Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design • Hacker News Board

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#101

Post by onemoresoop » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #82

fn-mote wrote: post #21

Re: price point HN readers who can write a console game before bedtime are not the target audience. A handheld device that Just Works and creates an authentic experience is worth a lot. For a college class, a $200 textbook isn’t out of line (the ones people still buy…), which makes this a very reasonable investment in one’s education. Are there other, cheaper routes? Of course. For an introduction? Fewer, and nobody…

There are plenty of free or cheaper alternatives, although platforms like pico-8 are (intentionally) hard to work with, especially as a first introduction to building games and / or coding.

Is pico-8 hard to work with?

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#102

Post by 999900000999 » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #96

999900000999 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tuition at Duke is 70k per year. Buying a game system is the least of your problems there

Again, that’s not the discussion. See my reply over two hours ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47804719 Additionally, the page says: > more than 50 Playdates have been provided to students Provided . To me that doesn’t seem like the students are paying for them. From other comments in the thread of former Duke students using iPods, it seems Duke lends you the hardware. Furthermore, “tuition is expensive so b…

> The price of that book could pay for months (and in some cases years) of tuition in EU countries.

What happens in magical places with free or heavily subsidized college has little to do with what an expensive private US university does.

If a German college decides 200$ is too much they can use Godot or a variety of free alternatives.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#103

Post by gangstead » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

chirau wrote: post #46

gangstead wrote: post #38

Everyone is talking about the Playdate but I have a related Duke story about undergrad classes incorporating new hardware. My Digital Signal Processing course (ECE major) made a big deal about using these new things called iPods for class. Everyone got an iPod... for the semester. Even at Duke tuition prices you only got to borrow it. My recollection of the class work part was using a little piezo sensor that plugged…

Was that with Lisa Huettel?

Yes! Awesome Prof.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#104

Post by umvi » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC

Pretty much all playdate games could just be enjoyed in the browser. The only thing you're missing is the physical crank and honestly it's a little gimmicky.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#105

Post by fragmede » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC

Jach wrote: post #53

fragmede wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anna has an archive for students who can't afford books.

I love Anna but it's also a poor school that doesn't have its own library that has at least a few copies of every textbook used by classes + inter-library loans. Can be a nice way to make friends by sharing a physical book to study and do exercises from in a shared workspace.

I wouldn't have passed college of it weren't for sharing textbooks at the science library and making friends to study with!

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#106

Post by GuB-42 » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 3:03 PM UTC

globalchatads wrote: post #74

The constraint-first angle matters more than people give it credit for. A 1-bit screen and a handful of buttons forces students to stop hiding behind art and sound, and actually solve readability and mechanics. Honestly surprised more programs do not do this instead of dropping students into Unity on day one.

If it is constraints you are after, you can look at fantasy consoles like TIC-80 and PICO-8.

They are designed to emulate the experience of 8 bit consoles: limited storage, memory, display, palette, etc... While at the same time making developing, distributing and playing games easy: high level language (LUA), built-in development environment, games are tens of kB sized "cartridge" files.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#107

Post by Fred27 » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 3:07 PM UTC

nickloewen wrote: post #34

christophilus wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds rad. I’d love to get my kids into this. Got any links to your particular setup?

The game dev environment they’re talking about is MakeCode Arcade. I’m also a big fan of it. There are a number of little handheld gadgets that you can use with MakeCode—scroll down on the homepage and there’s a section that shows them all: https://arcade.makecode.com/

My boys (then 10 and 8) loved MakeCode Arcade. I promised that if they wrote an original game - rather than following the great tutorials - then I'd make them a physical setup with a Pi Zero and some classic arcade buttons. They were very motivated and learned a lot.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#108

Post by maxehmookau » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

qrush wrote: post #24

My playdate has been collecting dust since I got it and the initial few games I tried didn't stick. Any suggestions on good games for it?

My sister made rhythm game Otto's Galactic Groove so you should totally check that out: https://play.date/games/ottos-galactic-groove/

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#109

Post by nacs » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 3:13 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #73

tapoxi wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Playdate is $229. A Switch 2 is $499 and a PS5 is $599

Like I said, I’m factoring in the price when you include shipping and taxes to Europe. If I wanted to buy a Playdate, it’d cost me close to the price of those consoles here .

It's not just the price of the console itself as mentioned in the article. Things like the Playstation and Xbox require a *very* expensive SDK.

Playdate's SDK is free.

Re: Playdate’s handheld changed how Duke University teaches game design

#110

Post by omoikane » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 4:03 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #88

nosrepa wrote: post #19

Not to mention that they just announced season three of games!

I'm not familiar with their marketing/ecosystem. Do they gather together the best games and have a whole "season" you purchase? And repeat this every year?

They got a bunch of well known developers to build a collection of games, and deliver them to Playdate devices via wifi at a pace of 2 games per week (unless you choose to skip ahead). Season one is included with the device itself, so if you even if you didn't buy or sideload any other games, you still get new games for 3 months. Season two was $39 for 12 games.

You can choose not to look up which games are included in the season and just be surprised by new games every week, and that kept the console feeling fresh. But the really brilliant part is that you got to experience the new games together with other people who got the season at the same time as you, similar to people watching the same weekly broadcast of some TV show. I find this community aspect of the experience most interesting.