The very first Playdate orders are starting to ship today.
There were difficult times when I thought we might never actually
ship a Playdate to a customer. It seemed like a project that might
stretch into eternity and become an urban legend -- maybe some sort
of handheld "Polybius". I thought it might drive us all mad, if we
hadn't probably all been from the start.
Whether it finds success or not, the mere existence of Playdate is
something of a dream come true for me, personally. Not only a project
that was unlikely to happen in general, but also extremely unlikely
to involve me in any way.
I remember, literally decades ago now, having a conversation with Cabel
where we discussed how nice it would be if we could grow Panic to be
not just a "software company" but a "room full of smart people who
make interesting things". I wish I could go back in time, show myself
a Playdate, and say "hey, you're not going to believe this, but..."
The people at Panic, and I do mean all of them, are the smartest,
nicest, and hardest-working people I've ever met. So are the outside
consultants who've been instrumental along the way. It is an honor
and an inspiration to work alongside them every day.
There's not a person in our relatively tiny crew (30-ish people)
who hasn't left their mark on Playdate in some fashion. I can't
thank them enough for believing in the project and going on this
ridiculous adventure with us. It literally would not have been
possible without you.
Maybe that all sounds a bit high-falutin' for a goofy little game
console whose existence, for a great number of people, doesn't even
make sense. But, at least to me, it's about more than just selling
yellow boxes to people.
The community that has grown around Playdate during its development
has been remarkable. The pure talent on display from the season
one game developers, as well as everyone who has explored Pulp and
the SDK since their releases, has been mind-boggling to me. I was
honestly floored by what we saw emerging in a matter of hours after
those tools became public. Their creativity and ideas are everything
I hoped Playdate might spur, and then some.
Although Playdate's innards are all quite modern, the word "retro"
gets thrown around a lot when describing it. Sure, it has a black and
white screen and so on, but I think the most retro aspects are actually
in its philosophy. Among my own personal decidedly retro perspectives:
* Platform owners need not be the gatekeepers of all content and money.
A platform can thrive without needing to have their finger in every
single pie. This is, in fact, the way it used to be by default in
the industry for a very long time and everyone did quite well.
Anyone can make a Playdate game and distribute it or sell it however
they choose. (Technically, you don't even need a Playdate to do it
-- just our free tools.) Self-distribution is not a radical or new
idea, but one that has perhaps been forgotten or so consistently
derided by major platforms that it's falsely seen as no longer
viable.
* When you buy hardware, you own it and have the right to do what you
want with it, including developing and installing your own software.
* It's OK to take risks with design. In a world of metal and glass
slabs, a console that vaguely resembles a slice of Velveeta (R) can't
help but catch your eye. I know everything is kind of depressing
recently, but color is OK, shapes are OK, and joyfulness can be
a feature.
* Limitations like monochrome displays and a minimum of buttons
and controls are not only rocket fuel for developer creativity, but
also broaden Playdate's appeal to people who may find modern games
intimidating or out of reach due to their complexity. Which is not
to say that all Playdate games need to be simplistic, but rather
that variety is good.
* Maybe not every piece of new tech has to be the all-singing,
all-dancing conqueror of all tech that came before. Maybe it
wouldn't hurt to slow down for a moment and re-explore some of the
genuinely good ideas that fell to the wayside as we hurtled headlong
into our current future.
Maybe hardware whose primary appeal does not hinge on being the
absolute cutting edge won't become landfill quite as quickly. Maybe
crushing every competitor needn't be the goal of every business.
Maybe, just maybe, it is good for alternatives to popular ideas
to exist.
* You shouldn't need millions of dollars of funding and a
thousand-person team to build and distribute an excellent video game.
* Learning how to write games can be easier and more inclusive than
it is. Playdate's developer tools are an order of magnitude
less complex than any other current game platform I can think of.
Dare I say: it's even fun?
In elementary school, I learned BASIC and Logo in the Apple ][ lab
and there's a direct line (albeit long and squiggly) from that to
me writing this missive today. Playdate programming is something
teachers can easily teach and kids can easily learn. I'm excited
about the possibilities it could open for a whole new generation
of programmers.
Maybe I'm attempting to build a grandiose mythology where none exists,
but these ideals have always been important to me, and are at the
very heart of why I ever became interested in computers in the first
place. Half of the appeal of the Playdate project overall to me was
proving that these things are at least somewhat still achievable.
It's difficult, uncomfortable, and much less convenient, but we don't
have to just sit by and watch as 2 or 3 massive corporations consume
each other and gradually become the sole arbiters of what you can
and cannot do with technology.
So, at the risk of sounding trite: look forward, but study history.
Have goofy ideas and don't measure their value exclusively in dollars.
Never stop playing.
I hope you will love Playdate. We hear loud and clear that you are
excited to receive them and continue to work at a feverish pace to
get them out the door as quickly as possible. I'm thankful once again
to our entire team and our fantastic community for somehow making it
all a reality. This is just the start!
-- VELVEETA (R) is a registered trademark of Kraft General Foods, Inc.
