Putting a game on my playdate

In this article I try to do exactly that.

In the last article I used Pulp.

Pulp has a Download PDX button.

What's a PDX?

• My guess: it stands for PlayDate eXecutable
• It appears to be a collection of files
• As stated in the Help guide, a PDX is just like any other game on the platform

Pushed the button.

Have a ZIP file.

How do I get this on my Playdate?

Connect Mac to Playdate via USB-C

My Playdate is charging.

Nothing else happens, though.

What am I missing?

SDK, Simulator and Sideloading

• I want to put a game on my Playdate
• This is apparently called Sideloading
• To do it, I need to download the Playdate SDK
• And run my game in the Playdate Simulator, which comes with the SDK
• Then click a button to upload the game to my Playdate

I learned all of this after doing a Google search and finding the wonderfully informative page Sideloading Playdate games.

Installing Playdate SDK

Where is it?

• I've never used an SDK
• I thought I just installed an executable file
• I was wrong
• I installed a collection of files, some of which are executable

Running Playdate Simulator

For now, the only value of installing the SDK was to get this software.

Registering my Simulator

I feel like this is a necessary step.

After following the prompts and pressing a button, I'm all set up!

Connecting via USB

• My Simulator is registered to my account
• Time to connect Playdate to Mac and see what capabilities I unlock!

I see a new icon in the bottom-right corner of the Simulator:

The Upload Game to Device menu item is disabled.

That's because I have to load a game into the Simulator first.

I need to find the PDX file I downloaded.

Oh, cool! It has an icon next to it because my computer now understands how to open a PDX file!

Now that a game is loaded, I can click on the previously-disabled menu item:

Using Mirror as proof of a successful Sideloading

I sideloaded that game onto my Playdate!

Instead of using my phone to take a photo of my Playdate, I want to take a screenshot of what's on my Playdate as seen from my Mac's desktop.

To do that, I need another app, Playdate Mirror.

Thankfully, downloading it is easy:

It is an executable, like Simulator.

I booted it up.

I closed Simulator because they can't both be running.

And I saw what was on my Playdate from my Mac!

I did it!!

• I put a game on my Playdate!
• After downloading and installing the Playdate SDK for Mac!
• Then registering my Simulator to my account!
• Then downloading and opening a PDX in the Playdate Simulator!
• Then connecting my Playdate to my Mac via USB!
• Then clicking a button to upload the game to my device!

Wow. Lots of steps.

But now it will be easy to put a game on my Playdate any time I want!