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Robert Mion
Robert Mion

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Goodbye Pulp, Hello SDK

Why the switch?

Pulp is very specifically designed for simple, story-based, room-traversing games.

I have no interest in making games like that...for me or my son.

Due to the tile-centric model of Pulp, it seems silly to try using it to make any other type of game.

Thus, if I want to make even simple games, it looks like I'll need to dive into the SDK and learn Lua.

Get the SDK: check

  • I downloaded it earlier in this series in order to get the Playdate Simulator
  • However, it looks like I don't have the latest version
  • Now, I do!

What now?

  • The most popular, prolific publisher of Playdate educational material on Youtube is the user, SquidGod
  • In early February, he published the video below

Halfway through the video, he covers how to get started using the SDK in the popular code editor, Visual Studio Code.

I watched it to see if I could follow along.

I think I can do all of that, too.

Before that, Inside Playdate

The official SDK documentation is a large...document.

It's called Inside Playdate

Section 3 jumps straight into Writing a game.

I wonder how far I would get before feeling stuck or confused?

Two paths forward

  1. Attempt to follow along with SquidGod
  2. Attempt to follow along with Inside Playdate

I'll probably go in that order.

All that and more...in future parts of this series!

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