Playtime - 50 weird/game-style alarm clocks for Playdate

Love this! Would be happy to test if you still need testers. Otherwise, looking forward to grabbing a copy when all is ready!

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@AdamsImmersive Huge clock fanatic here, and just wanted to drop in and say I've loved messing about with the beta and can't wait for the full release! Also, seeing your apple watch face collection is the first time I've wanted a smart watch- great work!

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Thanks! I've had way too much fun making it harder to tell the time on my watch :slight_smile:

Also, if you want to run my Apple Watch faces on a tablet as a desk clock (vertical orientation), that should work!

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I'd be glad to test and report. -J

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If you still need testers, I'd love to help!

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I would also like to do some bug hunting, if you don't mind :slight_smile:

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I may have enough initial testers—but I also may want to grow that pool, so I will definitely keep in mind everyone who volunteered! Thank you!

I'm still chasing a pesky intermittent bug—but all the clocks are built! Over 40 in total:

Gallery 40+ Clocks

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Does the app itself teach you how to read it? This is wicked cool

Yes, every clock has its own customizable options plus a built-in illustrated "manual"—here's the one for that clock, "Beast":

Beast Details Screen

And here's how it transitions between the main gallery and each clock's "details" screen:

Beast Details Transition

(The first item in the gallery grid—the Playtime title image—is not a clock. It takes you to general app-wide settings like battery saving and 12/24-hour modes, along with the "intro manual" for the whole app explaining the controls that all clocks share. And that's where the QR-based update checking is found too.)

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It's out! Whew! (And discounted through Sunday!)

I think I may have botched the itch.io launch by making a page for the project while the status was "In Development"... the Most Recent games list on itch seems to be ranked by the date they entered development, NOT the date you change it to "Released" and create the download.

The "In Development" status is cool because you can post progress updates, but it's possible I shouldn't have used it. My new release is listed way down with releases from weeks ago. (And presumably this would also affect New & Popular.) I'm still learning the ropes at itch, though, and there may be a workaround! I'll share if I find one.

EDIT: It does indeed rank new releases by when they first ENTERED development... however, apparently itch staff can and will (without even being asked) update the date to the real release date. To make that happen you must make a devlog post, properly tagged that it's a "major update," and then wait for it to be detected and processed.

(There IS a "release date" field in your app's metadata--which remains blank even after release unless you manually enter it. That's NOT the workaround, though--the devlog post seems to be what's needed.)

A little odd, but hopefully it works!

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I'm adding some inadvertently-missing 24-hour support (the "mini clocks" on Beast and Thylacine).

24-hour support for the "Blocky"/"game-like" clocks was a problem I didn't expect to solve: the hour numbers MUST be drawn on the "cracks" between a 3x3 grid--in other words, on the lines of a tic-tac-toe board. That's the only way for them to avoid butting up alongside the minute lines (which would make a complete mess).

I didn't think I could do 00, or numbers in the 20s, on a 3x3 grid... but I've taken another crack at it! They're not as pretty as the numbers 1–12, but I think they're serviceable enough:

24-hour-blocky-digits

(For reference, you can see the faint ghost of the minute digit matrix—the lines the hour lines can cross but can't touch side-by-side.)

I MIGHT be able to extend the bottom line of the "skinny 2's" a little longer. Time to experiment...

EDIT: Yes, the bottom line on those 2's can be as long as the top line. I'll be including these new designs in v1.2, which I'm testing now for release soon.

Version 1.2 is out on itch.

ALL clocks now support 24-hour time.

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As someone who made their own clock software, I love this and bought it even though I don't even have a PlayDate yet.

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Those are cool! I've been thinking about making an LED clock for a long time. I have some bizarre UV-LED ideas. Hope you have some yellow hardware in your hands before too long!

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Thank you. I also suggested they let us have our app act as the lockscreen/clock cause I'd like to port mine over to it

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Confirmed: DO NOT post a project as In Development on Itch. I know in theory it's supposed to update to the actual Release date (if you make a Major Update devlog) but for me it never happened, as of 10 days after release. So when my app first appeared in Most Recent, it was incorrectly listed as months old and sorted far down. There it remains.

I did get some initial downloads via announcements on Twitter and Reddit, but a lot of people see that, go on Itch, don't see it in Most Recent, and think those were just PRE-announcements. So I've had several people contact me to ask when it's coming out. (I get that! Most Recent is my own go-to on Itch!)

On the bright side, for future Playdate first-timers, Most Recent matters less!

But I will NOT be creating an In Development project for my upcoming Playdate horror game (Outside Parties). Too risky!

Meanwhile, I'm working on a few minor changes/fixes for Playtime. I probably won't rush to release them unless some bigger issue comes to light. The one bug I see now in 1.2.2: even when plugged in, I want the app to sleep IF you leave it sitting on a menu instead of a clock. (That way it will at least go to the system clock.) That situation used to work!

I'd also like to have Playtime obey the system 12/24-hour setting, instead of having its own choice for that. (But that would need an SDK change.) And I'm pondering ways to speed up a few transitions. And I have already made a little improvement to the battery meter (in theory—need to test).

Is it worth considering re-releasing it on a new itch page and deleting the old one? (or removing the download from the old one and adding a link leading to the new one...) You'd lose your dev logs and any download stats you already have, but... could help with that discoverability...

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It's a thought! But I do have the dozens of downloaders from the initial Twitter/Reddit post, and I don't want to inconvenience them just for a short-term benefit.

Plus the way I see it, the Playdate market is starting small and growing larger as more are made. By the time the market is significantly larger than now, Most Recent won't be such a one-stop-shop anyway!

(Meanwhile I'll be amending my Twitter and Reddit posts, telling people to skip Most Recent and just search for Playtime.)