ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game developers

Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by traverseda on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @11:26AM (#33331869)

It's a small linux handheld with a slightly anemic ARM cpu, a full keyboard, and metal case.

There are various "fantasy consoles" people make video games on, like the piko-8^1 (which the indie darling Celeste was originally developed for) and the TIC-80^2 (Providing a more PC-like experience). It might be best to think of them as emulators for computers/devices that never existed. Some platonic ideal of game consoles past. They're often programed in LUA and provide limited RAM/Display-resolution/palette-depth, etc, in order to provide a retro feel while not requiring you to program in actual assembly.

Personally I'd be more interested in this as a field-device/development-environment/tricorder type unit. It seems like a great unit to hook a chip programmer up to, or one of those open-source FPGA-based oscilloscopes, or other lab instrumentation.

1: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

2: https://tic80.com/

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by wilsonnb3 on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @12:07PM (#33332488)

More info:

There are a bunch of Chinese handhelds that people use for emulation, some of which can run PICO 8 games.

My Anbernic RG351V does it but I don’t think it came with the stock OS, requires some tinkering.

Anyways, there is already a small market for handheld “fantasy console” players that might respond positively to the open nature of the clockwork pi devices.

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by roywiggins on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @12:45PM (#33333036)

It's a shame there's no official PICO-8 runtime for any of those little devices, last time I checked compatibility was a bit spotty from the open-sourced reimplementations. Things have probably gotten better on that front since I last looked though.

This thing supports a Raspberry Pi compute module so I assume it will run the Pi version of PICO-8.

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by ThatPlayer on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @02:53PM (#33334667)

JELOS on the Anbernics can run the official Raspberry Pi version of PICO-8 fine. Agree with the reimplementations not being as good.

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by roywiggins on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @10:49PM (#33339211)

Ah, yeah, I was thinking more the ye olde OpenDingux handhelds running on the venerable JZ4770 etc.

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by Cyberdog on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @12:09PM (#33332511)

Not really sure why they're branding it as a console when it's basically a portable Pi, and therefore far more versatile than "game console" implies. I suspect that will cause some confusion among potential customers who initially just see it as a game engine runtime.

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by blep_ on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @07:24PM (#33337588)

One of the immutable laws of Raspberry Pi usage is that, for every application, a Pi will be either massively overpowered (this) or completely unnecessary (using them for "learning programming" when you have a perfectly good computer right there).

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Re:ClockworkPi – uConsole, “fantasy console” for indie game ... by anigbrowl on Tuesday October 25, 2022 @08:50PM (#33338309)

Truth, though I had to fight off the temptation to get one of those Elecrow Pi Laptops with a breadboard-type electronic kit inside. I don't think the RPi is overpowered for this - maybe for the stated purpose of emulating 8 bit games, but I like the idea of a general purpose computer that is not trying to be a tablet or TV.

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