Playbit is a framework for creating cross-platform Playdate games from a single Lua codebase. To accomplish this, it has two key components:
- A reimplemention of the Playdate API in Love2D.
- A build system that utilizes LuaPreprocess to strip/inject platform dependent code.
Why should you use Playbit?
If you're looking for a framework for creating cross-platform Playdate games from a single Lua codebase, then that's Playbit's primary goal!
However Playbit's features also can help improve your workflow when working on Playdate-only games too. For example:
- Builds scripts allow you to create automated build configurations. Do you have a separate demo build and paid build? Create a separate build script for each!
- Process assets at build-time with file processors to generate more performant versions e.g. work directly with Aseprite (.aseprite) to retain layers, tags, and other features and then auto-generate PNGs at build-time.
- Compile out blocks of code with preprocessor flags that aren't relevant for builds e.g. add development tools to test builds without adding bloat to your final production builds.
- Write more performant and maintainable code e.g. instead of calling math.abs(num) in a performance critical area (function calls can add up!) you can inline the method with a macro.
Additionally, if you're not creating a cross-platform game, all Playdate SDK functions are available to you since Playbit doesn't need to emulate them for Love2D.