Indie game veterans unveil a new handheld console: Playdate

If you played the charming 2016 exploration game Firewatch, you might have stumbled across an early design of the Playdate: a brand new handheld console for indie games.

Playdate is the brainchild of Panic, a Portland, Oregon-based software publisher best known for Firewatch, a slow burner of a mystery/adventure game with a frustrating twist. At some point this year, Panic will also publish Untitled Goose Game, where players take on the role of a total a-hole goose. Playdate is their first foray into making an actual game device, and so far, it’s created quite a splash.

I…… it…… there will be no AAA games unless we can convince Ubisoft to make a totally black-and-white Assassins Creed game that uses a crank. I mean I suppose it's worth a try, what do you think @Ubisoft

— Playdate (@playdate) May 23, 2019

Housed in a pocket-sized yellow body, Playdate will feature a black-and-white 1-bit screen and a hand crank, to be used as an actual game mechanism (not a means of powering up the device). The mechanical crank has been the butt of numerous Twitter jokes, as many see it as a ridiculous gimmick — a charge that Panic gladly owns. Throw in a twee name like Playdate, and this thing will practically sell itself to self-deprecating game hipsters (us included).

that crank is the dumbest gimmick in all of existence and i love it

— James (@TheEpicJames) May 23, 2019

To bring Playdate to life, Panic paired up with Swedish manufacturing firm Teenage Engineering on an old-yet-new retro aesthetic; Teenage Engineering usually makes high-end consumer audio electronics, favoured by everyone from Depeche Mode and Swedish House Mafia to Beck and Bon Iver.

But we didn't know beans about mechanical engineering or industrial design. So we cold e-mailed Teenage Engineering (@jugendingenieur), a company that makes things we really love. Their spirit was infectious. They were on board. They came up with the crank. pic.twitter.com/Wd35NjvPwk

— Playdate (@playdate) May 22, 2019

Even with such a stellar pedigree, all new hardware needs new software to make it attractive. No problem for the Playdate, which has a star-studded lineup of indie developers like Keita Takahashi (father of everything Katamari), Bennett Foddy, and Zach Gage (this writer is a self-confessed SpellTower addict). Foddy (who was once in the band Cut Copy) is infamous for developing deceptively simple games with maddening mechanics, most notably QWOP, and the hilariously frustrating Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.

Playdate will have twelve seasons of content, each full of surprise games that will be automatically downloaded upon release. Think of it as a seasonal loot box made of indie developer dreams. Given that Playdate has been four years in the making, we’re excited to see where Panic can go with their new toy.

Expect to get your paws on these precious yellow treasures in 2020, for a fairly reasonable US$149.

 

alexisong@asiaone.com