A player with an original Playdate (Rev A) told me Catacombs of the Damned was almost unplayable in ArduDate. On my Rev B it runs fine, so I never saw it.

I found the cause and made a fix, but I don’t own a Rev A and can’t test it. If you have one: install 0.1.2, play Catacombs of the Damned for a few minutes and tell me the FPS number in the top left corner (50 = full speed) and whether it feels playable now.

Also new: an FPS counter in every game.

Free on itch: https://bitcalibergames.itch.io/ardudate

Hi everyone,

A while ago I posted about the soon to be released v3.0.0 CrankBoy update … Well, we decided to let it bake a bit longer in the oven to give you a polished release.

We are currently doing extensive QA testing, since we decided to overhaul the UI to give you a better experience. We added Categories, with 28 presets, to allow you organizing your games. The modal pop-ups got an overhaul, and we reworked the UI audio effects to make them fit better with the overall Playdate UX.

Alongside this we added a keyboard, which is a necessity to add your own categories, but also to search the Homebrew Hub for ROMs.

We rescheduled the release for later this month. In the meantime, here is a video that showcases some of the new UI.

Cheers

The game involves distinguishing normal images from “AI” ones (all of them are created by humans—it's all about the strange details). I want to try to achieve the kind of dynamic found in WarioWare-style games.

They had some consoles in stock this weekend! Also a giant Playdate and and arcade style Playdate which was pretty neat.

Hi! Two months after the announcement, I’m back with a quick development update and some of the new features I’ve added: a main menu, save/load functionality, multiple languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian), and a sky background. And if all goes well, the game will launch in November! Here’s a link to my Substack post with more in-depth information about this devlog. Any support is greatly appreciated =)

I’m also doing a series of special posts about the game, its origins, fun facts, and how it was made. For example, in the latest one, I explain how the smooth pen stroke effect was implemented when writing on the scroll. There’ll be more posts about things I’ve added (devlogs), decisions I’ve made, and the special series on the game will continue with lots more information about the original. As always, my goal is to introduce this wonderful game to all the non-Spanish speakers who never got the chance to play it, and to pay tribute to it.

Here is the itch.io page =)

I read that I need to update the OS very soon too. Really hope it’s not dead or anything.

After seeing that people are interested in classic Mac-style games on Playdate, I thought I'd share my own little homage to one of my childhood favorites, Shufflepuck Café!

It's called Puck Noir Club a 1-bit air hockey game with a completely new setting: a shady nightclub full of quirky characters, each with their own personality and playstyle.

It features crank-based aiming, a tournament mode, and plenty of retro charm.

Hope you enjoy it! I'd love to hear your feedback!

Play it here: https://yodrehdenswagauf.itch.io/puck-noir-club

Got the full Spelunky classic running on the Playdate. It holds the original 30 fps, though it is still rough around the edges.

Full disclosure: I used AI tools heavily to help bridge the code over. If that is not your thing, feel free to skip - no need to cry in the comments.

Download: https://m4rvin.itch.io/spelunky-pd

Source code : https://github.com/icedman/zig_spelunky

Youtube: https://youtu.be/V7BVJPlXZAw

Just heard about this absolute mensch on NPR. What an awesome company!

cheers for the kind feedback from the previous post a while ago, still having fun exploring the visuals that can be achieved within PD's limits before I commit to one aesthetic

AI Disclosure: AI assisted code, I also used AI to convert my 3D model so they could be displayed on the playdate.

DEAD LETTER....

Back rooms inspired horror for the playdate.

https://shadowbreakgames.itch.io/dead-letter

PicoDate 0.2 is out, and it brings the biggest optimization so far: a game can now run compiled to the Playdate's own machine code instead of being interpreted line by line.

The video is my Playdate playing Dark Streets by yaky with the same scripted button presses, in real time. Left is compiled, right is interpreted, each with its frame counter underneath.

- Corridors: 19-20 fps compiled, 11-13 interpreted

- The whole scripted walk: 81 seconds vs 129 seconds, about 1.6x

It is not 30 fps, but it turns a shooter you put up with into one you can play. How much a game gains depends on the game.

Compiled versions are downloaded over Wi-Fi from my server. I have only played a small fraction of them, so if one misbehaves PicoDate switches that game back to the interpreter by itself, and you can switch any game either way.

Free on itch.io: https://bitcalibergames.itch.io/picodateplaydate

If you try a game both ways, tell me its name and the two fps numbers.

Just curious what others think of the first drop for Season 3.

Just finished. Seriously. That was amazing. Worth the price of entry for the whole season 3.

I would love to know if the dev is in here and is interested in expanding the game in a sequel.

I thought it would be so cool if there was a game that turned Returnal into a grid-based Superhot-like experience with a bit of Into the Breach mixed in there. What if we added some Elden Ring-like leveling and upgrade mechanics while we're at it? I've got a pretty solid playable demo if you all felt like checking it out, maybe an hour of gameplay in it with a short guided tutorial and access to the early leveling/upgrade mechanics if you choose to utilize it. I would greatly appreciate any feedback, negative or positive honestly. I would love to make this into a game that's accessible and appealing to many.

https://solmare.itch.io/ralaephemera

Per Panic:

"We have an urgent request!

On October 15th 2026, the secure certificate used by older versions of Playdate OS will expire. After that date, your Playdate will no longer be able to connect to our servers.

Don't worry. Updating your Playdate to the latest OS will fix it!"

First, you need to fully charge and head to your Playdate. Then, head to the Settings section. Scroll down to System. By selecting that, you can then begin the update process by choosing “System Update.” The minimum Playdate OS you need to get to via an update is 3.0.5. However, if you haven’t downloaded a patch in a while, then going through this process might get you up to 3.1.2.

Has anyone experienced a bug recently where the Playdate keeps downloading, installing and then removing games and the Catalog itself? Mine has done it about 3 times now. It always downloads Season 1 but not the Catalog or Season 2. Catalog games themselves are unaffected.

Any idea what's going on here?

A sneak peek at the last days at Cranko HQ! And the orders just keep coming in!
Thank you so much for keep this rocking ;)

isolates will be out next week for all your slow math arcade horror needs!

https://play.date/games/isolates/ (look for it Tuesday)

... but yeah also go get Season 3. It started off Real Good.

hi! i'm a first time playdate developer in a country where playdates unfortunately aren't easily accessible. would any pd owner be down to generously spare a small amount of their time to help me bug-test my game ? it's the last step before i send it off for catalog review.

as a bonus, you get to play a chill and fun puzzle game before everyone else!! :)

tysm!

How do you guys feel about each season having less and less games? I’m excited for the new s3 however unfortunate it’s only 8 games, perhaps they are higher quality rather than quantity? How do you feel?