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Maybe I can justify buying a playdate after all!?
Vcvrack (kinda) for playdate!!
Comments
Yeah, never believed in that TE&Panic has success with that kinda GameBoy. But the list of titles is getting longer and longer. Especially for Panic I am pleased. Does not seem to have major build quality issues 🤣 One drawback: currently no audio in (though the headphone connector is TRRS).
I am waiting for the barrel organ 🤭 Then I would buy it 😉
They really did well! And it costs the same as a switch lite! They really need a barrel organ! It’s made for it!
A couple of iOS developers are making music apps for Playdate as well. I’ve always been interested in it. Not even just for music, some of the other games and apps look like a lot of fun.
It Does look fun, I just love what some of the devs have done with those 1 bit graphics! It’s really impressive
I remember being super interested in its development and there was lots of hype. Then not much happened. But seems like a lot more work and interest has been put in lately.
Only because it’s so niche, I think, and perhaps because they’ve been shipping them in a slow trickle due to production bottlenecks. There probably wasn’t enough of a critical mass of users post-launch to sustain the hype.
But the openness of the platform meant that because most devs had been using the SDK’s emulator before (or without needing to have) the actual device, they were releasing apps for the emulator, which is freely available.
I guess this meant that games and other apps were iterated upon and polished within a small community of very enthusiastic people, and when units finally got into the hands of more people, there was a surprising amount of well-baked stuff available. It’s like one of those fantasy console platforms on itch.io was actually able to transcend being a fantasy, which makes it much more palpable to people.
I know that when I received my Playdate, I went absolutely nuts in the first week, getting an insane number of third party games.
It’s a fun, casual device that knows its limitations and gets people lean into them. I even enjoy using the more shallow novelty apps that do things like use the crank to animate a meme!! I’ve downloaded but not actually used any of the audio apps. I think I have a granular sampler. I should pull it out and try it!
To give you an idea of what it was like when the device actually shipped, I haven’t installed any sideloaded anything onto this thing in months, but have more than 130 apps on it. It gets annoying having to scroll through them all. 😭
Also:
There are some build issues that have arisen in exactly the same kind of area that TE has been notorious for: materials engineering. TE’s problems have never been with assembly line QC, they’ve always been about selecting certain materials that didn’t always perform to expectations, and then failing to adjust in kind.
Here, they contributed heavily to the industrial design and Panic handled everything else, and some typical kinds of problems that arose with the OP-Z (which shares much of its industrial design DNA) do happen: the case creaks ever so slightly on many units, which is noticeable on such a small device. I’ve taken it apart and lubricated the d-pad with silicon grease. The surface of the crank’s metal arm also corrodes much faster than you’d expect. Thankfully, and unlike the OP-Z and KO II, few of these issues affect the actual functionality of the device. Time will tell, though!
Note that I have no idea if TE was involved in selecting the materials, although you’d expect that the people drawing up the initial designs would have some say in the medium. The issues might be more generic, and similar to crowdfunded products where the tiny industrial design team are on the other side of the globe to their manufacturing base, and lack the budget to interact too directly with materials options.
It’s important to know the materials and their behaviours really well. I know someone who was working directly under Jony Ive for the iMac’s initial release, and who wore the experience of being yelled at by Steve Jobs as a badge of honour. She was the person who selected the colours for the translucent cases, and her apartment was littered with hundreds of little brightly-coloured globular plastic “sculptures” (like unicorn droppings) made to test how colours appeared when light passed though bulbous pieces of plastic when mixed with specific dyes.
When you realise how many ID snafus happened at Apple during that era alone (flaky titaniumgate, yellowing iBook-gate, etc), all while such obsessive work was going on, you can appreciate how a design small team in Sweden might get in over their heads on occasion. None of this is to excuse TE’s slips in industrial design rigour, but it does explain a lot.
(Double post)
@jebni thanks for the info! I’m a fan of handheld gaming so this one has always interested me a lot. Transcending into reality compared to other similar consoles is a really good observation. That must definitely play a roll.
Can you download the apps directly on the device? As in does it have an “App Store” or do they have to be downloaded on a desktop and transferred? I don’t have a desktop or laptop right now, just an iPad, and it’ll be some time before I do so I’m curious how that part happens.
That’s a shame about build, especially considering the relatively high price. Perhaps as the company grows these things will be ironed out, I hope so. It’s still a very compelling device for casual gaming and messing around with little digital toys, as well as the music toy stuff! It’s definitely something I’m going to keep my eye on, as opposed to the pocket analogue, which I’m only comparing cos it was announced around the same time. There are so many excellent Chinese emulator handhelds, I don’t think I could ever justify the price for that!
I forgot all about the pocket analogue. Seems it’s only $220 right now but doesn’t seem nearly as versatile as the Playdate.
The Playdate has a built in set of "seasons" that automatically download free games onto the device each week. In addition, they have the Catalog, which is their app store, which appear on the device upon purchase from their web store. And on top of that, via USB disk mode, you can manually sideload indie games that you can buy in places like itch.io.
For grownup kids, which is okay I guess. The gamer in me thinks it looks like a complete gimmick.
Excellent thanks for that. The seasons thing is pretty cool! And side loading is absolutely fantastic. Wish we could do that on iOS lol. Appreciate the help. Do you have one? I’m getting more and more tempted 😅
I have a Playdate, I was in group 5 and was about the 60,000th unit sold, and they are now shipping group 6 which will mean they've sold about 80,000 units I think.
I don't have any build quality issues with mine at all. It feels nice, everything seems solid. I wish it were a little bigger, I wish it had a back light.
Most of the games are good, some are surprisingly deep. I like it because playing games before I go to sleep keeps me from surfing the internet.
I'm not a gamer, I got interested in the Playdate because I'm a fan of 1bit art, but I'm enjoying it.
“Buying a playdate” sounds like engaging the services of an ‘escort’… 😂
Just make sure she's experienced. 🤣
😂
Mmmhhh. I think I have to get one
, but I think I will wait for a distributor in the EU 
…
Just a note to say that Panic have fulfilled all their preorders, so the Playdate is now in stock for GAS-related retail therapy.
@HotStrange, forgot to reply — yes, I have one, but have been too distracted to use it of late. Having these trinkets isn't quite as bad as my iOS app problem (REMINDERS: CHECK MIXBOX BEFORE NEXT FX ACQUISITION; CHECK MODULE BEFORE NEXT SAMPLE PACK PURCHASE), but because it's so small, it does have its similarities.
Ooooo I’m so tempted but I’m saving for a hardware sampler at the moment. Hope it stays in stock now.