Crowdfunding Spotlight - 32Blit: Retro-Inspired Handheld

Game development can be pretty hard. Even trying to create a rudimentary pixel-art based game can be quite taxing if you're completely new at it. Over the years that have been several attempts at making a device or piece of software that aims to make the process less arduous for the uninitiated. In that vein, a small Sheffield-based design team has started a Kickstarter campaign for a device that could genuinely revolutionize game development. The team clearly has a lot of love for the early days of computing, when booting a PC was more than just an easy-to-use GUI and standardized programs; it was an adventure in programming and experimentation—a feeling they want to recapture with the 32Blit.

32Blit's Birth of Creation

The 32Blit plans to provide all owners with a simple set of game creation tools that should enable anybody to truly create there own video games from scratch. On top of that, they plan to offer backers weeks of fresh, live-streamed tutorials to turn any wannabe programmer into a game development wizard. As well as enabling users to create their own games from the ground up, the device will also be stocked with a library of pre-created assets, allowing designers to test out features and level designs before they create their own art, a task which will also be enabled by the on-device software.

The 32Blit is also completely home-grown, completely designed and manufactured in Sheffield, UK. The small-time community spirit is also an integral part of what makes the proposed device so great too. There are plans for a Discord community, allowing designers and developers to discuss ideas, get feedback on their games, and generally, engage in some general collaboration with other like-minded indie developers.

32Blit's Hardware

As well as offering a great community and a bunch of tutorials, the 32Blit has some impressive features packed into a small package. The machine features an accelerometer, allowing some rudimentary motion controls, as well as an impressive amount of graphical techniques, including mode 7 and raycasting. Effectively this means that with clever programming a whole variety of game types become available to designers. The machine will also feature an analog stick, four face buttons, and a D-pad as well as a pretty impressive IPS-screen, providing high-fidelity color reproduction and no limit to comfortable viewing angles, which is very important for a handheld machine.

32Blit Backer Tiers and Stretch Goals

The 32Blit has already reached its funding goal but has 41 days left to go, meaning that if you want to get in on the device before it goes to retail pricing. The first backer tier is exclusively for programmers who want to help make the 32Blit the best that it can be, which features access to the 32Blit while it is in beta testing, allowing backers to help hone the technology and software of the device before it goes to other backers. The other tiers all offer different discounts from the retail price, the first tier nets you a 32Blit with 20% off RRP, the next offer a device for a 17.5% discount, and the final £180 tier backers receive two 32Blit devices for a whopping 25% off. There was also initially access to a cheaper tier which gave backers the option to purchase the 32Blit at 25% off for only one unit instead of two, but unsurprisingly this massively good deal has already been sold out.

In terms of stretch goals, there are currently 3 on offer, although one of the three is a complete mystery. The first stretch goal added over 1000 additional sprites to the device's library of pre-produced assets and has already been reached, meaning the device will ship with a huge number of assets when it releases. The second stretch goal, sitting at £98,304, will see the 32Blit receive a haptic feedback feature, adding the potential to use rumble in your games. With the huge amount of time left before the game goes off of Kickstarter, it is likely that this goal will be reached very quickly. The final stretch goal is yet to be revealed and will presumably be unlocked once the second stretch goal is met.

Are you interested in the 32Blit? What kind of games would you make using the impressive game development software featured within? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.