itch.io

Yes, totally. Pico-8 is a virtual console (think of Game Boy that doesn't exist in the real world), albeit it mimics the graphical/sound capabilities of 8-bit systems. Lua is a programming language (kind of lightweight C++ that is stripped down to a bare minimum set of operations). Lua is also a dynamically typed & interpreted language, so in comparison to C++, one doesn't have to compile the application to run it.

Example:

local name = "oneearedrabbit"
local welcome = "Hello, " .. name .. "!"
for i = 1, 10 do
  print(welcome)
end
-- this is a comment, and I think you can guess at this point what this tiny program does

Pico-8 doesn't have lots of batteries under the belt like in SFML/SDL2. For instance, you can change a pixel on the screen with a function call `pset(x, y, color)` or draw a line `line(x1, y1, x2, y2)`. There are a few more primitives that you can work with, and it does echo game development in the 80s/90s. It doesn't have shaders or anything complex. A developer has to be very cautious about those limitations, i.e. shall I focus on the game idea or invest more time making it more appealing visually.

To your question, "why?" -- limitations is a great part of the deal. Embrace them. Focus only on what's relevant for you and your game. Cut your game out if it gets too big and messy. And ultimately ship it.

You can learn more about Pico-8: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php and Lua: https://www.lua.org/. The world is your oyster.