Playdate - that monochrome handheld with a crank

[traylorpark]

Yeah, the unit is surprisingly capable. Not a powerhouse by any means, but 3D is possible and can be judiciously employed for rotating objects. We used something similar for the rotation of the surfboard to make it feel as smooth as the crank.

 

[TeDaDeS]

It's an ESP32 and I assume you develop on your PC and you can upload and test on the device itself.
With commercial consoles you would have to buy a development kit with SDK to create the game, this console comes with an SDK and you can run the created games directly on your handheld.

Correction: next to the ESP32 there is a main CPU: STM32 F746 (180MHz).

 

[levi]

The ESP32 is a CPU. Perhaps the important thing in the STM32 is that it contains a DSP.

 

[levi]

The iFixit team have been at the playdate now:

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

 

[ible]

delayed until 2022 -- https://liliputing.com/2021/11/play...le-delayed-until-2022-hand-crank-and-all.html

TLDR: they had a bad experience with the old battery, switching to a new supplier for better battery life. they also have a microcontroller shortage, so they're switching to a different "CPU" (MCU?).

the thing that i find interesting is that it looks like they managed to get 50k preorders based on the e-mail they sent out.

 

[TeDaDeS]

Quick, add a crank charger to the Pyra so all impacted people consider to get the Pyra instead
"Portable handheld with crank, available in 2 months"

 

[levi]

The playdate crank isn't for charging the unit. It's simply connected to some kind of rotary encoder allowing the game to sense the position of the crank, I think.

 

[erico]

A bold move on human interface for game handhelds me thinks.

 

[levi]

Bold or foolish, only time will tell. That said, WarioWare: Twisted is I think my favourite entry in the series, so I'm not against using a rotary encoder in gaming.

 

[matzesu]

But Wario Ware Twisted wasnt whit a Crank but whit a Tilt Sensor, unfortuntly it ditnt came to germany because they had fear the Liquid in the Tilt Sensor would leak,

But the Pyra got some Sensors for Movement as well, so maybe if someone would write a GBA Emulator whit Support you would be able to play Wario Ware and Yoshis Universal Grafitation (this game came to germany and i still have this modul ) ^^

 

[levi]

Reported it's a gyro sensor, but as I see it that has to be implemented by attaching a rotary encoder to a gyroscope, such that the gyro remains in the original plane, but the unit including it's rotary sensor rotates around under user control. The crank on a playdate is connected to a rotary encoder or something, so it achieves something of the same functionality, albeit actioned in a different way.

The Pyra has a gyro sensor and accelerometers in one of its chips (I forget which at present). They could be used to make a tremendously compatible GBA emulator.

 

[JDTAY]

The Pyra has a gyro sensor and accelerometers in one of its chips (I forget which at present). They could be used to make a tremendously compatible GBA emulator.

Yeah, but does it have a solar sensor for when I want to get my Boktai on?

 

[TeDaDeS]

The playdate crank isn't for charging the unit. It's simply connected to some kind of rotary encoder allowing the game to sense the position of the crank, I think.

I know, but adding a functional crank to the Pyra will be expensive. This crank is useful and only cost less then 1,50 euro. So you have the misleading but true title: "100% Functional crank for use with Pyra console, fun to Play. Date of release in 2 months."

 

[Null]

The Pyra has a gyro sensor and accelerometers in one of its chips (I forget which at present).

Accelerometer and magnetometer (Bosch BNO055)

I started playing with the accelerometer and magnetometer today. I've got a text only bubble-level working that could be the basis of a graphical bubble level. We can reset the horizontal (or any base surface) with another script. I'll share the scripts first and then describe how I got the...

pyra-handheld.com

 

[FBnil]

Just use the Pyra volume knob as a krank?

 

[traylorpark]

I actually wish more game consoles had a novel input device beyond just buttons. They provide a unique experience that can't be done on anything else. Nintendo long ago figured this out.