Playdate (console)

Playdate is a handheld video game console developed by Panic. It was first introduced on May 22, 2019 on the cover of Edge magazine, and was released on April 18, 2022.[4] The name is a reference to its weekly scheduled releases of included games.

Playdate


Playdate with the crank in an open position (above)
and with the crank tucked away into the side slot (below)
Also known asAsheville (code name)[1]
DeveloperPanic Inc.
TypeHandheld game console
Release dateApril 18, 2022
Introductory price
CPU
Memory16 MB
Storage4 GB flash storage[2]
Display
  • 2.7-inch, 400 × 240 1-bit (173 ppi)
  • Sharp Memory LCD
Connectivity
Dimensions76 × 74 × 9 mm
Mass86 grams
Websiteplay.date

Design

The device is small, square, and yellow, and features a black-and-white 1-bit screen for display. For controls, there is a 4 way directional pad, two game buttons, and a mechanical crank on the side.[5]

It was designed in collaboration with Teenage Engineering, a Swedish consumer electronics company.

The screen technology used is Sharp's Memory LCD, which possesses some properties of e-paper displays.[6] Each pixel can remember its state (black/white) without needing to be refreshed, resulting in faster refreshing and lower power usage, whilst also being “viewable in any light, from edge-of-vision darkness to brightest sunlight” and having a wide 170° viewing angle.[7]

Games

Games are published by Panic in seasons, with new games being sent over Wi-Fi each week. A total of 24 games[2] are in the first season, two released per week, all included in the price of the console.[8] Which game is released per week is unknown until the week it's released, and are revealed to players when they are automatically downloaded.

The device is an open system and allows sideloading games that are not part of a season.[9]

Games are created using an SDK that includes a simulator and debugger and which is compatible with both the C and Lua programming languages.[10] The SDK is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. In addition, tile-based games can be created using Pulp, a more-approachable creation tool from Panic.[11]

Video games are produced by Panic as well as notable indie game developers such as Keita Takahashi, Zach Gage, Bennett Foddy, Shaun Inman, and Chuck Jordan.[4][12] In a developer survey, Panic stated that they were interested in including games by underrepresented developers and game makers, as well as stating that in season one, there was at least one game by a woman, as well as games by queer, trans and non-binary developers.[13]

Season 1 (Starting April 2022)
No. in season Title Developed by Ref.
1 Whitewater Wipeout Chuhai Labs [14][15]
2 Casual Birder Diego Garcia [15]
3 Crankin's Time Travel Adventure uvula (Keita Takahashi, Ryan Mohler), Matthew Grimm, Shaun Inman [12][16][15]
4 Boogie Loops May-Li Khoe, Andy Matuschak [15]
5 Lost Your Marbles Sweet Baby Inc [14][15]
6 Pick Pack Pup Nic Magnier, Arthur Hamer [15]
b360 Panic [16][15]
Battleship Godios TPM.CO Soft Works [15]
Crayons Panic [17]
DemonQuest 85 Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, Duncan Fyfe, Belinda Leung, Jared Emerson-Johnson [15]
Echoic Memory Samantha Kalman, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz, Rachelle Viola [15]
Executive Golf DX davemakes [16][18][15]
Flipper Lifter Serenity Forge [15]
Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke Nels Anderson, Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou [15]
Hyper Meteor Vertex Pop (Mobeen Fikree, Robby Duguay, h heron) [15]
Inventory Hero Panic [17]
Omaze Gregory Kogos [15]
Questy Chess Dadako [15]
Ratcheteer Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, Charlie Davis [15]
Sasquatchers Chuck Jordan, Jared Emerson-Johnson [12][15]
Saturday Edition Chris Makris, A Shell in the Pit (Gord McGladdery, Alfonso Salinas) [15]
Snak Zach Gage [12][15]
Spellcorked! Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, Tony Ghostbrite, A Shell in the Pit (Em Halberstadt) [15]
Star Sled Panic [17]
Zipper Bennett Foddy [12][16][15]

Additional Games
Title Developer(s) Ref.
Daily Driver Matt Sephton [15]
Date of Life Andrea Interguglielmi [15]
Direct Drive DACvector (Dmitry Zhukov and Chris Mandra) [15]
Faraway Fairway Rokashi Games[19] [15]
Getting There Michael Frei, Ralphaël Munoz [15]
Mars After Midnight Lucas Pope [15][20]
Oxy Con Brio Matthew El-Jamal [15]
Playmaker Dustin Mierau [15]
Robot Fishing davemakes [15]
Widget Satchel II: Return of Sprocket Noble Robot [15]
Bloom RNG Party Games [21]
Sketch, Share, Solve RDK [22]
A Joke That's Worth $0.99 Kamibox [23]
Sprout RNG Party Games [24]

Release

Playdate was initially set for release in early 2020. However, Panic announced a delay later that year, stating that preorders would begin in the early part of 2021.[25] Ultimately, preorders for the device started on July 29, 2021. Panic sold through its initial order of 20,000 units set to ship in 2021 within the first 20 minutes of its preorder.[26] Panic started shipping Playdates to customers on April 18, 2022.[27]

Reception

Name controversy

In May 2019, Panic sent an email to an indie video game event suggesting that the organizers of the event, also named Playdate, consider tweaking or changing its name to avoid confusion.[28] The following day one of Panic's founders retracted the request, stating "My intention was always to find a way for our Playdates to co-exist [...] but we remain fine with you using the name Playdate."[29] On January 29, 2020, the team behind the event (now named "Playdate Pop Up") announced that Panic was joining the event as a sponsor, and would assist the event in petitioning for nonprofit status.[30]

References
  1. Guichet, Alex. "Playdate News Roundup: June 2019 - First Gameplay Footage, Processor Specs, and The Talk Show appearance". The Missing Quests. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  2. Playdate [@playdate] (June 4, 2021). "PPS: three things we're authorized to leak now ① Playdate's final price is $179. ② We've doubled the internal storage to 4GB. ③ And! We've DOUBLED the number of Season One games. No joke. 24 games come free with your Playdate. More in the update!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 4, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
  3. "Playdate's tiny hand-held with a crank is big on charm". Engadget. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  4. Edge Staff (May 22, 2019). "Playdate, a new handheld console backed by indie royalty, unveiled in new issue of Edge magazine". gamesradar. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  5. Fahey, Mike. "The People Who Published Firewatch Are Now Making A Game Console With, Uh, A Crank". Kotaku. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  6. Mrgan, Neven [@mrgan] (May 25, 2019). "Believe it or not, the Sharp Memory LCD is quite expensive—much more so than a typical display today. But we like its unique look, and making something different is our motivation!" (Tweet). Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Twitter.
  7. "Sharp Memory in Pixel Displays - Sharp". www.sharpsma.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  8. Webster, Andrew (May 22, 2019). "Playdate is an adorable handheld with games from the creators of Qwop, Katamari, and more". The Verge. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  9. @playdate (May 26, 2019). "It WILL be open. You will always be able to side load games onto it, no jail breaking required" (Tweet). Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Twitter.
  10. "Playdate, a tiny game console with a big pedigree". Boing Boing. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  11. Mrgan, Neven; PanicAugust 30, designer at; 2021 (August 30, 2021). "Playdate Pulp: Zero to video game in 60 Seconds". Game Developer. Retrieved April 21, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Simpkins, Jen (May 23, 2019). "Small Wonder". Edge. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  13. Gach, Ethan. "Crank Gaming Handheld's Creators Trying To Make Amends For Poorly Worded Email". Kotaku. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  14. Edge, 2020. Left Turn. (353), p.9.
  15. ✨ Playdate Update — 6/8/2021, retrieved June 8, 2021
  16. @playdate (May 22, 2019). "But here's the trick: every game is a secret. They're all included with system, and they will be delivered to you each week, for a few months. Our dream is simple: that you wake up on new game day excited to see what you can play next" (Tweet). Retrieved May 28, 2019 – via Twitter.
  17. "Playdate. Pre-orders begin in July". play.date. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  18. "This New Gaming Handheld Has a Crank (!!) And Looks Cool as Hell". Waypoint - Forum. May 26, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  19. Edwards, Rokashi. "Developer". Twitter.
  20. "Mars After Midnight - Mars After Midnight by dukope". itch.io. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  21. https://rngpartygames.itch.io/bloom
  22. https://r-d-k.itch.io/sketch-share-solve
  23. https://kamibox.itch.io/a-joke-thats-worth-099
  24. https://rngpartygames.itch.io/sprout
  25. Igor Bonifacic (October 30, 2020). "$149 Playdate handheld is 'ready to go,' orders start in early 2021". Engadget. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  26. "Panic sells 20,000+ Playdate handhelds in under 20 minutes". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  27. "https://twitter.com/playdate/status/1516099269979262976". Twitter. Retrieved April 21, 2022. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  28. Klepek, Patrick (May 28, 2019). "That Gaming Handheld With a Crank Asked a Queer Games Showcase to Change Its Name". Waypoint. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  29. Sasser, Cabel [@cabel] (May 28, 2019). "My intention was always to find a way for our Playdates to co-exist joyfully. I was worried we would overshadow yours. That sounded entitled — I'm sorry. I thought your idea to add "pop up" was great, but we remain fine with you using the name Playdate. Please, keep using it" (Tweet). Retrieved May 29, 2019 – via Twitter.
  30. The Playdate Pop Up 2020 Team (January 29, 2020). "Welcome to 2020 - The Playdate Pop Up Blog". Retrieved March 21, 2020.
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