Panic Software (the Audion guys) announce Playdate - a handheld game console
51 replies, posted
https://play.date/
It seems very geared towards developers. At least I hope it is. It would be a neat little thing to program for.
It looks like one of those shitty "this is the console of the future" mockups you used to see all the time, but for the next Gameboy.
It's suprising to see that Panic has shifted so much in the last few years. They used to be a MacOS software dev company afaik
This thing is going to flop, unfortunately. It’s just waaaaaay too niche. It’s going to only play Playdate games, right? For $149 and boasting a library of 12 games (after 12 weeks of owning the dang thing) there is no way it’s going to succeed. For that kind of money you’re butting up against the 2DS and 2DSXL. It ain’t happening.
the press release isn’t clear on what kind of hardware it has, either, but a funky monochrome screen is not good. Neither is bespoke code, if it has that. If it programs in Python, maybe you’ve got a fun programming toy, but I really don’t think the market is big enough for that to work. People who would do that would buy an Arduboy or use Pico8 first.
Just checked the specs in the linked magazine article. 400x240 reflective non-backlit screen. I’m not trying to be too mean, but a non-backlit screen on a $150 toy in 2019 is absolutely butt fuckingly insane.
Yeah no, not paying 150$ for a raspberry tier handheld with a couple of cheaply made games whose biggest gimmick is a crank.
A crank?
Pull the lever Cronk
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I hope they're talking about the initial release, especially when they'll be releasing a dozen games in a weekly dripfeed for three months and then... more games? Nothing? Who knows.
I think the physical design looks pleasing, but I'm going to need to know more about this device's lifespan past the first three months of Monday game updates over wifi. If there is a Season Two release of games, what's the monetization model? Will they release a software development kit so the community can make its own games once (or ideally before) the first-party channel dries up? How hackable will it be, and what is the devs' intended response to the inevitable homebrew culture that tries to break the console open if this thing doesn't immediately die?
From the teaser info, I'm seeing one of two things being made here:
A one-manufacturing-run-ever stylish gimmick being teased just as we hear news of the Ouya's online servers finally being unplugged that gets a dozen games and maybe more as DLC(?)
An indie handheld that's got a fixed launch lineup but the potential for lots of growth if an SDK is released
Even if I had $150 to throw at this thing, I need to know if it's trying to be the next great indie device or if it's the Juicero of handhelds. The plan for the handheld after three months is a critical part of that answer.
I don't think it's intended to be a massive success. It's probably expensive because they are making so few.
I was about to say, the design reminds me a lot of the OP1 Synthesiser, but later realised they actually designed this thing in collaboration with Teenage Engineering, the guys who made the OP1.
A.. crank is an interesting input, sorta completely takes away one hand for other inputs. Will be keen to see what comes out for it.
I don't feel like they want it to compete with other consoles or that they want the console to take off.
what the fuck, i had a completely random thought just the other day or so about the concept of a controller with a crank on it and how stupid it'd be of a gimmick, and now it's apparently a thing
We reached out to some top game designers, like Keita Takahashi and Zach Gage and Bennett Foddy
This has to be a joke, right?
How could you ever put a guy who just worked on a couple of Youtuber bait games on the same level as the designer of Katamari?
You could have been rich....
It could play nothing but pokemon crystal, and I'd buy it
Well at least that fad has died doJESUS CHRIST
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/198768/7d0ccda0-aa28-4f11-b860-8134d40d0982/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/198768/0e15d947-5e3f-4d5d-976f-56dffa8dec75/image.png
How to scratch a disc 101
I was hoping this was a reasonably priced competent portable emu box but doesn’t seem to be the case
Did they miss eulogy at OUYA's? There's literally minimal audience for this. I'd prefer if they made a controller with a crank for existing hardwares instead of throwing away money like this.
yeah yeah it is exciting to see small companies able to manage cheap manufacturing, but heeeeelllllooooo wake me up when this thing doesn't die a quiet death
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/246855/8d0f79cf-d5c7-429a-aa7e-977377d7793d/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/246855/daf6ac11-6003-4d8c-93e5-64efea7ec511/image.png
h
https://i.redd.it/inenh4ijwjy01.jpg
Honestly, I'm pleased that these mockups haven't gotten any less retarded since the early 2000s
i feel like i'm seeing a lot of people who think this is meant to compete with actual proper consoles when it very very clearly isn't, like to me its more a really niche system for people who like weird experimental stuff. i love the concept of this thing and i'll probably get one if i can
this is different from something like the OUYA or the Atari VCS in that its not trying to be the next Xbox or something, this is pretty clearly meant to be for the experimental indie fans, even if i do think the $150 USD price is a bit much (though they've said they can't charge much less for it without selling them at a loss, with hardware costs being something like $100 per unit, so its fair enough)
there's been a project going this year called Meditations that had been in the works for a while, where what it is, is one new video game every day, from a different dev each day. some are short little personal stories, some are gameplay idea experiments, others are more abstract, but either way, you get to see something new and interesting each day for every day of this year. that's really interesting to me, and that same kinda thing is why i like the idea of the Playdate so much
its really fascinating to me to see what people can do under limitations of the hardware they're given, and i think it'll be cool to see how people make use of the crank with this
they're open to the idea of a games store if there's enough interest, and they're giving out the SDK to anyone who emails them, so i doubt the 12 games in this first set will be all we get for it.
i'm excited about this system! it looks unique and fun, though its definitely not something for everyone
I mean, it's mostly a novelty thing. They aren't hoping to capture any particular market, just make a thing that people go "Neat." at. And that's fine.
I love how it's so advanced that it defies reality but it still uses a bootable media drive invented in fucking 1982
Seems weird and interesting. I personally wouldn't buy one, but it'll be interesting to see what devs do with it I guess.
Bennett Foddy is actually an interesting game designer, and is even an instructor at NYU that teaches game design. He likes to experiment with the idea of non conventional control schemes.
He doesn't design his games to be "Youtube bait", they just become "Youtube bait" simply because their controls are so different and quirky that it creates a nice vehicle to create humor from, and so content creators and streamers naturally latch onto it.
This isn't like a Goat Simulator type situation where the game was clearly designed around content creators.
couldve picked a name that wasnt mad noncey
Some games use the crank exclusively (like Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, above.) Some don’t use it at all.
How do you play a game that just uses a crank to move along time with no other input? Isn't that just a movie where you can choose playback speed and rewind?
They're making a very small quantity of them which will no doubt sell out. It's not going to flop because they're not looking to compete in the first place. You say niche as though that's not precisely what they're aiming for.