🎮 8-Bit Vibes: Making Tiny Games and Art with AI

Join us for a day of creative exploration! We’ll be creating 8-bit style games with the simple, free platform PICO-8, in collaboration with AI. Artists, musicians, hackers, gamers, scientists, filmmakers, storytellers, students, educators, curious beginners – all are welcome!

At the workshop, you will:

  • Learn foundational ideas in game design, including how mechanics, rules, challenge, and player experience come together to shape fun and emotion in games.
  • Play and analyze classic 8-bit games to explore the graphics, sounds, narrative cues, and feel — and use your insights to spark inspiration.
  • Define a creative direction and set of design principles for your own game — including graphics, sound, and game design elements.
  • Collaborate with AI by using everyday spoken language prompts to generate working code for PICO-8, a simple, free platform for 8-bit games.
  • Tweak and iterate your game using PICO-8’s built-in tools for sprite editing, sound design, and code modification.
  • Playtest and share your game with other participants in a friendly, curious, and supportive environment.
hello world animated
Reserve Your Spot Now!

Workshop Details

  • Venue:Lab111
  • Address: Arie Biemondstraat 111, 1054 NZ Amsterdam, Netherlands.
  • Date: July 12th, 2025
  • Time: 13:00 to 18:00
  • Fee: €20-50 euro per person, sliding scale dependent on need and resources.

Your Instructors

Learn with these artists, researchers, designers, and technologists

NO CARRIER (Don) 8bit visualist/educator/DJ (USA)

Derek Lomas design researcher (NL)

MONODEER (Mark) chip musician/educator/DJ (NL)

SanderFocus visual artist (NL)

Zannah M. writer/artist/facilitator (USA)

some 8-bit examples
some 8-bit examples
some 8-bit examples

More about tech & methods

We're using the PICO-8 fantasy console. Fantasy consoles are platforms for making, playing, and sharing tiny video games, with built-in tools for producing art, sound, and code. PICO-8 uses the aesthetics and constraints of classic 1980s video games, sparking creativity while keeping things simple. Its limitations are actually a launchpad, allowing creators to focus on expressive game mechanics and visual storytelling.

Vibe-coding is a playful, collaborative approach to programming that uses natural language prompts (everyday spoken language) and AI tools like ChatGPT to generate and refine working code.

In this workshop, we’ll play retro games and explore what makes them fun. Then, you’ll take your own inspiration and ideas, improvise and build with AI, and create a game prototype that’s totally your own.

No programming or computer science/AI experience necessary. As part of the workshop we’ll discuss ethical issues and positive uses of AI.

Artists, musicians, hackers, gamers, scientists, filmmakers, storytellers, students, educators, curious beginners – all are welcome!

You’ll have the option to collaborate on a team (encouraged!) or work on your own.

hello world animated