For fans of Commodore 64 artwork, there’s now a straightforward and cross-platform way to create PETSCII graphics without booting up a vintage system. PetPet, created by fieserWolF of Abyss-Connection, is a PETSCII editor written entirely in Python. That means it runs anywhere Python 3 does—whether you’re on Linux, macOS, or Windows.
The v1.00 release, dropped during Revision Party 2025, lets users load, tweak, and save PETSCII creations using a clean interface powered by Python’s tkinter module. The project is open source and hosted on GitHub, making it easily accessible for anyone wanting to sketch PETSCII scenes or design character art using a modern setup.
Launching the editor is done via the command line, with a few optional arguments:
petpet.py [-h] [-p PETSCII_FILENAME] [-c CONFIG_FILENAME] [-f FONT_FILENAME]
Pressing F1 inside the app gives users a full rundown of available controls and features. The editor works with JSON-based project files, along with custom 2KB font binaries.
PetPet isn’t just a solo effort either—contributors like Logiker helped with feature ideas and testing, while Mermaid’s artwork titled “Gary” remains a creative reference within the project. Whether you’re restoring old PETSCII screens or building new ones from scratch, PetPet is light, portable, and doesn’t require any special hardware.
To get started, users need Python 3 and a few libraries (tkinter, json, and argparse). Installation is easy on Linux using apt, and just as simple on Windows or macOS by downloading Python from python.org. Missing libraries can be added with pip if needed.
The latest version of PetPet is available at:
👉 https://github.com/fieserWolF/petpet
Those interested in PETSCII art, retro aesthetics, or modern tooling for vintage formats should definitely check out the accompanying video walkthrough, which demonstrates how to install PetPet and start creating with it.
