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Playdate pre-orders begin in July

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Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#81

Post by andrewclunn »

cableshaft wrote: post #27

Oh nice, Lua support! Should make porting one of my games (that I already mostly ported to Pico-8) to this little guy. Maybe I'll finally finish the Pico-8 port while I'm at it. This is the original Flash version from back in the day. I'm also working on a 3D sequel with Twitch support in my limited spare time: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 I don't know why, but I have a good feeling that this device…

Crank game mechanic ideas:

safe cracking, catapult aiming, fire burner air balloon adjustment, etc...

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#82

Post by ngngngng »

Wheaties466 wrote: post #79

Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

I have two personal use cases

1) Myself, I grew up on a game boy color and I have a nostalgia for playing games where the developers were so bound by compute resources on the device they were developing for. It allowed smaller teams to be very competitive in game design but also enabled a different sort of creativity than what is commonly seen today in game design where resources are virtually unlimited. I've also been wanting to toy with game development for a while now. This seems like a neat and quirky way to jump in.

2) My kid, I think we've gotten far too good at making video games addictive for kids. I want my child to have video games the way I did, with simple graphics, stories and gameplay that come to an end, unlike games like fortnite that you can keep playing for eternity. Added benefit if he gets to experience trying to play games without a backlight using the streetlights to see as you drive down the road.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#83

Post by mortenjorck »

andrewclunn wrote: post #81
cableshaft wrote: post #27

Oh nice, Lua support! Should make porting one of my games (that I already mostly ported to Pico-8) to this little guy. Maybe I'll finally finish the Pico-8 port while I'm at it. This is the original Flash version from back in the day. I'm also working on a 3D sequel with Twitch support in my limited spare time: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 I don't know why, but I have a good feeling that this device…

Crank game mechanic ideas: safe cracking, catapult aiming, fire burner air balloon adjustment, etc...

Not sure why this got downvoted. These are great ideas! Any interaction that requires some degree (ahem) of radial precision is exactly the kind of mechanic that would shine with this novel controller.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#84

Post by agloeregrets »

Wheaties466 wrote: post #79

Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

The idea is that it is a non-smartphone device intended to occupy someone and delight someone in small doses. It also intended to drive a community of creativity with it being an open dev platform.

It's just meant to be something fun you can pull out and play for a little while. Just like Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators were designed to be. I think we might have passed the point of realizing how wonderful it is to make something fun and whimsical with minimal profit ambitions.

Another bit is that the people who built it are legendary software developers who created Audion in the early 2000s (who then turned down an acquisition from Apple to become iTunes so Apple had to buy their worse competitor), Transmit (FTP), Coda, Nova, Prompt, and who published Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game. The idea is that it's a gimmick done hardcore and right.

Seems like a huge amount of interest. Personally I love the idea of whimsical creative ideas come to life.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#86

Post by Wheaties466 »

ngngngng wrote: post #82
Wheaties466 wrote: post #79

Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

I have two personal use cases 1) Myself, I grew up on a game boy color and I have a nostalgia for playing games where the developers were so bound by compute resources on the device they were developing for. It allowed smaller teams to be very competitive in game design but also enabled a different sort of creativity than what is commonly seen today in game design where resources are virtually unlimited. I've also be…

ok I can see that.

Its just if I came across this website and didn't know any better. I'd 100% think this is some elaborate April fools prank.

look at the game titles. Forest Byrnes Up in smoke Casual Birder Executive Golf

It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#90

Post by pradn »

Wheaties466 wrote: post #79

Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

People who like retro-style indie games, people looking for something new aside from PC/console games, people who want to make games for a handheld, people looking for novelty. People trying to find joy. It's easy to figure out who this is for.
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