emulator: TIC-80
type: libretro
source: "https://github.com/libretro/TIC-80"
cores:
  - tic80
systems:
  - tic80

notes: |
  TIC-80 is a fantasy computer for making, playing and sharing tiny games.
  The libretro port wraps the nesbox/TIC-80 engine as a submodule.

  The core loads .tic cartridge files (and .png for cart-as-image format)
  entirely through the libretro data buffer (need_fullpath = false,
  tic80_libretro.c:340). Content bytes are passed directly to tic80_load()
  at retro_load_game() (tic80_libretro.c:1152).

  The core never calls RETRO_ENVIRONMENT_GET_SYSTEM_DIRECTORY. There is no
  code path that reads any file from the system directory. No BIOS, firmware,
  or boot ROM exists for this platform -- TIC-80 is a self-contained virtual
  machine with all system resources built into the engine binary.

  The TIC-80 VM provides 80x45 tilemap, 240x136 screen, 256 8x8 sprites,
  4 channels of sound, and supports Lua, Moonscript, JavaScript, Wren,
  Fennel, Squirrel, Ruby, Python, and Janet as scripting languages.

files: []

platform_details:
  cartridge_format:
    extensions: "tic, png"
    source_ref: "tic80_libretro.c:339"
    notes: |
      .tic is the native cartridge format containing code, sprites, map,
      sound, and music data. .png support allows loading cartridges
      encoded as cover images (code stored in PNG metadata).

  runtime:
    source_ref: "nesbox/TIC-80 (submodule at core/)"
    notes: |
      The entire TIC-80 runtime (CPU, GPU, APU, scripting engines) is
      compiled into the core binary. No external dependencies at runtime.
      State serialization uses TIC_PERSISTENT_SIZE * 4 bytes of pmem()
      data (tic80_libretro.c:1203-1243).