Bitsy is a web-based game-making tool on itch.io made by Adam Le Doux, available at ledoux.itch.io.
It's a tool with an active and growing community, with hundreds of games being made ranging from short personal stories to exploration of intricate fantasy worlds, and everything in between.
Constraints are Good
It's a tool that people love so much because of its constraints. The limited color palettes, tiny pixel canvas, and simple mechanics allow for very focused ideas and thoughts in the games that people create in it. Every pixel, word, and color decision has so much weight, and is capable of conveying so much in the absence of other noise. But, an 8x8 pixel grid gives you 1.8446744 x 10^19 possible options for every tile. So how limited is that really?
It's also super easy and satisfying to use, with no need to code anything at all. It's so expressive, and basically every Bitsy game ends up being completely charming by default.
What Can I Make in Bitsy?
Bitsy is really great for short narrative games, vignette games (personal or otherwise), or tiny adventures. If you need a place to start, maybe think about an event or a place in your life that you'd like to tell a story about, but your options are infinitely broad, go with whatever feels right!
Let's Make a Game!
At the top of the page is the text 'Write your game's title here'. This will be the opening text in your game, so you might want to change it later once you have a clearer idea of what your game is about. Try changing it to something temporary now though to see how it appears in the game.
Bitsy