Playdate! (mini console)

[Melooon]

After a FULL year of waiting since ordering, my Playdate finally arrived today



For those of you who dont know, the Playdate is a small limited run handheld console made by Panic; weirdly the same company that makes my fav website editor (Nova) but most people know them more for making Firewatch and a dumb game about a goose I never played! The ad is cute!

It has a very reflective 2bit screen, a speaker, some buuttoons and a crank and also wifi and 4GB storage! Currently there is no midi player app but I WANT ONE; side note it would be really cool to make a web radio station that just played midis.

Also I really didn't plan to make anything for it, but now that its in my hands ooohh do i wanna make something for it If you dont have one but wanna make stuff for it you can get a simulator on their dev page (its also got a game making program thing that I think lets you make games with minimal dev skills)

Iv been trying out unofficial sideloaded apps today, so far my favorite is this dumb horse racing simulator.


Its also got a cute lil planner app:


And POGN

[wris]

That’s so cool!

Also, I dunno if chiptunes are technically the same as midis, but you might dig https://rainwave.cc/chiptune/

[TheFrugalGamer]

I remember seeing this thing several months back and filing it under "useless beautiful gadgets that I would love to buy." If you're interested in writing any sort of review I'd love to read it! I love these sorts of lower-bit toys (and I love the gameboy look...the gameboy pocket is my favorite handheld), but I still can't really shell out the money for this one. I didn't know they had a dev kit though, so I'll definitely be checking that out!

[Melooon]

Iv been having fun with video playback on it, you can speedshift videos with the crank!

https://player.vimeo.com/vide:ha:738936046?h=fe7bf862a3

[k4jtek]

Iv been having fun with video playback on it, you can speedshift videos with the crank!

https://player.vimeo.com/vide:ha:738936046?h=fe7bf862a3

That's... Kind of funny indeed, but is it playing normal .mp4 files? If yes, it's also cool to just see them playing on a 2-bit display.

[Tadd]

After a FULL year of waiting since ordering, my Playdate finally arrived today



For those of you who dont know, the Playdate is a small limited run handheld console made by Panic; weirdly the same company that makes my fav website editor (Nova) but most people know them more for making Firewatch and a dumb game about a goose I never played! The ad is cute!

It has a very reflective 2bit screen, a speaker, some buuttoons and a crank and also wifi and 4GB storage! Currently there is no midi player app but I WANT ONE; side note it would be really cool to make a web radio station that just played midis.

Also I really didn't plan to make anything for it, but now that its in my hands ooohh do i wanna make something for it If you dont have one but wanna make stuff for it you can get a simulator on their dev page (its also got a game making program thing that I think lets you make games with minimal dev skills)

Iv been trying out unofficial sideloaded apps today, so far my favorite is this dumb horse racing simulator.


Its also got a cute lil planner app:


And POGN

OMG My playdate came in a couple months ago! I'm so excited to see other people grabbin 'em! What's your favrite game so far, now that it's been over a year?

[Tadd]

I remember seeing this thing several months back and filing it under "useless beautiful gadgets that I would love to buy." If you're interested in writing any sort of review I'd love to read it! I love these sorts of lower-bit toys (and I love the gameboy look...the gameboy pocket is my favorite handheld), but I still can't really shell out the money for this one. I didn't know they had a dev kit though, so I'll definitely be checking that out!

I've weirdly enough found mine very useful! Something about it makes it really easy to put down, so it's good as a short break between work kind of thing. I used a pomodoro timer to space out work and games on there for a bit before migrating to a website I found more useful, and I use it regularly for meditation because there's a really nice little meditation app that plants trees! If you get the game bloom ( basically a cute text based story game with a flower growing minigame)  They even have a little lofi mode with all the game's soundtracks, and the main character studying. Having it on my desk is just a good pick me up. Bonus points because the case is magnetic, I can stick it on basically any flat metal surface and it will stay there. I have it sitting on my Parrot's little play stand right next to my desk so it can charge.I haven't played around with the mp3 capabilities yet but that will be my next adventure.

[Melooon]

game bloom

Bloom is a lovely game, I picked it up on itch when it first came out and I still listen to the soundtrack (The rain music, Downpour is the best!)

I also really liked the Helios series - its like this whole tiny zelda/final fantasy universe that only exists on playdate. Eyeland is great too, it's a really perfect example of a compelling mini RPG. After that I enjoy a lot of the lil arcade games like Cranner - but I gotta admit Im a bit boring and the game Iv played the most is Sparrow Solitaire

I haven't looked at new games in a few months though so I should really take some time to explore it again.

[Sorcer]

I was hoping this thread would exist! I have a Playdate, though I admittedly haven't used it much. I guess I'm waiting for the right game to come out of Season 1. I was really hoping to like Crankin's Time Travel Adventure more since I love Keita Takahashi, but I found it confusing. Out of the games I currently have, I'm most looking forward to trying our Pick Pack Pup and Inventory Hero.

I wish there was a backlight, and still need to send my system in for its faulty A button....and also recharge it more.

[Tadd]

I was hoping this thread would exist! I have a Playdate, though I admittedly haven't used it much. I guess I'm waiting for the right game to come out of Season 1. I was really hoping to like Crankin's Time Travel Adventure more since I love Keita Takahashi, but I found it confusing. Out of the games I currently have, I'm most looking forward to trying our Pick Pack Pup and Inventory Hero.

I wish there was a backlight, and still need to send my system in for its faulty A button....and also recharge it more.

I think that instead of a backlight, because I do quite like the reflective screen as an old gameboy color enthusiast, I think something like a reading light accessory would be fantastic. turn the playdate into the nefarious angler fish. I really enjoyed the alchemy game. Forgot the name, but its similar to potion craft in the creation aspect. some of it was a bit buggy, but the little mechanics were fun, and the art was just so so nice. has good vibes.

[virtue]

I thought this was so weird (and awesome looking) but was confused where I recognized the general vibe from until I saw that teenage engineering is involved and instantly was like "OH THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING" lol. I love them so much! I am immediately interested in getting my hands on one of these!

[Nikodile]

This is such a neat take on a console. Honestly though, I haven't really used mine outside of the first week I had it. My personal favorite to play was the Shining Gadget games, monster collecting games are too fun. I should really recharge my console and see what's new.