It has been a long long time since I made a game. Last one I did was a web game here https://constantsail.com (not currently functional and just a video of what it was like).

I have kids and a full time job, and cobbling together time to code on projects, and actually finishing them has been a struggle. My github account is full of half completed apps of various sorts that I just couldn't get over the finish line. 

Then along came playdate. 

* Not good at art?
      no worries, you only have 2 colors and a 400x240 display to deal with
* Working with Unity, godot, etc just seems like you'll spend the rest of your life watching tutorials?
     Easy peasy, lua isn't too different from javascript, and playdate sdk is really simple to learn

The constraints of the device made it easy to not get bogged down in the endless possibilities of making a video game, and my end product looks pretty much exactly how I envisioned it in the beginning.

And since this was written in lua, it wouldn't be especially challenging to port it to love2d if I want to make a richer looking experience and put it on steam, or even make it 3d and possibly in vr with LÖVR. 

Going down those roads is the dangers of options, which is difficult to manage when you are just trying to turn a concept into something playable, but now, it is an app where the controls and enemies are already tuned, and it can be made to look any way you like after this.

And that is what is wonderful for me about playdate. It is the perfect sketch pad that limits you in all the right ways to just focus on getting the gameplay just right, and with minimal work to do on visuals and presentation.

What is amazing is I created a game in less than 1000 lines of code. That is really nothing in comparison to many projects that I never even got off the ground.