Massacre, MRTR555

Always check the asset_license column for each game's specific asset license before commercial use. The code is Unlicense (free), but assets may have restrictions.

Bias, Risks, and Limitations

Technical Limitations

• File size: Games range from ~500 chars (tweet_frogger.p8) to ~49,600 chars (earthapple.p8)
• Code complexity: Some games have minimal code (1-2KB), others are more complex (20KB+)
• Format: Only PICO-8 cartridge format (.p8 files, .lua source also included)

Recommendations

Users should:

• Credit creators when possible (though not required)

Citation

This dataset can be cited as:

@dataset{thomasgauthier_unlicense_pico8,
  author = {Thomas Gauthier-Caron},
  title = {Pico-8 Unlicense Games Collection},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/thomasgauthier/unlicense-pico8}
}

Load Instructions

from datasets import load_dataset

# Load the dataset
ds = load_dataset("thomasgauthier/unlicense-pico8")

# Access individual games
print(ds['train'][0])  # First game
print(ds['train'][0]['lua_code'])  # Lua source code

More Information

• Original itch.io collection: https://itch.io/games/code-unlicense/tag-pico-8
• PICO-8 official site: http://www.pico-8.com
• Unlicense: https://unlicense.org/

Dataset Card Contact

For questions or issues: @thomasgauthier on Hugging Face

Dataset Card Authors

Thomas Gauthier-Caron (thomasgauthier)