[hinkley]

I have been contemplating lately if we need something like either the early days of computer games or the heyday of the Demo Scene, where people make amusements that are meant to run on embedded computers.

I'm not quite sure what that should look like, but in particular making physical puzzles driven by say an STM32 chip could be cool. Especially if you can have it change the rules of the game once you've solved one puzzle.

Anyway, teeny tiny game engines brings that whole line of thinking back up for me.

[MenhirMike]

> where people make amusements that are meant to run on embedded computers.

I'm glad that PICO-8 exists, which is kinda exactly that. Except that it's not targeting any actual hardware (it's an imaginary retro-system), but it ticks all the other boxes.

Would be interesting to see what you can do in a physical space - your STM32 example still needs some kind of output attached to it, but with a 3D Printer and some other cheap components, you can add whatever I/O you want.

[hinkley]

When I was a child, there was a hot second where someone implemented PacMan on an LCD screen.

And I really do mean a hot second, because one boy showed up with one, another couple had one within days, and by the end of the week the school had banned them. As, I'm sure, did most every other school in the country. Now I can play audiobooks on my watch, but no games to speak of.