OS Feature Request - Auto-Pause Game Menu on Screen Unlock

SDK Feature Requests
1

Hello Playdate Team,

I have a quality-of-life feature request for a future Playdate OS update.

Could you add a system setting that automatically opens the pause menu when unlocking the console if a game was active when it was locked?

Right now, locking the console mid-game means you are instantly thrown back into live action the moment you unlock it. This can catch players off guard in the middle of fast-paced levels. Having an optional toggle to "Always wake up to Pause Menu" could help prevent accidental deaths or lost progress.

Thank you for making such an awesome little device!

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2

We thought about this a while back, but decided it made more sense for games to implement this as they see fit instead of imposing it on every game. Games get a deviceDidUnlock/kEventUnlock notification when the device is unlocked. Ideally they'd pause the action if they see that when the game is in a quick-response state.

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