PD Reader - a pdf/comic/zine reader for your Playdate!

I've hacked together a simple app to display "pages" of images loaded from the user data folder. These images can be hand drawn or generated from a PDF using a tool like ImageMagick and fine tuning with @timhei's onebitdithertool.

My intent is to create an app for the more artsy folks in our community to easily create comics or zines without having to build a bespoke app for their work. Instead they can simply share "documents" - which are just folders of compiled PNGs - and users can drop them onto their device to get crankin'!

This project isn't meant for interactive comics, but if you're looking for such a thing, I highly recommend @cadin's Panels framework!

pdreader-0.2.0

For those curious, I used Mausritter and Ironsworn as examples in the GIF.

With @6AT0's permission, I've attached Playdate Digest NO. 1 as a sample. It's not the best quality as I converted it fairly quickly, but it's just meant to be a quick demo :smiley:

Playdate Digest NO. 1.zip (262.9 KB)

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Thanks so much for this! I just got it working and I think right off the bat I'd love to see a full screen option that got rid of the filename & page # on the top of the screen. I'll be messing with this more but great work so far!

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@pcenginefx As requested, I've added an option to hide the top nav bar! I've placed it in the system menu for now, but I might add an in-app settings menu if I add more user options in the future.

Screenshot_454

Full change list:

  • Added toggle to system menu that shows/hides the top nav bar
  • Fixed zoom not centered on current page
  • Clamped min zoom so you can't go negative
  • Added a card for the launcher
  • Pressing the left/right buttons now jump to the previous/next page
  • Double-tapping up now resets the zoom
  • Dedicated button for 2x zoom as been removed for now

I've also uploaded the project to itch! I'll still post here when I publish a new version.

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Thanks much for the update and taking my request! I have a few more "like-to-have" feature requests below that obviously get into the panels territory so if there is any way to implement them it would be great as I find the panels framework a bit more involved:

  • A timer that will advance each image automatically (and even better, a timer that is able to be set per-image...not just a global timer)

  • A variety of transition effects (fade in/fade out, horizontal push, etc.)

  • Being able to attach an audio track to each image

Thanks again for your work on this - the more cool projects like this people have to use on PD the better!

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Hmm those features do venture into Panels territory, but it just occurrd to me I could integrate Panels into PD Reader. I'll poke around and see how feasible this is :sparkles:

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Thanks so much for looking into it!