Steve vs Death

Steve vs Death

A tiny card-duel comedy about surviving life one bad decision at a time.

Steve was just trying to live a normal life… and then Death showed up with a 40-card deck full of disasters. Now it’s a battle of bad luck, good choices, and questionable life decisions as you try to guide Steve from babyhood all the way to age 80.

This is a small project made in PICO-8 by my "solo-studio" Plastic Cup Games. It's part learning experience, part personal challenge, and part “let me try to make a functional card game.”

Turns out, I could and Steve must be the victim.

HOW TO PLAY

You and Death take turns playing cards.

Death always plays first, because… well… he’s Death.

Read the situation, play the best Life card you’ve got, and try to keep Steve’s HP above zero.

Every 3 rounds Steve ages 10 years. At age 80, if he’s still breathing, you win.

If he dies at literally any point (including at age 80 with exactly 0 HP)… Death wins. House rules.

DEATH WILL TRY TO KILL YOU WITH:

Choking hazards

Gravity

Party accidents

Terrible YouTube advice

Stress, heartbreak, burnout…

Falling coconuts (yes, statistically real)

And whatever else he can throw at Steve’s poor skull

Some threats do instant damage.

Others drain HP every round.

Some only appear at certain ages.

Death does not play fair.

YOU TRY TO SAVE STEVE WITH:

Checkups

CPR

Reflexes

Good sleep

Dad jokes

Vacations

Therapy, diet, exercise

Insurance and retirement (finally useful!)

And miraculous last-minute luck

Play your cards right and Steve might actually survive long enough to become Old Steve… or even Elderly Steve.

FEATURES

Fast, light card-duel gameplay

A full life-to-death progression system

A silly retro art style (I did my best)

Custom music and sound

100% made inside PICO-8 (I learned it last weekend while sick)

A surprising amount of ways for one guy to die (poor Steve)

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

This whole project was created by Plastic Cup Games (just me, Tim) while learning PICO-8, Lua, functions, tables, organization, and how to make a game that doesn’t explode.

I started with a random Steve sprite I made months ago, then somehow ended up making a full card system, UI, animations, and enough ways to kill a man to make an insurance agent faint.

I’m still learning PICO-8, so this game is basically my homework… but at least it’s fun homework.

CREDITS

Developer: Plastic Cup Games (Tim)

Pixel Art: Also me

Programming: Me again

Music & SFX: Me smashing notes in the PICO-8 SFX editor (Yes, it sucks, I know)

Moral Support: Steve, who suffered greatly during testing

Follow me:

🕊 Twitter/X — https://x.com/PlasticCupGames