Playdate - the console with a crank

[PhrawzT]

Alright guys you make it seem like it's some 1000$ wristwatch or something. It's not that expensive. It has special buttons, special screen, special processor, special software and extra special crank (and prolly more). For each of those specials price goes up. If they kept all of those things run of the mill, and just had a cheap plastic crank as their only special, it'll prolly cost 50$ or less, and yet IMO even harder to market. I for one am much more likely to ever get something like this to toy around with than say a Switch or a Deck (now that would be a real waste of money).

You're not wrong. I just can't justify a $200 price tag when you can get an Analogue Pocket or some other system for the same price. I'm sure it is a lot of fun, and if it was $100 I would go for it.

 

[BunnyLain]

Yes and I love it, Ask me anything, I really like the thing! The store front in it feels great and there's some really good games on it if you're looking for pick up and play stuff. It is expensive and having no back light is a pain... BUT honestly it's a really great little games console and I hope people keep making stuff for it. It's love to see more games devices like this, but the issue is getting people to make games for it.

Plus you know, it's competing with 30 years of games history and influx of emulation devices....

BUT THAT CRANK THOUGH.

 

[99nereids]

i was excited when they announced the gbstudio-esque devkit but i've never touched it. i've seen a few cool titles on itch but thats about it, nothing i'd really want to pick one of these up for.
see maybe if it was ur typical gameboy knockoff with a color screen it would at least have emulation going for it (tho its probably possible idk. also yes doom is on the playdate)
i wish they wouldve just slapped another screen on the bottom of it and made it a DS with a crank. or without the crank. they shouldve just made a ds. why wont the ds come back please god bring her back

 

[kanesha]

having no back light is a pain

can one simply

+

?

 

[BunnyLain]

I don't think it can power anything, but yea, you can just turn the lights on. I think if you don't have a light source than playing video games is the least of your problems!

 

[MegaHiro91]

Alright guys you make it seem like it's some 1000$ wristwatch or something. It's not that expensive. It has special buttons, special screen, special processor, special software and extra special crank (and prolly more). For each of those specials price goes up. If they kept all of those things run of the mill, and just had a cheap plastic crank as their only special, it'll prolly cost 50$ or less, and yet IMO even harder to market. I for one am much more likely to ever get something like this to toy around with than say a Switch or a Deck (now that would be a real waste of money).

Why are you attacking people who buy a Switch or a Steamdeck? No one here attacked owners of the Playdate, we just feel it's an overpriced noveltysake, and don't we have a right to think that? We never said stuff like; Playdate is a waste of money. At least I didn't.

 

[BunnyLain]

It's a very overpriced novelty sake!

...but it has a crank.

 

[kanesha]

Why are you attacking people who buy a Switch or a Steamdeck? No one here attacked owners of the Playdate, we just feel it's an overpriced noveltysake, and don't we have a right to think that? We never said stuff like; Playdate is a waste of money. At least I didn't.

lol, literally in this thread: what you bought for "novelty's sake alone" from a company that is in "the top of my shit-list" is a "sick joke" you "overpayed tech worker".
But sure I'm very sorry that in response to those very kind and thoughtful comments I dared to imply that any of the Switch and/or Deck wielding higher forms of beings are capable of the horrid, inexcusable and inhumane act of wasting money, truly an unspeakably disgusting insult, an utterly unacceptable behavior on my part. Mods! Ban me this instance!

 

[BunnyLain]

Look, we're all getting away from the important thing to talk about, how fun it is. I can play Zero Zero perfect stop on it with the crank. I don't have any other portable black and white Japanese train sims anywhere. Under the castle is fun too! ...the crank sucks in that though.

 

[kanesha]

The real question is what's the ultimate crank game, the system seller. Google told me it's this

so is there a playdate port of it?

 

[BunnyLain]

The real question is what's the ultimate crank game, the system seller. Google told me it's this

so is there a playdate port of it?

No because google suggests eating stones, you should stop using it and find a decent search engine. The real system seller is whitewater wipeout and comes with the console in season 1. Which is kinda why the console is expensive, it comes with a lot of games!

 

[kanesha]

No because google suggests eating stones, you should stop using it and find a decent search engine. The real system seller is whitewater wipeout and comes with the console in season 1. Which is kinda why the console is expensive, it comes with a lot of games!

hmmm... a pretty weak offering I've got to say... you crank... a serfboard?... for points?... i mean
graphic - 1/10 the only thing to look at is the guy and he be stiffer than the board
story - 0/10 there is none
immersion - 0/10 cranking a surboard
gameplay - 1/10 barely there
music/sound - 1/10 avarage my ears are bored

I prefer the puzzle/adventure game where you crank to power up a contraption you built and progress the story, make it happen!

 

[SpaceCadetGenocide]

It seems very gimmicky, none of the games seem to be particularly interesting either to justify shelling out $200 for it when I could get an emulation handheld for half the price that can run more games and likely homebrew

Alright guys you make it seem like it's some 1000$ wristwatch or something. It's not that expensive. It has special buttons, special screen, special processor, special software and extra special crank (and prolly more). For each of those specials price goes up. If they kept all of those things run of the mill, and just had a cheap plastic crank as their only special, it'll prolly cost 50$ or less, and yet IMO even harder to market. I for one am much more likely to ever get something like this to toy around with than say a Switch or a Deck (now that would be a real waste of money).

it could have state of the art technology but for a minimum of $200 I can't justify a gimmick handheld with a weak library of games that look like tech demos or the backlog of itch.io (especially when you have to factor in the price of the games too)

 

[kanesha]

emulation handheld for half the price that can run more games and likely homebrew

A government mandated smartphone that everyone has to have to be treated like a human being these days can run more games than any 200$ toy you're cancidering to buy, this toy at least has some parts and can do some things my phone can't. If you don't like it you don't like it, but please just stop with the price thing.

 

[SpaceCadetGenocide]

A government mandated smartphone that everyone has to have to be treated like a human being these days can run more games than any 200$ toy you're cancidering to buy, this toy at least has some parts and can do some things my phone can't. If you don't like it you don't like it, but please just stop with the price thing.

The gimmick is interesting but the issue is that the price is inherently a large issue since its prohibitive and makes it hard to justify the usage, especially since I can't really imagine many cases where you'd utilize a crank as a game mechanic in comparison to gimmicks like a touch screen or motion controls. Not to mention the long-run durability of a crank you apply significantly more force to is questionable too

 

[kanesha]

Also it is pretty state of the art for what it is and when it came out, maybe just not the type of art you are thinking about, think of it as an oversized smartwatch and maybe the price will make more sense then.

Post automatically merged: Jan 29, 2025

cases where you'd utilize a crank

this is what me must and have been exploring in this thread, I found at least one game idea I would definitely play if it was well made

Post automatically merged: Jan 29, 2025

long-run durability of a crank

everything breaks in the long term, the real questions is if you can repair it, and look, the thing actually has screws!

Playdate Teardown

Panic, the company behind this yellow not-a-Game-Boy, say they made this quirky device “just for fun,” and it shows. From the 1-bit screen to its...

www.ifixit.com

That's already more repairable then 99% of glued and sealed crap we endure these days tbh.

 

[Ikagura]

Why are you attacking people who buy a Switch or a Steamdeck? No one here attacked owners of the Playdate, we just feel it's an overpriced noveltysake, and don't we have a right to think that? We never said stuff like; Playdate is a waste of money. At least I didn't.

The Switch joy cons are gimmicky but still a console with quite plenty of games.


I think a touch screen still has more potential of gameplay styles than a crank (which is close to a gyro in a GBC/GBA game).

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Alright guys you make it seem like it's some 1000$ wristwatch or something. It's not that expensive. It has special buttons, special screen, special processor, special software and extra special crank (and prolly more). For each of those specials price goes up. If they kept all of those things run of the mill, and just had a cheap plastic crank as their only special, it'll prolly cost 50$ or less, and yet IMO even harder to market. I for one am much more likely to ever get something like this to toy around with than say a Switch or a Deck (now that would be a real waste of money).

For that prince it's not unreasonable to expect a damn backlit screen

 

[Skeetos]

What in the holy mother of ass is the crank for? lol.

 

[kanesha]

For that prince it's not unreasonable to expect a damn backlit screen

It is intentionally not backlit, it's not a cost cutting measure ffs.

 

[MegaHiro91]

It is intentionally not backlit, it's not a cost cutting measure ffs.

Ahh, so it's intensionally made worse, is what you're saying

Post automatically merged: Friday at 1:10 AM

What in the holy mother of ass is the crank for? lol.

Some games can use it in place of a normal button input.

 

[kanesha]

intensionally made worse

It's a special display designed to be used without a backlight and drain less battery, and it's likely more expensive for them to get than a standard one. Backlights have not been sepearate from display panels since forever. If you don't get it that's fine, but if you want to argue that the price should have been lower you shouldn't be focusing on one of the expensive parts of it in total ignorance.

 

[BunnyLain]

You really don't need a back light because you shouldn't be playing it in such awful lighting conditions any way D: the battery life on it is nuts, I charge it like once every two months. The console price would probably be less if it didn't come with season 1 of the games, but then I imagine people would complain it came with no games and everything on it is about $10.

The thing people should complain about is how bad the library is to navigate after you've got so many games for it, because you know, it's fun D:

 

[kanesha]

The thing people should complain about is how bad the library is to navigate after you've got so many games for it, because you know, it's fun D:

Arr you brave enough to install?

GitHub - RintaDev5792/FunnyOS: Grid-based playdate custom launcher based on the 3ds menu (with badges!)

Grid-based playdate custom launcher based on the 3ds menu (with badges!) - RintaDev5792/FunnyOS

github.com

Also definitely gotta wait till they properly crack the crank and have custom firmware for it and everything

GitHub - cranksters/playdate-reverse-engineering: Panic Playdate reverse-engineering notes/tools - covers file formats, server API and USB commands

Panic Playdate reverse-engineering notes/tools - covers file formats, server API and USB commands - cranksters/playdate-reverse-engineering

github.com

GitHub - jankais3r/Crank2Unlock: An artisanal Playdate jailbreak app

An artisanal Playdate jailbreak app. Contribute to jankais3r/Crank2Unlock development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Gotta love the special thanks to
> The folks at Panic for making such a wonderful and fascinating handheld!
... for me to crack trollface

 

[kelbot]

This is par for the course with the Playdate. The entire existence of it has been non-stop naysaysers claiming it would be good if it had this or that feature that would make it exactly like every other cheap emulator handheld or if it was $20 they'd buy one.

And yet, Panic can't make them fast enough because they sell out really fast and basically everyone that gets one loves it.

It's unique and enables unique game experiences. It's quirky and inspires creativity with the crank and the monochrome non-backlit screen. Yeah, it's more expensive than whatever cheap chinese handheld you think is a far better value. But the people making it and designing it and writing the software for it are making a fair wage. The company behind it can actually be contacted and will stand behind it. Plus, you get 24 games as part of the purchase price. That's 24 new, unique games made specifically for this system. Some by pretty well known game devs.

Clearly there are lots of people that don't "get it". That's fine, don't buy it and move along. Personally, I think it's awesome and have really enjoyed it and many of the interesting games being made for it.