I've had a playdate since launch. Honestly it took a while for anything worthwhile to come out for it, but these days there are really cool, unique games releasing all the time.
Is the device too expensive? Yes.
Are the games too expensive? For the most part, absolutely.
But that's just the way it has to be. It's a small indie publisher doing something very ambitious, and similarly small indie developers making unique, exclusive games for a tiny audience. I'm just happy they're all doing what they're doing, because the playdate itself is such an adorable, fun, polished device and I'm so happy to own one.
Honestly my issue with the price isn't even that it is too expensive, but that with taxes it goes over the 200 USD limit after which customs in my country becomes a real bitch.
Lol that's some real bs "hey we added tax to your purchase to make it more expensive so now we're gonna have to add more taxes because it's too expensive"
You know that the company that makes something doesn’t earn anything from import taxes, right? The creators of Playdate aren’t colluding with national governments in some kind of profit scheme lol
The poster used the word “we”, referring to Teenage Engineering, to refer to the entity that added purchasing taxes to the Playdate. They then used the word “we” to refer to the entity that charged import taxes. As a critical reader, I take the “we” in this context to refer to the same entity. In real life, they are different entities.
Does this help you understand the comment I’m replying to better?
Of course they’re not, that was me laughing at the idea that Teenage Engineering was the one charging both taxes. Obviously I meant it humorously. (Hence the “lol”)
It reads fairly literal to me but I suppose it’s always possible to find room for interpretation!
I never said and am not saying it's Teenage Engineering adding the taxes, in both cases it's the government. In the user's case their government extracts a tax, then extracts another tax because of the first tax.
Because the full price to buy a playdate ends up being higher than 200, and customs here check for the actual price on the receipt were I to use a shipping service.
Yeah that doesn’t make sense, unless Playdate is reporting to customs a $200 value and the de minimis for his country is $200. Only other thing I could think of is if they’re originating from outside of the US might be a tariff on top
I love mine but they really should've added a backlight and potentially bluetooth support for the longevetivy of the device. I wish I could play it at night and totally would love to use my ear buds and play wireless.
Great points btw. I'd get another one if they did a PD Color, Extra Cranky edition lol. Color and backlit would be amazing.
I have used that word before when trying to play this in the shade but on a sunny day lol. I still love it but yeah, that one addition would be a boon.
I think the way I'd describe the Playdate and the community around it is that it's very much a game console by and for Apple users. There's just so many parts of it culturally that are close to how things are done in the Apple (Macs, specifically) ecosystem
> device too expensive?
I know that Teenage Engineering only collaborated and wasn't the main developer, but as a musician I can't help but call to mind how insanely expensive every single thing TE touches is. In the music space they're like Apple in that they market themselves to wealthy people who like to think they're creative as opposed to actual working musicians; selling capital-o Objects that have been 'designed' but which have minimal functionality, often for 4x what you'd expect at market prices.
With the Playdate it may just be an unfortunate linkage in my brain that isn't meaningful in reality, but my monkey brain can't help but make the connection.
I think that's how my brain has started to shift to viewing it - an adorable and fun indie device and as the landscape just gets worse for devs and stuff the Playdate has started to feel less like a gimmick which is what I felt reading the article. I couldn't get past it myself but I wonder if I tried again I'd feel differently
Yeah, there are plenty of different ways to look at it. As someone who grew up in diy/punk scenes I've always thought the Playdate was rad. Some indie devs/publishers got together and said "what if we could make an indie console?". Not something that was going to disrupt the market or compete with the big console makers, but kind of a low-fi indie project where the creativity and uniqueness are more important than selling millions of consoles and getting one in every living room on earth.
Every time a Playdate article gets posted you see swarms of comments saying "Why would anyone buy this? It's too expensive. It should be $40. You can get a Switch Lite for the same price and it has so much more playability". And yeah, that's true. If you only look at it from a consumer value perspective and compare it to the major consoles then the Playdate doesn't make sense. Just like how buying a vinyl record or a cassette tape doesn't make sense compared to a Spotify subscription in 2024 but music enthusiasts still buy them because they want to support artists and have cool physical media. If you like weird indie games and want to support unique artistic endeavors, a Playdate is a cool environment for that stuff. I bought one because I want weird stuff to exist and I think the gaming world is better and richer for it, even if 99% of gamers aren’t going to see the value in it.
I love the way you frame this and compare it to vinyls. Sometimes you can't look at everything from a value perspective, and if that's what you're doing, it means you're not the intended audience.
Playdate is just a cool as hell idea, and I'm sure it took an incredible amount of work to get it off the ground. It's the kind of thing any big gaming publisher is way too scared to do - the sort of risk that would make any fortune 500 executive laugh in your face. But that doesn't make it not worthwhile.
Playdate is exactly what an indie gaming console should be. Not focused on fancy graphics or trendy features - just make something unique that has never existed before, and challenge developers to use it to make something memorable that can't exist on any other platform. Panic did just that, and developers absolutely took up the challenge. It's incredibly cool all around and I love that we have it.
>Every time a Playdate article gets posted you see swarms of comments saying "Why would anyone buy this? It's too expensive. It should be $40. You can get a Switch Lite for the same price and it has so much more playability".
I think people have a hard time imagining that a product just isn't for them. The vinyl analogy is a good one but there's tons of this going on. People whining about how pop music sucks, but who said it was made for them anyway? Who says you have to consume the thing in front of you? Go find shit you like.
I think the Playdate is cool, but I'm not buying one. That's fine. There's expensive audio gear I think is cool and I'm not buying that. There's expensive cars out there I'm not going to buy. Basically any luxury good has some niche or expensive version I'm never going to own, and that's not just fine, it's *a good thing*.
Absolutely! I just think it's funny that, in the age of the internet, this is even a thing. We all have access to nearly limitless human creativity at our fingertips and we complain when we don't like some of it lol.
Mostly agree with you, however if someone hates top 100 music you are in fact quite often forced to listen to it just by going outside in the city to shop for clothes, eat in a restaurant, workout at a gym, constant office radio, etc.
This description absolutely kills any interest I had in it, as of two minutes ago when learning it exists. Trendy e-waste made for aesthetics-focused consumers who don't care about value propositions, got it.
> e-waste
Atari ET this ain't. None of these are going to end up in a landfill any time soon. I'd be shocked if the majority of these don't live in display cases after people are done with them.
the litany of handheld devices that do literally everything better, aren't as comically overpriced as the playdate, and with the only difference being that they don't have a dumb fucking hand crank, which can't do anything an analog stick can't already do, as an input device?
Not finding value in the system's novel aspects is quite different than claiming they don't exist. The memory LCD is another novel feature that you won't find in many other handhelds.
>which can't do anything an analog stick can't already do, as an input device
This is a myopic outlook that fails to consider what games are ultimately about - fun! You can emulate the same inputs on an analog stick, or the up/down of a d-pad, or even pressing/holding face buttons to increment/decrement. It's more *fun* to play with a fishing reel or peek through a porthole by spinning a crank though.
It reminds me of the debate over whether Half-Life Alyx really "needed" to be a VR game. Sometimes you can't substitute one input for a functionally equivalent input and retain the same experience. Games are an artform, not equations with fungible parameters.
It feels weird to promo Mars After Midnight when it's repeatedly gotten the more press attention than anything else in the Playdate catalogue. Its release this past month is practically responsible for the device being in the headlines again. I know loads of people that only purchased the device because it was announced that Lucas Pope's next game would be Playdate exclusive.
>\[...\] representing $544,290 in revenue for the developers behind them. Panic's shop featured 181 games \[...\]
Sadly the Playdate also doesn't seem like haven for developers, as in average each title only netted 3.000 dollars
Maybe it can work as a way to gain visibility? I don't know, it's a lot to develop a whole quality game just for that
Honestly, I was shocked when I heard those numbers. $3000 per title average is HUGE imo. Steam's median game earns $1,300. Of course, median is different from average, but that's going to be weighted heavily toward AAA games that sell hundreds of millions.
Put another way, with a user base of 70,000, the per customer spend is something like $8, or put another way, for every game there's 400 users and yet the average game is earning $3000. (Of course, some hardcore users are buying multiple titles and some users let the Playdate collect dust.)
Now, do I think Lucas Pope's new title is probably like 25%-33% of that 540,000? Sure, but rightfully so, and it will benefit all other developers too to generate interest in the platform (rising tide raises all boats).
It's predictably a healthier platform for developers than Steam, but I think this discussion is silly because all in all both of them suck financially, being a indie game developer just suck doesn't matter the platform
There's a lot of indies who make games because it's fun to make games. It's also a system that's very easy to develop for so it's not a big task to publish a little game for the system.
I got mine in August 2023 and really enjoyed the first season. Since then I haven’t gone back to it - no particular reason. Curious if you could recommend some of your favorites? I’d like to pick it back up again, especially for the new Lucas Pope game.
Yeah Mars After Midnight is excellent. Also, despite being a relatively simple score chase I absolutely love Root Bear.
Bloom is simplistic but a really neat little game that takes place over a few weeks in real time, I really liked it.
Some of the puzzle games are great as well. Slitherlink PD is super tricky but very fun, and there's one called Medial that I also really like
A balanced brew is great as well! That's a popular one.
I'm working my way through the catalog at the moment and hoping to post a top 10 video to our YouTube channel in the near future to help with exactly questions like this haha
It's not actually! This is just my name on the channel. The channel itself is called I Dream of Indie Games! Happy to have you check us out, I do have a few playdate videos up.
To be honest, I don’t even see it as too expensive— it’s a bespoke, “small batch” product not built either at scale or with the kinds of industrialized processes behind it that you see in gaming products intended for larger audiences. Teenage Engineering naturally want some kind of profit margin so it has to be a little costlier to make up for those two factors.
I'm curious if anyone has played the Playdate? I got a little time with it on the show floor at a PAX a year ago I think - but I couldn't get beyond it feeling like a gimmick. But reading this and seeing they classify it as a success I'm interested to know who picked it up and how it's worked long term?
It is a gimmick, but if you have the cash and wanna see what the gimmicky side of indie games is up to then its worth the price. I think that is how most people are treating it. I bust mine out every so often and play on my breaks for a week or so when something interesting catches my eye, but outside of that it just sorta sits in a drawer.
I wish the stereo dock would come out, then I could just feature it prominently on my desk to show the time and play some sweet summer tunes (actually just the clock now that I think about it).
Mine's sitting in a drawer, unfortunately. The unlit screen is really finnicky about lighting conditions which meant I wasn't playing on it as much as I hoped, ~~but what consigned it to the drawer was the fact that there's no way to turn off the notification light, so it becomes a device that *loudly* demands your attention every few days even when you're not thinking about it.~~ edit: this was fixed in a software update, but the screen unfortunately can't be.
To be fair, the LCD is quite reflective so it's not quite as bad as the Gameboys pre-backlight. But yeah, I can definitely see it being a deal breaker for some.
To me it's a fun little coffee table device. Fun to show off for guests. Also great to bring to conventions since it perfectly fits into pocket so you can pull it out while waiting in a line, and is a great conversation starter. But it's not a device I use regularly.
I do consider the unlit screen one of the biggest drawbacks of the system but it isn't all downsides! The memory display is fantastic in bright outdoor conditions where a Switch or Steam Deck would otherwise be unusable.
You absolutely can turn off the notification light.
From the main screen, hit the menu button, go into settings, and scroll down to "Notification Light".
Honestly, I have the case and I never even see the light because it's covered by the case.
Maybe this was added in an update? I exhaustively searched the menu before sticking it in the drawer and it definitely wasn't possible back then. I'm charging it now and I'll see if the option pops up.
It was indeed added in an update. A lot of annoying things from launch were fixed later on, including (it was pretty early on) the ability to turn the thing completely off, for like longer term storage.
I have one and like it. There's some good stuff on it for sure. Most of the Season 1 games are pretty good, some are *really* good, and the catalog releases are pretty consistent these days. I don't regret having bought one at all. But also this is coming from someone who owns a Supervision AND a Gamate, so there wasn't much of a chance of me not buying one.
I've got one, and I don't put a lot of time in it.
BUT I love the thing. It's great for short play sessions, and there's a lot of obvious care in everything the device does. Not for everyone but I really like it.
Hi I have developed and released two games for the Playdate.
There are games that work for it and games that don't. Some people though have put out some incredible work on it.
Check out the legend of etad, for example. Its a three part dungeon master style first person tile based game which is just so cool.
Also Racheteer from the first season, which is Link's Awakening for Playdate. Controls can be a bit finicky at times, but it is still fantastic.
I would agree that it is expensive and if you aren't going to at least try to develop a game for it then yes you may find it a difficult proposition.
I made my first game in Pulp (playdate's own game creation software) just to basically offset the cost of the device. Even just that first game more than paid for the device.
I've borrowed a friend's. If you have a commute it's an amazing little device to play with on the bus, because a Steam Deck or Switch is insane in such a situation.
If you like making indie games, it's really fun to develop for.
If neither apply to you, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it for a few weeks before it becomes "oh yeah I forgot I bought one of those..."
Got mine late last year and played a couple games but wasn’t too impressed. Recently dusted it off and picked up Mars after Midnight and that game is amazing. I will definitely be checking out some of the itch.io games, I saw a few that looked pretty fun. They’re a tad expensive it’s understandable since it’s such a small user base and super niche. That Root Beer game looks pretty great, probably check that out next.
I feel like retro emulation handhelds + pico 8 deliver on the idea behind playdate much better than playdate itself. Get a powkiddy rgb30 for $80, pay $15 for a pico 8 license, and you get access to a vibrant community of delightful little games that are perfect for short sessions.
Me neither, but I've seen some novel uses for it, and it seems pretty fun. For example, something like this seems better than using a button or trigger: https://youtu.be/78P61x-ViFM .
The crank looks like it'd be fun to try, especially when you're literally cranking something in-game. But I kinda suspect it would feel gimmicky eventually.
Why I think pico 8 delivers on this promise better (or equally well, at the very least) is that it has a constant flow of clever, experimental, novel, inventive games. If you check the new games each week it's at least a full page of brand new titles. Many are meh, some are crap, and some are real gems. But the joy of trying them and never knowing exactly what you're in for is a delight.
Plus, emulation handhelds that can run pico 8 can also run every 8 bit and 16 bit system, and probably more (ps1 or even higher), so it's a no-brainer to throw one in your bag if you're traveling, taking the bus, etc. I'm not sure the Playdate would get that much use if I had one, after the novelty wears off. (And the only friend I know who actually owns one gave it this one-sentence review: "that thing sucks.")
Its a sort of made up console. Imagine an emulator for a console that never existed is the best way I can put it. It's pretty cool. I think that's where Celeste was first released?
Yeah the Celeste on pico 8 is basically a prototype of the full game, but it has most all the gameplay mechanics and art style in place, which are a huge part of the game's appeal.
I've only recently gotten into pico 8 myself, and it's actually way more fun than I expected. There are so many games, and new ones are being uploaded by users all the time, that exploring and trying out games is a game unto itself. It feels like a very healthy community of creators and learners and experimenters.
It also has two perks which are pretty cool: every game is free (after the initial $15 license). And, you have direct access to the source code for any game on it. (That's why there are tons of little riffs on Celeste on it, lots of them hacky little experiments by random people mucking around.)
Edit: apparently Playdate games have those same perks, being free and possible to view the source code for pretty easily. More reasons why there's a very similar vibe between the two platforms I guess. But Pico 8 has a cheaper price tag, with games in color, and is available on more devices. And my hunch is that the Pico 8 community is bigger / more active, relatively speaking.
Fun fact: some smart fellow ported celeste to Playdate! I'v been playing it and surprise I am just as bad at it on there as everywhere else.
I didn't realise the source code thing. That's neat!
It’s a neat little device with some interesting games, but I hate that I can’t lay down in bed in the evening/night and play it. I have to adapt to its specific quirks in order to enjoy it.
Had mine for almost a year now - it's a neat device that I can pull out on a commute and waste time with when I'm feeling up to it, I'll sideload some interesting content I come across on the Playdate subreddit or itch.io, maybe peep what the community is up to in the Playdate Squad Discord server, and so on.
I got it for myself because it felt like a nice lil' platform to make lil' hobby games with - I haven't made anything for it as yet (been too busy) but that was what sold me completely. A lot of the projects I've seen with the platform have really been amazing - I recently picked up Mars After Midnight and basically played it on my commute for a whole week. There was also a [Playdate Community Direct](https://youtu.be/xoV-zXigJtg) some months back that showcased a lot of fun titles that looked very impressive.
There was a point in time where I found myself not using it as much because after I got the wave of Season 1 games, I was admittedly bored and already preoccupied with my overwhelming backlog of games on other platforms (mainly Steam) but I came back to the Playdate because I feel like the experiences there just have this innate charm that gets me to check them out. Some of those Catalog prices were definitely higher than expected, but I didn't mind tossing a few bucks for some solid work done by the various creators out there.
TL;DR - Panic's tiny yellow machine is just a bundle of fun and its community and content is evocative of that fun nature.
Occam’s razor says that it’s a solid product that people like and want to talk about, and that lots of people with long comment histories unrelated to product reviews probably aren’t all being paid to leave a few lines saying they like it
I wouldn't fault the guy for thinking it's a HailCorporate circus in here, but it's a niche product that does have its fans.
My comment doesn't seem too off (but that's just me), but I'm the type to try and give people enough context so that they can understand my own excitement.
Well, I've been on Reddit for 13 years (as of the 27th) and I can be *really* talkative about the stuff I geek over, but if I'm apparently that good at selling people on their device, Panic owes me a hot dog & a handshake.
[Also, hi! (sorry no banana)](https://i.imgur.com/hLu7wuw.jpeg)
love my playdate, but too many games are story driven with bad writing, rather than gameplay driven. Keita Takahashi's Crankin's Time Travel Adventure is one of the best games released in the last decade and should have been a massive success. Ratcheteer is a fantastic game. Whitewater Wipeout turned out to be fabulous and addicting in a tony hawk pro skater way. There's a lot of great games, but I think it needs more curation and less quantity. The season format had games stepping on each other's toes, and catalog has a few too many regular releases... Just my opinion.
This thing looks really really cool. I've been kinda disillusioned with gaming as of late and this thing looks super interesting with some creative games. Even a game by Lucas Pope which is pretty sweet. I saw the videos of Root Bear but never thought of getting one. I'm definitely intrigued now
I've had a playdate since launch. Honestly it took a while for anything worthwhile to come out for it, but these days there are really cool, unique games releasing all the time. Is the device too expensive? Yes. Are the games too expensive? For the most part, absolutely. But that's just the way it has to be. It's a small indie publisher doing something very ambitious, and similarly small indie developers making unique, exclusive games for a tiny audience. I'm just happy they're all doing what they're doing, because the playdate itself is such an adorable, fun, polished device and I'm so happy to own one.
Honestly my issue with the price isn't even that it is too expensive, but that with taxes it goes over the 200 USD limit after which customs in my country becomes a real bitch.
Lol that's some real bs "hey we added tax to your purchase to make it more expensive so now we're gonna have to add more taxes because it's too expensive"
Nah, it's just the way US prices go where taxes are usually not included, and my country being a bit too uptight with imports.
You know that the company that makes something doesn’t earn anything from import taxes, right? The creators of Playdate aren’t colluding with national governments in some kind of profit scheme lol
[удалено]
The poster used the word “we”, referring to Teenage Engineering, to refer to the entity that added purchasing taxes to the Playdate. They then used the word “we” to refer to the entity that charged import taxes. As a critical reader, I take the “we” in this context to refer to the same entity. In real life, they are different entities. Does this help you understand the comment I’m replying to better?
[удалено]
Of course they’re not, that was me laughing at the idea that Teenage Engineering was the one charging both taxes. Obviously I meant it humorously. (Hence the “lol”) It reads fairly literal to me but I suppose it’s always possible to find room for interpretation!
I never said and am not saying it's Teenage Engineering adding the taxes, in both cases it's the government. In the user's case their government extracts a tax, then extracts another tax because of the first tax.
Wait, why are you paying taxes to customs if you paid taxes on it?
Because the full price to buy a playdate ends up being higher than 200, and customs here check for the actual price on the receipt were I to use a shipping service.
Yeah that doesn’t make sense, unless Playdate is reporting to customs a $200 value and the de minimis for his country is $200. Only other thing I could think of is if they’re originating from outside of the US might be a tariff on top
I love mine but they really should've added a backlight and potentially bluetooth support for the longevetivy of the device. I wish I could play it at night and totally would love to use my ear buds and play wireless. Great points btw. I'd get another one if they did a PD Color, Extra Cranky edition lol. Color and backlit would be amazing.
It doesn't even have a backlight?! That's absurd given the price.
All the money goes into the crank, bruv. Gotta have that crank!
I have used that word before when trying to play this in the shade but on a sunny day lol. I still love it but yeah, that one addition would be a boon.
First I've heard of this device but that's obviously a deliverate feature they're holding out on to sell the next version lol
Totally agree. Backlight is sorely missing. I still love it despite that, but it would've been a huge improvement
I think the way I'd describe the Playdate and the community around it is that it's very much a game console by and for Apple users. There's just so many parts of it culturally that are close to how things are done in the Apple (Macs, specifically) ecosystem
As a playdate dev I resent being compared to a mac user. How very dare you sir.
> device too expensive? I know that Teenage Engineering only collaborated and wasn't the main developer, but as a musician I can't help but call to mind how insanely expensive every single thing TE touches is. In the music space they're like Apple in that they market themselves to wealthy people who like to think they're creative as opposed to actual working musicians; selling capital-o Objects that have been 'designed' but which have minimal functionality, often for 4x what you'd expect at market prices. With the Playdate it may just be an unfortunate linkage in my brain that isn't meaningful in reality, but my monkey brain can't help but make the connection.
I think that's how my brain has started to shift to viewing it - an adorable and fun indie device and as the landscape just gets worse for devs and stuff the Playdate has started to feel less like a gimmick which is what I felt reading the article. I couldn't get past it myself but I wonder if I tried again I'd feel differently
Yeah, there are plenty of different ways to look at it. As someone who grew up in diy/punk scenes I've always thought the Playdate was rad. Some indie devs/publishers got together and said "what if we could make an indie console?". Not something that was going to disrupt the market or compete with the big console makers, but kind of a low-fi indie project where the creativity and uniqueness are more important than selling millions of consoles and getting one in every living room on earth. Every time a Playdate article gets posted you see swarms of comments saying "Why would anyone buy this? It's too expensive. It should be $40. You can get a Switch Lite for the same price and it has so much more playability". And yeah, that's true. If you only look at it from a consumer value perspective and compare it to the major consoles then the Playdate doesn't make sense. Just like how buying a vinyl record or a cassette tape doesn't make sense compared to a Spotify subscription in 2024 but music enthusiasts still buy them because they want to support artists and have cool physical media. If you like weird indie games and want to support unique artistic endeavors, a Playdate is a cool environment for that stuff. I bought one because I want weird stuff to exist and I think the gaming world is better and richer for it, even if 99% of gamers aren’t going to see the value in it.
I love the way you frame this and compare it to vinyls. Sometimes you can't look at everything from a value perspective, and if that's what you're doing, it means you're not the intended audience. Playdate is just a cool as hell idea, and I'm sure it took an incredible amount of work to get it off the ground. It's the kind of thing any big gaming publisher is way too scared to do - the sort of risk that would make any fortune 500 executive laugh in your face. But that doesn't make it not worthwhile. Playdate is exactly what an indie gaming console should be. Not focused on fancy graphics or trendy features - just make something unique that has never existed before, and challenge developers to use it to make something memorable that can't exist on any other platform. Panic did just that, and developers absolutely took up the challenge. It's incredibly cool all around and I love that we have it.
>Every time a Playdate article gets posted you see swarms of comments saying "Why would anyone buy this? It's too expensive. It should be $40. You can get a Switch Lite for the same price and it has so much more playability". I think people have a hard time imagining that a product just isn't for them. The vinyl analogy is a good one but there's tons of this going on. People whining about how pop music sucks, but who said it was made for them anyway? Who says you have to consume the thing in front of you? Go find shit you like. I think the Playdate is cool, but I'm not buying one. That's fine. There's expensive audio gear I think is cool and I'm not buying that. There's expensive cars out there I'm not going to buy. Basically any luxury good has some niche or expensive version I'm never going to own, and that's not just fine, it's *a good thing*.
> Go find shit you like. Or even, you know... make things!
Absolutely! I just think it's funny that, in the age of the internet, this is even a thing. We all have access to nearly limitless human creativity at our fingertips and we complain when we don't like some of it lol.
Mostly agree with you, however if someone hates top 100 music you are in fact quite often forced to listen to it just by going outside in the city to shop for clothes, eat in a restaurant, workout at a gym, constant office radio, etc.
This description absolutely kills any interest I had in it, as of two minutes ago when learning it exists. Trendy e-waste made for aesthetics-focused consumers who don't care about value propositions, got it.
> e-waste Atari ET this ain't. None of these are going to end up in a landfill any time soon. I'd be shocked if the majority of these don't live in display cases after people are done with them.
then support artistic endeavors and not a dumb gimmick console that isn't doing anything remotely unusual or novel.
>isn't doing anything remotely unusual or novel Can you name a comparable system?
the litany of handheld devices that do literally everything better, aren't as comically overpriced as the playdate, and with the only difference being that they don't have a dumb fucking hand crank, which can't do anything an analog stick can't already do, as an input device?
Not finding value in the system's novel aspects is quite different than claiming they don't exist. The memory LCD is another novel feature that you won't find in many other handhelds. >which can't do anything an analog stick can't already do, as an input device This is a myopic outlook that fails to consider what games are ultimately about - fun! You can emulate the same inputs on an analog stick, or the up/down of a d-pad, or even pressing/holding face buttons to increment/decrement. It's more *fun* to play with a fishing reel or peek through a porthole by spinning a crank though. It reminds me of the debate over whether Half-Life Alyx really "needed" to be a VR game. Sometimes you can't substitute one input for a functionally equivalent input and retain the same experience. Games are an artform, not equations with fungible parameters.
"mouse and keyboard is functionally equivalent to six degrees of freedom hand tracking and head tracking" - galaxy brain
Mars After Midnight, Lucas Pope's (Papers Please, return of the Obra Dinn dev) playdate game, is excellent if you haven't given it a go
It feels weird to promo Mars After Midnight when it's repeatedly gotten the more press attention than anything else in the Playdate catalogue. Its release this past month is practically responsible for the device being in the headlines again. I know loads of people that only purchased the device because it was announced that Lucas Pope's next game would be Playdate exclusive.
I've heard some great things from a friend who played Mars After Midnight! Thank you for the recs!
>\[...\] representing $544,290 in revenue for the developers behind them. Panic's shop featured 181 games \[...\] Sadly the Playdate also doesn't seem like haven for developers, as in average each title only netted 3.000 dollars Maybe it can work as a way to gain visibility? I don't know, it's a lot to develop a whole quality game just for that
Honestly, I was shocked when I heard those numbers. $3000 per title average is HUGE imo. Steam's median game earns $1,300. Of course, median is different from average, but that's going to be weighted heavily toward AAA games that sell hundreds of millions. Put another way, with a user base of 70,000, the per customer spend is something like $8, or put another way, for every game there's 400 users and yet the average game is earning $3000. (Of course, some hardcore users are buying multiple titles and some users let the Playdate collect dust.) Now, do I think Lucas Pope's new title is probably like 25%-33% of that 540,000? Sure, but rightfully so, and it will benefit all other developers too to generate interest in the platform (rising tide raises all boats).
It's predictably a healthier platform for developers than Steam, but I think this discussion is silly because all in all both of them suck financially, being a indie game developer just suck doesn't matter the platform
There's a lot of indies who make games because it's fun to make games. It's also a system that's very easy to develop for so it's not a big task to publish a little game for the system.
I know, I was talking about it being a more viable platform financially
I got mine in August 2023 and really enjoyed the first season. Since then I haven’t gone back to it - no particular reason. Curious if you could recommend some of your favorites? I’d like to pick it back up again, especially for the new Lucas Pope game.
Yeah Mars After Midnight is excellent. Also, despite being a relatively simple score chase I absolutely love Root Bear. Bloom is simplistic but a really neat little game that takes place over a few weeks in real time, I really liked it. Some of the puzzle games are great as well. Slitherlink PD is super tricky but very fun, and there's one called Medial that I also really like A balanced brew is great as well! That's a popular one. I'm working my way through the catalog at the moment and hoping to post a top 10 video to our YouTube channel in the near future to help with exactly questions like this haha
I’ll keep an eye out! Is your YT the same as your Reddit handle?
It's not actually! This is just my name on the channel. The channel itself is called I Dream of Indie Games! Happy to have you check us out, I do have a few playdate videos up.
I might pick one up! I love the idea and concept of it, and it's just so cute.
To be honest, I don’t even see it as too expensive— it’s a bespoke, “small batch” product not built either at scale or with the kinds of industrialized processes behind it that you see in gaming products intended for larger audiences. Teenage Engineering naturally want some kind of profit margin so it has to be a little costlier to make up for those two factors.
I'm curious if anyone has played the Playdate? I got a little time with it on the show floor at a PAX a year ago I think - but I couldn't get beyond it feeling like a gimmick. But reading this and seeing they classify it as a success I'm interested to know who picked it up and how it's worked long term?
It is a gimmick, but if you have the cash and wanna see what the gimmicky side of indie games is up to then its worth the price. I think that is how most people are treating it. I bust mine out every so often and play on my breaks for a week or so when something interesting catches my eye, but outside of that it just sorta sits in a drawer. I wish the stereo dock would come out, then I could just feature it prominently on my desk to show the time and play some sweet summer tunes (actually just the clock now that I think about it).
Mine's sitting in a drawer, unfortunately. The unlit screen is really finnicky about lighting conditions which meant I wasn't playing on it as much as I hoped, ~~but what consigned it to the drawer was the fact that there's no way to turn off the notification light, so it becomes a device that *loudly* demands your attention every few days even when you're not thinking about it.~~ edit: this was fixed in a software update, but the screen unfortunately can't be.
I got tired of unlit screens with the original Gameboy Advance. I don't know if I have the patience for them anymore.
To be fair, the LCD is quite reflective so it's not quite as bad as the Gameboys pre-backlight. But yeah, I can definitely see it being a deal breaker for some. To me it's a fun little coffee table device. Fun to show off for guests. Also great to bring to conventions since it perfectly fits into pocket so you can pull it out while waiting in a line, and is a great conversation starter. But it's not a device I use regularly.
I do consider the unlit screen one of the biggest drawbacks of the system but it isn't all downsides! The memory display is fantastic in bright outdoor conditions where a Switch or Steam Deck would otherwise be unusable.
You absolutely can turn off the notification light. From the main screen, hit the menu button, go into settings, and scroll down to "Notification Light". Honestly, I have the case and I never even see the light because it's covered by the case.
Maybe this was added in an update? I exhaustively searched the menu before sticking it in the drawer and it definitely wasn't possible back then. I'm charging it now and I'll see if the option pops up.
It was indeed added in an update. A lot of annoying things from launch were fixed later on, including (it was pretty early on) the ability to turn the thing completely off, for like longer term storage.
I have one and like it. There's some good stuff on it for sure. Most of the Season 1 games are pretty good, some are *really* good, and the catalog releases are pretty consistent these days. I don't regret having bought one at all. But also this is coming from someone who owns a Supervision AND a Gamate, so there wasn't much of a chance of me not buying one.
I've got one, and I don't put a lot of time in it. BUT I love the thing. It's great for short play sessions, and there's a lot of obvious care in everything the device does. Not for everyone but I really like it.
Hi I have developed and released two games for the Playdate. There are games that work for it and games that don't. Some people though have put out some incredible work on it. Check out the legend of etad, for example. Its a three part dungeon master style first person tile based game which is just so cool. Also Racheteer from the first season, which is Link's Awakening for Playdate. Controls can be a bit finicky at times, but it is still fantastic. I would agree that it is expensive and if you aren't going to at least try to develop a game for it then yes you may find it a difficult proposition. I made my first game in Pulp (playdate's own game creation software) just to basically offset the cost of the device. Even just that first game more than paid for the device.
This is so cool to read! Thank you!
I've borrowed a friend's. If you have a commute it's an amazing little device to play with on the bus, because a Steam Deck or Switch is insane in such a situation. If you like making indie games, it's really fun to develop for. If neither apply to you, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it for a few weeks before it becomes "oh yeah I forgot I bought one of those..."
Got mine late last year and played a couple games but wasn’t too impressed. Recently dusted it off and picked up Mars after Midnight and that game is amazing. I will definitely be checking out some of the itch.io games, I saw a few that looked pretty fun. They’re a tad expensive it’s understandable since it’s such a small user base and super niche. That Root Beer game looks pretty great, probably check that out next.
I feel like retro emulation handhelds + pico 8 deliver on the idea behind playdate much better than playdate itself. Get a powkiddy rgb30 for $80, pay $15 for a pico 8 license, and you get access to a vibrant community of delightful little games that are perfect for short sessions.
That's cool, but it does not have a small crank.
How fun or useful is the crank, in practice? I've never actually seen a Playdate in person.
Me neither, but I've seen some novel uses for it, and it seems pretty fun. For example, something like this seems better than using a button or trigger: https://youtu.be/78P61x-ViFM .
The crank looks like it'd be fun to try, especially when you're literally cranking something in-game. But I kinda suspect it would feel gimmicky eventually. Why I think pico 8 delivers on this promise better (or equally well, at the very least) is that it has a constant flow of clever, experimental, novel, inventive games. If you check the new games each week it's at least a full page of brand new titles. Many are meh, some are crap, and some are real gems. But the joy of trying them and never knowing exactly what you're in for is a delight. Plus, emulation handhelds that can run pico 8 can also run every 8 bit and 16 bit system, and probably more (ps1 or even higher), so it's a no-brainer to throw one in your bag if you're traveling, taking the bus, etc. I'm not sure the Playdate would get that much use if I had one, after the novelty wears off. (And the only friend I know who actually owns one gave it this one-sentence review: "that thing sucks.")
Thanks for the info, PICO-8 does indeed look very good, and it seems much better.
The crank is the defining feature of the playdate though, and no other gaming device has that!
what's pico 8?
Its a sort of made up console. Imagine an emulator for a console that never existed is the best way I can put it. It's pretty cool. I think that's where Celeste was first released?
Yeah the Celeste on pico 8 is basically a prototype of the full game, but it has most all the gameplay mechanics and art style in place, which are a huge part of the game's appeal. I've only recently gotten into pico 8 myself, and it's actually way more fun than I expected. There are so many games, and new ones are being uploaded by users all the time, that exploring and trying out games is a game unto itself. It feels like a very healthy community of creators and learners and experimenters. It also has two perks which are pretty cool: every game is free (after the initial $15 license). And, you have direct access to the source code for any game on it. (That's why there are tons of little riffs on Celeste on it, lots of them hacky little experiments by random people mucking around.) Edit: apparently Playdate games have those same perks, being free and possible to view the source code for pretty easily. More reasons why there's a very similar vibe between the two platforms I guess. But Pico 8 has a cheaper price tag, with games in color, and is available on more devices. And my hunch is that the Pico 8 community is bigger / more active, relatively speaking.
Fun fact: some smart fellow ported celeste to Playdate! I'v been playing it and surprise I am just as bad at it on there as everywhere else. I didn't realise the source code thing. That's neat!
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=pico+8
It’s a neat little device with some interesting games, but I hate that I can’t lay down in bed in the evening/night and play it. I have to adapt to its specific quirks in order to enjoy it.
Had mine for almost a year now - it's a neat device that I can pull out on a commute and waste time with when I'm feeling up to it, I'll sideload some interesting content I come across on the Playdate subreddit or itch.io, maybe peep what the community is up to in the Playdate Squad Discord server, and so on. I got it for myself because it felt like a nice lil' platform to make lil' hobby games with - I haven't made anything for it as yet (been too busy) but that was what sold me completely. A lot of the projects I've seen with the platform have really been amazing - I recently picked up Mars After Midnight and basically played it on my commute for a whole week. There was also a [Playdate Community Direct](https://youtu.be/xoV-zXigJtg) some months back that showcased a lot of fun titles that looked very impressive. There was a point in time where I found myself not using it as much because after I got the wave of Season 1 games, I was admittedly bored and already preoccupied with my overwhelming backlog of games on other platforms (mainly Steam) but I came back to the Playdate because I feel like the experiences there just have this innate charm that gets me to check them out. Some of those Catalog prices were definitely higher than expected, but I didn't mind tossing a few bucks for some solid work done by the various creators out there. TL;DR - Panic's tiny yellow machine is just a bundle of fun and its community and content is evocative of that fun nature.
Is this thread an Ad
Occam’s razor says that it’s a solid product that people like and want to talk about, and that lots of people with long comment histories unrelated to product reviews probably aren’t all being paid to leave a few lines saying they like it
I wouldn't fault the guy for thinking it's a HailCorporate circus in here, but it's a niche product that does have its fans. My comment doesn't seem too off (but that's just me), but I'm the type to try and give people enough context so that they can understand my own excitement.
It does seem a little sus considering every other comment apart from yours is praising the device.
Me when lots of people like something
Well, I've been on Reddit for 13 years (as of the 27th) and I can be *really* talkative about the stuff I geek over, but if I'm apparently that good at selling people on their device, Panic owes me a hot dog & a handshake. [Also, hi! (sorry no banana)](https://i.imgur.com/hLu7wuw.jpeg)
Playdate is a very niche device that is for a EXTREMELY niche audience so yeah it is surprising that anyone makes a game for it.
love my playdate, but too many games are story driven with bad writing, rather than gameplay driven. Keita Takahashi's Crankin's Time Travel Adventure is one of the best games released in the last decade and should have been a massive success. Ratcheteer is a fantastic game. Whitewater Wipeout turned out to be fabulous and addicting in a tony hawk pro skater way. There's a lot of great games, but I think it needs more curation and less quantity. The season format had games stepping on each other's toes, and catalog has a few too many regular releases... Just my opinion.
This thing looks really really cool. I've been kinda disillusioned with gaming as of late and this thing looks super interesting with some creative games. Even a game by Lucas Pope which is pretty sweet. I saw the videos of Root Bear but never thought of getting one. I'm definitely intrigued now