LUA GAME ENGINE / ESP32 APPLICATION
Pinyol
A small 2D game engine for an open-source ESP32-S3 handheld: Lua games on a GBA-like virtual console and a no-code editor, on the console, the desktop and the browser.

About this project
About this project
A game here is simply a folder: copy it to the microSD under games/<id>/ and it turns up in the console's menu. The hardware is Cirera, an ESP32-S3 handheld with a 480×320 touch screen, buttons, a speaker and that card slot. The C engine gives Lua games a Game Boy Advance-style virtual machine — four background layers with Mode 7, 128 sprites, palettes, windows — at a steady 60 fps, drawing a 240×160 world at 2× into the 480×320 frame. Games can also be written as JSON data with no code at all. Build the firmware with ESP-IDF 5.4 and idf.py; the browser installer needs Chrome or Edge and ships fifteen games in flash. Desktop, browser and console all run the same folders. The Lua API may still change, while the older data format is stable.
From the README
From the README
- Workflow
- copy it to the console's microSD under games/<id>/ and it appears in the game list
- Feature
- four background layers (tiles, rotated and scaled, Mode 7), 128 sprites
- Display
- The world is 240×160 logical pixels drawn at 2× into a 480×320 frame
- Limit
- The Lua API (pinyol@2) is new and may still change; the data format (pinyol@1) is stable.
Hardware
Boards: ESP32-S3
Supported hardware: ESP32-S3. Confirm the exact board revision and pin map in the upstream repository.
What the source supports
Upstream evidence: Reviewed from public README media at commit 3e709e0b9811 under MIT. Firmware was not executed.
Media credit & rights
Upstream project media · rights remain with its owner · Credit: ipaud
Screenshots decoded from the upstream README at a pinned commit. Repository code and firmware were not executed; the license texts are included in the preview package.
View original source ↗ Copyright & removal · Reviewed
More projects on these boards
Dotmic Paper Color Desk Terminal Pikoo Tokpet Voxstick CSI Collect Console
See what an ESP32 project looks like, and whether it runs on your board.
FILTERS
Browse by form factor. Check the exact board, chip and peripherals before installing.
Try a project
Newest listings
Give your project a little spotlight.
Repository links do not imply author endorsement or verified hardware compatibility. Check the upstream safety guidance before powering or flashing a build.