The Playdate is one of those consoles that never fails to make us feel intrigued. We're all used to the general shape and form of a Game Boy, but whenever I pick up the Playdate I still feel like I'm discovering it for the first time again. It's a handheld that defies the norm, largely due to the hand crank sticking out of the side, and one that promotes devs making their own creations for other users to test out and play.
That's exactly what Richard Jordan of BitGlint Games has done, creating his first Playdate project in the form of a Space Invaders clone for the little yellow enigma. It's called Retro Invaders and works exactly like Space Invaders, with the same mechanics and action but modified sprites to avoid Taito coming and knocking on the door.
I've just released my first Playdate project, a little experimental Space Invaders clone called Retro Invaders. If you have a Playdate, and want some simple shooty fun then download it for free from bitglint.itch.io 😎 #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #playdate
— Richard Jordan (@ericretro.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
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Retro Invaders is available to download from the BitGlint itch.io page for free, with users already sideloading it onto their Playdates and enjoying Richard's first Playdate offering. 'It's my first project on the platform and has served as a test bed for learning the C API and creating my own dev framework with a view to writing more stuff for this excellent little device,' says Richard, adding 'the Playdate is an awesome piece of kit and lovely to develop for. The restrictions you have just seem to make it more fun.'
