I was thinking that maybe some games could allow you to add a custom clock, so for example an idle game could have a clock that shows you your money or something on the Always On Display, and maybe have a low power mode to only refresh it every minute.
Just call playdate.setAutoLockDisabled(true) and let your game look like a wanted clock? You know, akin Playtime or Stars of the Screen. So no SDK API support needed—you've got everything already.
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Yes, that works—with a timer to replace the auto-lock with a switch to your app's clock.
And for power savings, setting a low playdate.display.setRefreshRate() during the clock is helpful.
(In Playtime, I also take the extra step of checking the battery level during the custom clock, and if it gets too low, I turn setAutoLockDisabled BACK off.)
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I didn't think of that actually 
Good thinking. Potentially, to go even "greener": stop() and manually call display.flush().
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