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Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

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Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#71

Post by RodgerTheGreat »

bullfightonmars wrote: post #63

It would be so awesome if this worked with Pico 8 or a similar fantasy console. I will be much more interested if the barrier to entry for making my own games is as close to zero as possible. I want to make my own games for fun, but also to expose my son to the creativity and exploration of programming. A physical console would make this experience so much more real. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

Go on ebay and dig up a PocketCHIP; it's as close to a first-class mass-produced physical Pico-8 as anyone is likely to see.

Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#72

Post by darzu »

bullfightonmars wrote: post #63

It would be so awesome if this worked with Pico 8 or a similar fantasy console. I will be much more interested if the barrier to entry for making my own games is as close to zero as possible. I want to make my own games for fun, but also to expose my son to the creativity and exploration of programming. A physical console would make this experience so much more real. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

Have you seen https://arcade.makecode.com ? It's a free, open source, web-based editor for making games, and you can download games to a number of hardware boards, or play on your phone or any web browser. The cheapest hardware right now is $25 from Adafruit [0], but more hardware is coming out all the time.

Also this audience might be interested to know that soon there'll be Python support in MakeCode. More details on our language toolchain here [1]

Disclosure: I work for MakeCode :)

[0] https://www.adafruit.com/product/3939 [1] https://makecode.com/language

Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#73

Post by Rebelgecko »

russellbeattie wrote: post #51

This is interesting, but I can think of lots of things I'd put on the side of the device to make it unique besides a crank. It's an oddly specific way to provide analog and/or constant input (if it does indeed crank 360 degrees) from the player. An actual analog stick? A dial? A trigger? A switch lever? A touch sensitive pad? A trackball? Maybe these guys are really into fishing?

I think they were trying to do something really different. I'm interested to see what Bennett Foddy does with the crank. If you aren't familiar, he's a master of making games that really emphasize the control scheme. Check out out QWOP, it's lesser known cousin GIRP, or Getting Over it (which is one of those games that sounds horrible but is actually really fulfilling to play)

Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#77

Post by someexgamedev »

This will sell to indie gamedev scenesters and they have the perfect designer roster to hit that audience.

From a commercial success standpoint, I'm bearish. Common pitfall in comedy is to make jokes for comedians. This scene has a similar problem where they love to make games for game devs.

Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#78

Post by tyleo »

darzu wrote: post #72
bullfightonmars wrote: post #63

It would be so awesome if this worked with Pico 8 or a similar fantasy console. I will be much more interested if the barrier to entry for making my own games is as close to zero as possible. I want to make my own games for fun, but also to expose my son to the creativity and exploration of programming. A physical console would make this experience so much more real. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

Have you seen https://arcade.makecode.com ? It's a free, open source, web-based editor for making games, and you can download games to a number of hardware boards, or play on your phone or any web browser. The cheapest hardware right now is $25 from Adafruit [0], but more hardware is coming out all the time. Also this audience might be interested to know that soon there'll be Python support in MakeCode. More details…

This is awesome! Is MakeCode a subsidiary of Microsoft? It looks like it’s based on some Microsoft tech similar to Google’s Blockly I hadn’t seen before. I’m curious because I’m working on a product in this space.

Re: Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System

#80

Post by keyle »

Panic never stops surprising me. You'd think you had them figured out, they keep jumping onto another shelf.

It must be fun to work at Panic. It reminds me of how tech companies were in the 90s. Clear mission, but open horizon.

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