best games of 2024.. Despite the fact that we are only halfway through the year, 2024 is already jam-packed with daring, high-budget titles such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and many more. I wish it were accessible on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, but alas, one of my favorite 2024 games isn’t. Lucas Pope, creator of Papers, Please! and Return of the Obra Dinn, has created a new game called Mars After Midnight. Where else can you play it? Plunge into the Playdate, Panic’s eccentric crank-operated 1-bit handheld.
Unlike Pope’s other works, Mars After Midnight is a game with a lighter tone. The plot centers on an extraterrestrial being who, with the help of his robotic sidekick, modifies and acts as bouncer for nightly community gatherings on Mars in an effort to fulfill his lifelong desire of visiting Earth. Players must use the Playdate’s few buttons and a crank to assess each alien thing that approaches the door, decide whether to allow it in, and clean up after it eats the refreshments.
Mars After Midnight is a case study in optimizing a game for a certain platform by making full use of the smaller handheld’s screen real estate and almost all of its buttons. It’s fresh in that regard, and talking to Pope taught me that the limitations of developing a Playdate game really foster originality. A diamond was created under intense pressure by the platform.
A one-bit marvel
The Playdate, a portable gaming device that was released in 2022, is reminiscent of the Game Boy era. It has a side crank and a tiny, one-bit screen that doesn’t light up. Many developers, Pope included, have been enticed to create games on the handheld by the device’s unique features. According to Pope, who spoke with Digital Trends, “There’s so much cool stuff you can do with it,” despite the game’s unusual gameplay style. “After Obra Dinn, I was absolutely exhausted, but Playdate seemed like a great place to have fun and play.”
You have to consider issues that we no longer give much thought to when our options are severely constrained.
Playing as a first-person puzzle adventurer, players must figure out how the whole crew of the titular ship perished in Pope’s smash hit 2018 game, Return of the Obra Dinn. Not only is the game itself exceptional, but its 1-bit visual design is a major selling point. According to Pope, his fascination in 1-bit graphics stems from his early days playing on a Macintosh Plus, which gave him a respect for the distinct visual design problems of that era. That curiosity led me to want to make something for the Playdate after I made Obra Dinn.
Pope explains that when one’s options are severely constrained, they are forced to consider issues that are no longer front of mind. “I enjoy tackling the technical challenges that come with creating high-quality 1-bit art, such as making objects stand out on backgrounds and ensuring that backgrounds don’t flicker excessively when scrolled.”
Mars After Midnight is a product of such constraints, yet it nevertheless manages to be one of the Playdate’s most aesthetically and functionally stunning games. I have to use the D-pad to get a good look at every alien I meet since they’re all so detailed and fill up the whole 400 by 240 screen of the Playdate. A lot about the artwork and gameplay may be gleaned from the screen size.
“The screen is beautiful, but it’s also really small,” Pope remarks after getting the physical Playdate and playing with it. The idea of the screen as a window through which you can see a larger object originated from that realization. I made sure to take use of the gaming mechanic of resizing the window to view more by giving the characters big faces and plenty of contrast so they really pop.
After deciding on a story arc that was consciously more optimistic than his earlier games, Pope set out to create a Playdate-exclusive game that felt less strained than his prior two or three titles.
Martian Life
Within Mars After Midnight, the main gameplay cycle starts with my selecting the kind of session I would want to host at the community center that evening, along with where to publicize it and what refreshments to provide. Simple attendance is required at some of the gatherings. In Gnat Knife Handling, I am required to hold up a magnifying glass accessory to determine if an incoming insect is carrying a blade, and in the other, there is a support group for Cyclopes.
Once I finish all those tasks, I start the night. In the event that I get a knock at the door, I open a window on the Playdate using its crank. Anyone who has ever used a crank to open anything before would immediately comprehend its fundamental interaction. Pope discovered during early testing with real Playdate hardware that using the crank, D-pad, and buttons on the handheld simultaneously was difficult and that the crank wasn’t sturdy as it spun. After much trial and error, he settled on the mechanism whereby players physically and intuitively open door shutters with a crank.
I need to check the credentials of everyone approaching the door after I’ve had my fill of playing with the window. On that particular night, I decide if they are qualified for the session. All sorts of Playdate interactions were required for these jobs; for example, in order to access a dictionary of foreign words and check whether secret agents are providing me the right secret code, I had to touch the system menu button. According to Pope, prior to the introduction of those accessory-based vetting procedures, all encounters in Mars After Midnight were conducted solely primarily on visuals. He discovered during playtesting that they just lacked enjoyment. Following this, he began creating activities such as Gnat Knife Handling.
The moment “the light bulb went off in my head” occurred, according to Pope. “I would have preferred more experiences along those lines, where I could add some flair by manipulating the object with an accessory, engaging in some action, and watching how it responded.”
I have other things to do in Mars After Midnight than letting them in. The guests also sabotage the refreshments I left out for them by eating them. I need to use the Soup-A Sweep-A to clear up that mess in between my regular screenings. According to Pope, the inspiration for this notion came from his early game art, where he referenced refreshments. Because he found staring at faces to be “not much of a game,” he included them in Mars After Midnight to make the gaming loop more interesting.
Mars After Midnight boils down to it. Every night, I have to wipe tables, decide who gets into meetings using a plethora of event-specific mechanics and accessories, and try to decipher its subtle story about the power of assisting others. The brilliance of Mars After Midnight lies in the fact that these interactions use every single Playdate function, even if some of them may seem trivial.
Unlike any other Dating app, Playdate
Game development for the Playdate isn’t like any other game development. Pope stresses the significance of using real Playdate hardware to play games, as it provides a visually distinct experience compared to creating a game on a desktop computer. He made sure that the door-checking gameplay and the Soup-A Sweep-A wouldn’t interact with each other after realizing that using the D-pad and crank simultaneously wasn’t very pleasant.
He opted not to create a challenging game because he believed that games on smaller mobile platforms, such as Playdate, should provide more opportunities for players to revisit them. This is just one more example of how Mars After Midnight’s design reflects a deep familiarity with its intended platform. The clever mechanics are what will remain with me after I’ve completed the game, even if the jokes and special effects are entertaining.
Although there are still system exclusives, most games don’t seem to be made with the platform it’s released on in mind (with the exception of a few PS5 titles that enable DualSense). I love it when platform-specific games really own their niche and make the most of it. No Playdate game has ever been able to unseat Mars After Midnight as my favorite on Panic’s portable, while Astro’s Playroom remains my favorite PS5 game.
ope made the most of every button on this gadget to create one of the most exciting games of 2024. It’s a basic game about screening individuals before they join a meeting. Despite the fact that the D-pad and buttons are fantastic and allow you to create several excellent games using just them, he insisted on including them on the Playdate because he wanted to give it a purpose. There was probably a solid reason why Mars After Midnight was produced just for Playdate after I beat the game and spoke with him.
