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Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

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Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#31

Post by WillPostForFood »

tengbretson wrote: post #23
awill wrote: post #9

Does anyone care about this after the Analogue Pocket and the Steam Deck have launched (I get my Steam Deck next week). I get they're different devices, but I feel the Playdate had a bunch of hype, and then took way too long to ship, and has lost that initial interest.

The current price of GBA micros on eBay makes me think this will do just fine.

There are probably a dozen great handheld devices that will play GBA, SNES, NES, Genesis, PSX, and more for around $100.

https://www.amazon.com/Retroid-Android-Handheld-Multiple-Emu...

https://www.amazon.com/RG351V-Handheld-Console-Portable-Two-...

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#32

Post by WillPostForFood »

the_arun wrote: post #18

Initial thoughts: 1. From the video on the site, device looks simple & portable. 2. The crank on the side makes you think it can play only 2D games. 3. $199 (device+cover) feels little expensive. 4. Display seems black white 5. Wonder why this was not done as an accessory device for smartphones instead of a separate device

I'd pull the trigger for $199, but with tax and shipping it is $231. I want it but it is just over my price threshold.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#33

Post by joezydeco »

Gigachad wrote: post #20
the_arun wrote: post #18

Initial thoughts: 1. From the video on the site, device looks simple & portable. 2. The crank on the side makes you think it can play only 2D games. 3. $199 (device+cover) feels little expensive. 4. Display seems black white 5. Wonder why this was not done as an accessory device for smartphones instead of a separate device

It's a fidget toy for people with lots of money rather than an actual gaming device. It all makes sense once you see it with that perspective. It looks like a high quality build with a sharp oled screen and novel controls. A stick on crank for a phone would be silly and feel cheap.

Panic is into gaming, and distributed Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game.

I look at it as an homage to the Game 'n' Watch. And that was still a game. Does it really need to do everything in the world?

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#34

Post by nyanpasu64 »

roywiggins wrote: post #27
HelixEndeavor wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The display is black and white, yes. It's only expensive when compared to products churned out by massive megacorporation with economies of scale on their side. This device was made from scratch by a very small company.

The Arduboy is $60. I don't doubt this thing is more capable that the Arduboy, the hardware is probably nicer, but they're both tiny fidget toys for small games- and one is 4x pricier than the other. So it's not like cheaper indie handhelds can't exist.

Apparently the Arduboy is based on the ATmega328. Is writing code in C/C++/Rust fast enough to write full-motion graphically/logically complex (if graphical complexity is even possible on a small display) games on the system, or do you need to implement large chunks in assembly code?

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#35

Post by RototRobot »

while the device is novel and I wish the devs the best, I just cant wrap my head around who would actually want to use this device?

The Gimmick seems like it would wear off rather fast for anyone interested in gaming, the Seasonal model of games released seems to put all the risk on the consumer to hope they make more. the games dont actually look all the interesting, and as a fun toy for non-gamers it seems to expensive.

to me it looks like a product a lot of teenage engineering fans and hipsters will want to buy but after a week sits on a shelf unused.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#36

Post by oh_sigh »

RototRobot wrote: post #35

while the device is novel and I wish the devs the best, I just cant wrap my head around who would actually want to use this device? The Gimmick seems like it would wear off rather fast for anyone interested in gaming, the Seasonal model of games released seems to put all the risk on the consumer to hope they make more. the games dont actually look all the interesting, and as a fun toy for non-gamers it seems to expen…

My take is the same. I suspect we will see them strategically placed in the background of Cool People Who Make Youtube Videos, but that's about it.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#37

Post by LeoPanthera »

RototRobot wrote: post #35

while the device is novel and I wish the devs the best, I just cant wrap my head around who would actually want to use this device? The Gimmick seems like it would wear off rather fast for anyone interested in gaming, the Seasonal model of games released seems to put all the risk on the consumer to hope they make more. the games dont actually look all the interesting, and as a fun toy for non-gamers it seems to expen…

I'm kind of mad about the seasonal model. It means that only the "first wave" of owners will get to experience the excitement of the new games with other owners. For everyone else, it's old news.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#38

Post by Tiktaalik »

the_arun wrote: post #18

Initial thoughts: 1. From the video on the site, device looks simple & portable. 2. The crank on the side makes you think it can play only 2D games. 3. $199 (device+cover) feels little expensive. 4. Display seems black white 5. Wonder why this was not done as an accessory device for smartphones instead of a separate device

re: 5: The device is for enthusiast, traditional gamers that buy dedicated hardware. This customer doesn't really play games on their smartphones.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#39

Post by yellow_postit »

awill wrote: post #9

Does anyone care about this after the Analogue Pocket and the Steam Deck have launched (I get my Steam Deck next week). I get they're different devices, but I feel the Playdate had a bunch of hype, and then took way too long to ship, and has lost that initial interest.

the steam deck, from all early reviews, sounds like endless settings fiddling to play high visual load games.

the simplicity of the device with play.date is its selling feature (to me).

there’s a lot of diversity in interests so I don’t get the quick to claim DOA on this.

Re: Playdate Software Development Kit is now available for free to all

#40

Post by pianoben »

RototRobot wrote: post #35

while the device is novel and I wish the devs the best, I just cant wrap my head around who would actually want to use this device? The Gimmick seems like it would wear off rather fast for anyone interested in gaming, the Seasonal model of games released seems to put all the risk on the consumer to hope they make more. the games dont actually look all the interesting, and as a fun toy for non-gamers it seems to expen…

I've said as much in previous comments, but I certainly want to use this device!

It's got an open SDK, binaries are freely loadable and runnable. The Lua API at least is quite simple, and plenty enough to get a backend dev like me up and running with my own games, on real gaming hardware! That's almost never been practical, in my experience anyways. Playdate promises to dramatically lower the barrier to portable game development; I'm looking forward both to playing with it, and helping show my son that he too can make awesome things with computers.

The crank is seemingly a gimmick but a good one, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it is (or isn't) incorporated in games. It seems to have inspired a good bit of creativity, at least in the Season One games they've demoed so far.

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