Playtiles: The Pocket-Sized Gaming Platform
19 points
5 hours ago
| 6 comments
| get.playtil.es
| HN
nosrepa
21 minutes ago
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I hope their production units have better buttons than what's shown on some of their images.

https://api.playtil.es/api/v1/shop/items/92/files/screenshot...

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nom
15 minutes ago
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yeah those are FDM 3d printed, unlikely that they are doing that in production for such simple pieces of plastic, it surely must be a prototype.
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zem
18 minutes ago
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the homepage design makes it impossible to link to anything, but they have a video which makes it look a lot better than that.
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bhz
3 hours ago
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Sad that the dev-kit apparently costs money. Unless I'm missing something, you have to pay to explore the SDK.
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zem
21 minutes ago
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it's not entirely clear from the page - the description of what you get when you buy the "dev kit" says

8<----------------

Each kit includes a custom Playtile and a download key for Gumpy Function's enhanced version of "Let's Build a Platformer!" course, featuring exclusive Playtiles chapters on sideloading, testing your games, digital manual, achievements, and more.

8<----------------

so at the very least it sounds like you buy the dev kit and it comes with the device as well, and the PDF course book. but it's not clear whether you can just get a playtile and then develop your own games for it. they do say you can "sideload" games from itch.io and play them with an actual controller, which makes me think the sdk is very minimal and mostly involves input translation, and might well be documented on their site when they release. it would be nice to have that spelt out in the faq though.

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sandboxdev
3 hours ago
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I don't understand what you're buying, a sticker and access to the software?
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zem
51 minutes ago
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the sticker is a game controller, with physical buttons. meant to give you more of a handheld gaming device experience on your phone
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atulvi
4 hours ago
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I've been wanting something like this! but how does it stick?
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mathgeek
4 hours ago
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From the FAQ, they're using one of the sticky surfaces that are reusable and refresh via getting them wet.
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crimsoneer
4 hours ago
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Aww this is a cute variation on the playdate model, which I really enjoyed
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Y_Y
3 hours ago
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Fuck QR codes so much. Yes they have good uses, but this isn't one of them. Would have been a good place to use NFC though.
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nosrepa
46 minutes ago
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Cameras are more ubiquitous than nfc chips
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