Playdate Podcast

Panic wants everyone to make games for Playdate, and creating better, more empathic stories—while diversifying the games industry—is key to the mission of narrative development company Sweet Baby Inc. So Panic and Sweet Baby, along with Strange Scaffold, teamed up to pair industry veterans with first-time developers from diverse backgrounds to create and ship two Playdate games in just six months. Hear how the mentors and mentees approached these projects, and then download and play Reel Steal and Recommendation Dog!! for free, via Catalog for Playdate! Show Notes Reel Steal’s game page Recommendation Dog!!'s game page Strange Scaffold Sweet Baby Inc. David Bedard on Twitter Strange Scaffold/Xalavier Nelson Jr. on Twitter Julia Minamata’s website Sherveen Uduwana on Twitter Will Herring’s website Adanna Nedd’s website Louisa Atto’s website Maxine Sophia Wolff’s website David Nguyen on Twitter Isaiah Henry on itch Raphael Batista de Lima on Behance Neha Patel’s website Eleanor Hébert’s website Ayla Myers’ website Jay Squared’s link tree Hassan DuRant’s website James Wright’s website Jenna Yow on itch Will Stacey on Twitter Jerry Belich’s website Nikki Liu on Behance Episode 7: Lost Your Marbles Lupin III Tiger Handheld Games Episode Transcript

Everything is a remix, but how do you ensure you’re paying homage to the things you love, rather than just rehashing them? Designer/Developer Shaun Inman and Composer/Sound Designer Matthew Grimm talk about drawing inspiration while creating something new and original, with their Link’s Awakening-inspired game, Ratcheteer——which won “Game of the Year” in the 2022 Playdate Community Awards! Show Notes Shaun Inmans’s website Matthew Grimm’s website Charlie Davis’ website Ratcheteer: Deluxe Sound Version on Bandcamp The 2022 Playdate Community Awards by Tiny Yellow Machine and Donald Fraser Donald Fraser on Mastodon Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening Pulp CAPS Game Boy Retro Game Crunch Episode 4: Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure Tiled Level Editor Photoshop Cubase Chipsounds by Plogue Kazumi Totaka Wave Race 64 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Hirokazu (Hip/Chip) Tanaka Metroid Kid Icarus Dr. Mario Mother Balloon Fight Super Mario Land Jake Kaufman Shovel Knight Masashi Kageyama Gimmick! Pokémon Videogame Series The Blue Marlin HAL Laboratory Fontstruct Plastic Fern Spoiler-free Ratcheteer hints Ratcheteer game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

Neven Mrgan, a designer behind the Catalog app and Playdate games like Hidey Spot, joins Steven Frank, co-founder of Panic and creator of the Crank to Buy feature, for a lively discussion. They explore the excitement of Catalog’s launch as a curated game store for Playdate, making browsing fun and engaging. The duo shares insights on unique indie games and their development, highlighting whimsical titles and community involvement. Listeners will also enjoy anecdotes about innovative gameplay mechanics and the creative process behind these captivating games.

Not a lot of people know that Panic made video games in the late '70s! Cabel Sasser fills us in on b360’s decades-long history, designer Neven Mrgan remains committed to the bit as he talks about his contributions to the Playdate version of the game, and Dan Messing reveals what he learned from developing b360 simultaneously with the Playdate SDK. Plus: Panic’s own Jesus Diaz and Aaron Bell talk about their musical and sound design collaboration. Show Notes Cabel Sasser’s website Neven Mrgan’s website Dan Messing on Mastodon Steven Frank’s website Aaron Bell on Twitter Jesus Diaz and Aaron Bell (as Factory Default) on Bandcamp Macworld/iWorld CD-ROM Panic Disc on the Internet Archive Breakout Arkanoid Tiled Level Editor TRON Vectrex VVVVVV SEGA Genesis Wipeout Yamaha SY85 Pantscast - Panic Podcast Episode #2 b360 game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

Creator TPMCO shares his game development philosophy and insights gleaned over decades of working on MSX systems. Inspired by side- and vertical-scrolling shooters, plus the rebounding block destruction of “Breakout,” Battleship Godios is an action game requiring skill and precision, with all-new twists on some arcade classics. Show Notes TPMCO’s Website TPMCO on Twitter MSX TAROTICA VOO DOO Xevious Pac-Man Braid Breakout Super Breakout Famicom Battleship Godios game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

What if the in-world fire prevention mascot from Firewatch had his own licensed platformer back in the late '80s or early '90s? And what if in making that concept game, developer Nels Anderson and artist Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou actually re-skinned an older Japanese game—that had already been half re-skinned as a game about fire prevention!—that Nels had found on some random internet ROM forum? It’s the story of Forrest Byrnes: Up In Smoke! Show Notes Nels Anderson on Twitter Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou on Twitter Jared Emerson-Johnson Gord McGladdery on Twitter A Shell in the Pit Olly Moss on Twitter Firewatch Firewatch Easter Egg (Spoiler!) Mark of the Ninja Smokey Bear Tiled Super Mario Bros. 2/Doki Doki Panic Yo! Noid Famicom Diablo Corel Painter Photoshop Yogi Bear ZX Spectrum Arduboy DuckTales for NES and Game Boy Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

Since there’s no new episode of the Playdate Podcast this week, we thought you’d enjoy this episode of the Panic Podcast, which is all about Australian indie game developers House House, Untitled Goose Game, and what any of this had to do with a little company known for making Mac and iOS software in Portland, OR. Show Notes Full Show notes and images on the Panic Podcast site Episode Transcript

In this week’s special format episode of the Playdate Podcast, Nick Suttner joins Christa Mrgan as host, while the two teams behind Season 1, Week 9 get together over zoom to ask each other about their games! Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, and Ryan Splendorr weigh in on who they think the player in Inventory Hero really is, while Panic’s Steven Frank, Neven Mrgan, and James Moore ask about Spellcorked’s development, game design, and incredible animation. Show Notes Jada Gibbs on Twitter Nick Splendorr on Twitter Ryan Splendorr on Twitter Tony Ghostbrite on Twitter Em Halberstadt on Twitter A Shell in the Pit Ryan Kingdom on Twitter Neven Mrgan’s website James Moore on Mastodon Steven Frank’s website Nick Suttner’s website Factory Default (Aaron Bell and Jesus Diaz) on Bandcamp WarioWare Bugspeed Collider Tunic Kigurumi Ninetendo Switch Joy-cons Transmit Untitled Goose Game Untitled Goose Game Episode of the Panic Podcast The Story of Playdate Felix Kramer on Twitter Progress Quest Diablo Borderlands Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead Marie Kondo Midnight Gospel J2ME Dustin Mierau on Twitter Ratcheteer Playdate SDK Firewatch Thor: Ragnarok Ultima Online Horse Pants Anecdote Spellcorked game page on Playdate’s website Inventory Hero game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

Chuck Jordan felt his “Advance Wars”-inspired tactics game was missing something—then he remembered the joy of “Pokémon Snap.” Find out how the adventure game veteran ended up mixing turn-based tactics with cryptid group photography in “Sasquatchers” for Playdate. Show Notes Chuck Jordan’s website Chuck Jordan on Mastodon Jared Emerson-Johnson’s website Jared Emerson-Johnson on Twitter Ghia Mercado’s website Sasquatchers’ website Lucas Arts The Curse of Monkey Island Sam and Max Hit the Road Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People SimCity 4 Disney Imagineering Jake Rodkin on Twitter Idle Thumbs Telltale Games Firewatch Monstrum Series on YouTube Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Wars Pokémon Snap HyperCard Grim Fandango Playdate SDK Sasquatchers game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript

Game Designer Zach Gage on his love of editing existing games——where he plays with expectations within a well-established rule set——and how making a few small tweaks to the cellphone classic “Snake” led to surprising gameplay in his game “Snak” for Playdate. Plus: Panic Designer Neven Mrgan talks about the inspirations behind the art he created for both the in-game graphics and the launcher card, an homage to over-the-top game box art of the '80s and '90s. Show Notes Zach Gage’s website Zach Gage on Twitter Neven Mrgan’s website Neven Mrgan on Twitter Snake game TI-83 calculator Pendleton Ward JW (Jan Willem Nijman) Little Big Planet Super Mario Maker The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks Snak game page on Playdate’s website Episode Transcript