Web Assembly (WASM) Support

TIC-80 supports compiled languages via our WASM binary support. Compile a .wasm file using an external compiler toolchain and then import that binary (up to to 256kb) into your TIC-80 cartridge. Many modern languages support compiling to WASM.

Unique WASM workflow/behavior

• The built-in editor content is not used to edit your code.
  • editor comments must use the Lua style, e.g. -- this is a comment...
  • a -- script: wasm magic comment is required to use the wasm runtime
  • ...no code you type in the editor will ever be executed

WASM "hardware" limits

• a 256KB BINARY chunk stores compiled code
  • binary .wasm files up to 256KB may be imported
• 256KB addressable memory
  • 112KB base RAM for memory mapped I/O, SFX, VRAM, etc.
  • 160KB of RAM free for cartridge use

Starting a new compiled from source project

Copying one of the built-in project templates we provide is the best way to get started. These templates include both a tiny sample project and library bindings for the TIC-80 API.

• C
• C++ (help wanted)
• D
• Go (help wanted)
• NeLua (help wanted)
• Nim (help wanted)
• Odin (help wanted)
• Rust
• other? (help wanted)
• Zig

If you're familiar with one of the languages above and would like to contribute an official library binding for TIC-80, we'd love your help! Just comment on #1784 or open a new GitHub issue.