chilichip: pocket game consoles you can play, make and hack on chilichip

Getting started with Bitsy

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What Bitsy is, how to open the editor in the Chili Creator, and a tour of its windows.

Play mode

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The play button: try your game in the editor with the same engine VGC Zero uses.

Game

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Your game’s title, saving and loading, game settings like the font, and the raw game data.

Rooms

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Paint a room from tiles, make walls, add more rooms, and pick colors.

Room

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Place tiles, sprites and items, add rooms, and set each room’s colors, music and avatar.

The avatar and sprites

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Draw the player character, choose where they start, and add characters for them to talk to.

Items

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Add items the player picks up, set a starting inventory, and use items to unlock things.

Dialogue

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Write what sprites and items say: pages, text effects, sequences, and conditions on items and variables.

Exits & endings

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Connect rooms with exits, add endings, pick transitions, and lock doors.

Exits and endings

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Link rooms together with exits and transitions, and end your game.

Paint

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Draw the avatar, tiles, sprites and items, and set walls, animation, dialog and sounds.

Colors

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Make and edit the three-color palettes your rooms use.

Test and publish your game

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Playtest in the editor, release and list your game on the marketplace, and play it on VGC Zero.

Dialog

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Write and script what sprites, items, exits and endings say, with lists, branches and actions.

Tune

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Write background music for your rooms.

Blip

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Make short sound effects for sprites, items and tunes.

Find

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Search everything in your game by name and jump straight to it.

Inventory

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Set starting items and variables, and watch them change while you play.

Record gif

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Record a GIF or take a snapshot of your game while it plays.

Meet ChiliChip OS: a real home for your games

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Turn on a VGC Zero and say hello to ChiliChip OS! Your console now has a proper home: a bold, chili-red home screen with all your games lined up and ready to play. No more one game at a time. Put as many games on it as you like and pick one whenever you want.

Chili City

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Lay roads, zone land and watch your city grow. A tiny city builder for VGC Zero

The chili platform is open. Come on in!

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Big week, chili fam: the chili platform is open! It is our home for everything VGC Zero: a studio, a community and soon a store, all in one place. Pull up a chair, make an account and look around. We will show you what is inside.

Snek

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Eat them apples! Polished snake for VGC Zero

Tetris

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Stack, clear, repeat. Polished Tetris with a chili twist for VGC Zero

Ultra Hyper Space Super Fighters TURBO

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ultra Hyper Space Super Fighters TURBO: stop the alien invasion

Announcing Citsy: Bitsy on VGC Zero

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

🚀 Today we’re launching citsy — a native C++ runtime for Bitsy games, built for VGC Zero.

Bitsy is the little engine for little games, worlds, and stories. Its rooms are 16×16 tiles of 8×8 pixels. That is exactly 128×128 — the same resolution as VGC Zero’s screen, and the same room size as the Chili Room Editor. No scaling tricks. One pixel on the editor is one pixel on the handheld.

Citsy

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A native Bitsy player with a 128×128 retro launcher. Author games at bitsy.org, export a .bitsy file, and play on VGC Zero, 32blit, desktop, or the web.

Graphics - shapes

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This section covers the graphics capabilities and API of the Game SDK for VGC Zero. It includes information on basics of drawing and drawing shapes.

Drawing basics
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The Game SDK provides a variety of functions for drawing shapes, images, and text to the screen.

Graphics - sprites

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This section covers sprite handling and rendering capabilities of the Game SDK for VGC Zero. It includes information on loading sprites from assets, drawing them in various ways, and managing sprite collections.

Graphics - text

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This section covers the graphics capabilities and API of the Game SDK for VGC Zero, focusing on text rendering. It includes information on how to draw text, manage fonts, and utilize text-related features available to developers.

Game SDK basics

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This section covers the basic concepts and components of the Game SDK for VGC Zero. Understanding these fundamentals will help you effectively utilize the SDK to create engaging games for the console.

Linux quickstart

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This guide will help you get started with setting up your development environment on Linux and creating your first game for the VGC Zero console.

Prerequisites
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Some experience writing/compiling C/C++ software is required.

VGC Zero - Breadboard Prototype

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Build your own VGC Zero breadboard prototype with our open-source design files and step-by-step instructions today!

Announcing the Chili Room Editor

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

🚀 Today we’re launching the Chili Room Editor — a focused, zero-install, in‑browser tool for building small retro‑style rooms for our sdk.

It’s intentionally minimal: drop in a tileset, paint two layers, export a deterministic C header. No build chain, no project scaffolding, no fluff.

Conway's Game of Life

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Create and observe evolving cell patterns in Conway’s Game of Life. Experiment with the grid and discover how each generation changes according to simple rules.

Play on mobile devices

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We are excited to announce that all games made using our SDK are now fully playable on mobile devices!
With the introduction of touch controls, you can enjoy our games on the go, whether you’re using a smartphone or a tablet.

Minesweeper

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Flag the mines, clear the board, beat your best time. Classic Minesweeper for VGC Zero

Discover VGC Zero

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

VGC Zero: The Ultra-Portable Keychain Video Game Console
#

VGC Zero visualization (not final hardware)

VGC Zero is a pocket‑scale handheld you can actually carry everywhere. Clip it to your keys, plug in, code a game, share it—same device. Retro vibe, modern internals, fully hackable.

Hello world from chilichip

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We’re an indie electronics collective growing bold ideas at the intersection of innovation and play.
At Chilichip, every circuit we design is shaped by curiosity, creativity, and a love for nature’s simplicity.

About chilichip

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Who we are
#

chilichip is an indie electronics company. We make open source software and hardware, and we like it a little bit spicy.

chilichip: pocket game consoles you can play, make and hack on chilichip

Getting started with Bitsy

Play mode

Game

Rooms

Room

The avatar and sprites

Items

Dialogue

Exits & endings

Exits and endings

Paint

Colors

Test and publish your game

Dialog

Tune

Blip

Find

Inventory

Record gif

Meet ChiliChip OS: a real home for your games

Chili City

The chili platform is open. Come on in!

Snek

Tetris

Ultra Hyper Space Super Fighters TURBO

Announcing Citsy: Bitsy on VGC Zero

Citsy

Graphics - shapes

Drawing basics #

Graphics - sprites

Graphics - text

Game SDK basics

Linux quickstart

Prerequisites #

VGC Zero - Breadboard Prototype

Announcing the Chili Room Editor

Conway's Game of Life

Play on mobile devices

Minesweeper

Discover VGC Zero

VGC Zero: The Ultra-Portable Keychain Video Game Console #

Hello world from chilichip

About chilichip

Who we are #

Drawing basics
#

Prerequisites
#

VGC Zero: The Ultra-Portable Keychain Video Game Console
#

Who we are
#