I was an early Playdate backer, primarily because I thought it would be a fun device to share with my kids. I wanted to use it as the next level up from Scratch to teach them game design principles and development. Naturally, life got in the way and we never really pursued my goal ... until this weekend! \o/
I have both the .pdx and .json export up on Itch if anyone wants to check out the result: 7DRL 2024 by roguewombat
I consider it a success! It has a playable game loop, turn-based movement, variable numbers of sprites and items appearing randomly in 20 levels. You'll progress through 10 levels that have 2 weapon types, 3 monster types, and various challenges in the level design based on their movement and hit styles. A portal appears after 40 turns to take you to the next level until you recover a scepter on level 10, but as you progress through levels, it starts spawning invincible portal demons faster and faster.
I learned a lot about catering to the constraints of Pulp while developing this. Looking forward to refactoring a lot of this code and expanding the content with my boys, who are literally obsessed with this game. The tiles are primarily from a free Oryx tileset, but they're great at leaving a lot to the imagination ... and my kids are nothing if not imaginative. : D
In any case ... fun experience. Looking forward to more!
