Cloudburst
Cloudburst is a silly little thing that just exists because it can. When Panic added networking features to the Playdate to pave the way for Blippo+, superstar dev rae was one of the first to play with it. They quickly put together an app that would transfer the info from WeatherAPI.com into a Playdate-compatible format. It’s been free on Itch for a while now and is coming to Catalog for $5 (only difference really will be the free updates, and your money will support rae and all the things they’re doing), and it has many of the weather things you expect from weather apps: temp, “feels like,” what is happening in the next 1-6 hours, wind speed and direction, humidity, precipitation, moon phase, tomorrow’s temps, sunrise, and sunset. It also has, on the one scrollable screen, air quality numbers and a bunch of PPB stats that I’m not sure what they mean. This is the biggest missed opportunity, for me.
There are a lot of ways to tell what the weather is. Swipe left on your phone’s home screen. Turn on the TV. Check the internet. Look out the window. A lot of those have more fully featured weather information, as well, like a 7-day forecast, or what an air quality of “1” from the EPA and DEFRA actually means. Is that good? Is that bad? Is a CO stat of 277.5 PPB favorable to mowing the lawn today, or will I pass out from the toxic fumes? I normally check my phone for the weather — it’s always on my person and takes literally one second. The Playdate, I have to scroll to the app, wait for it to connect, then OH there is the weather. But a few tweaks could make Cloudburst more than a novelty.
What is the 11.84 PPB NO2 number comparable to? Is that what the nitrogen dioxide level is on Mars right now? What IS the nitrogen dioxide level on Mars now? What does a NO2 level of 3,000 taste like? At what point will a high/low air quality number adversely affect my health? It could recommend some other rae games to play when it’s 100 degrees out there, or 30 below. Play some rain sounds when it’s raining, and some Weather Channel-esque muzak in the background (the app itself is silent). Seeing the local weather on your Playdate is a novelty, but it could be a little more. Does a waning crescent moon portend cruel fates, or should I buy a lottery ticket today?
It’s neat that this exists, and it’s free on Itch if you want to try it out, or get it on Catalog to give rae a little money. Or buy one of the other tremendous rae games, like RowBot Rally or HEXA. The fact is that the Playdate couldn’t even do this in 2024. And now it can. It has imperial or metric measurements, and celsius or fahrenheit, and I didn’t have any issues finding a local city in the database. Might as well check it out if you want to know how hot it is!
(Released February 9, 2025, for free on Itch. Releasing August 19, 2025, on Catalog for $5. Copy provided by developer.)