GAMES
The GAMES interface is the webclient view for physical game devices that
your Character can actually reach.
It does not create virtual consoles or virtual cartridges.
A game console remains a persistent physical world Object.
A game cartridge remains a separate persistent physical world Object.
Opening GAMES
Select the GAMES tab in the webclient.
The hub discovers supported game devices carried by your Character or
present in your immediate Room.
For a TIC-80 home console, GAMES shows:
the physical console
any cartridge currently inserted
compatible cartridges you can presently reach
TIC-80 cartridges may be:
carried in your inventory
lying in the same Room
GUI controls
INSERT
Inserts the selected reachable physical cartridge into the console.
PLAY / RESUME
Starts or resumes the cartridge currently inserted in that console.
EJECT
Removes the exact inserted cartridge and returns it to your Character.
REFRESH
Re-reads the current physical game-device state from the server.
GAMES actions are requests to the server. The browser does not decide
whether a console or cartridge is still reachable or whether an action is
legal.
Room cartridges
The GAMES interface can insert a compatible cartridge directly from the
immediate Room.
You do not have to pick that cartridge up first when using GAMES.
Text-command alternative
A reachable TIC-80 console also supplies ordinary physical-device commands:
insert <cartridge> in <console>
play <console>
eject <cartridge> from <console>
The current text insert command expects the cartridge to be in your
carried inventory.
Therefore, when using text commands with a cartridge lying in the Room,
pick it up normally first:
get <cartridge>
insert <cartridge> in <console>
This difference is presentation only. Both paths operate the same
persistent physical cartridge and console substrate.
If physical state changes while GAMES is already open, use REFRESH if
the display has not yet updated.
Pocket-4 handhelds
A Pocket-4 is a portable physical game device.
It appears in GAMES only while your Character is directly carrying the
handheld. A Pocket-4 that has been dropped, given away, placed in storage,
or otherwise removed from your direct inventory is no longer playable by
that Character.
Pocket-4 uses physical WASM-4 microcarts. The exact inserted microcart owns
its own persistent save data.
Related help:
help tic-80
help pocket-4
help quad-16