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blog by rae

Cloudburst Beta Manual

02.25.2025   •   cloudburst


Cloudburst

Synopsis

Real-time weather. On your Playdate.

Curious what the forecast looks like? Easy! But…your laptop’s out of reach, your phone’s battery is dead, your smart assistant’s brain is busted, and your curtains are shut. It’s just you, and your Playdate. What can you do? Well, here is your answer! Leveraging state-of-the-art networking capabilities, Cloudburst is a fully seamless, on-line enabled weather app for your Playdate!

Get the forecast here, there, or anywhere — it’s compatible with cities around the world! See detailed stats such as hourly forecast, precipitation, wind, and more. Change settings to your heart’s content, and even use it as a low-power screensaver — the perfect desk buddy. No external tools or setup required, just download and go — it’s weather, untethered.

Basics

This app connects to an external on-line API, to enable sending and receiving of data including weather information. To use this app, make sure your Playdate has an active Wireless connection.

Controls

The D-pad and A and B buttons are used to navigate menus. The crank is optionally used in menus, but required to display detailed weather information. Within the app, context is provided as to which controls will perform what actions.

Initialization

When you first start the app, you’ll be prompted to provide an approximate location. This data will be shared with the API service to gather information about your area. This information isn’t shared anywhere else on-line, but will be saved on your Playdate’s local disk.

After providing a location, you’ll be prompted to adjust a few settings — namely, temperature preference, and measurement preference. After this, the Playdate will attempt to connect to the Internet and grab weather data for your area. If your Playdate cannot connect to the Internet, an error message will appear and you’ll be prompted to try again later.

Where are you?

If the resulting API data doesn’t match your location, try being a bit more specific with your data entry. For example, instead of “Portland”, try inputting something like “Portland OR”, or a direct ZIP/Postal code. Cloudburst should work with most (if not all) areas around the globe — if you live in or discover an area that you just cannot get to work, let me know!

Weather

Main Screen

The main screen always shows your area’s current temperature and estimated forecast, your console’s local time, and current battery estimate.

When the Playdate is plugged in to power, animated wallpapers will refresh at 30 frames per second. When running on battery, the display will enter a lower-power state to save energy, refreshing at 5 frames per second.

The Fold™

By using the crank on the main screen, you can wring up The Fold™. This contains more detailed weather info for your current location, such as:

Options

In this app, there are a variety of options you can change to fully optimize your experience.

Credits

Changelog

Version 1.0.0b3

04.01.2025

Version 1.0.0b2

03.03.2025

Version 1.0.0b1

02.25.2025


Download Cloudburst on Itch.io