Playdate Debug

Unofficial Playdate debug extension for Visual Studio Code on macOS, Windows and Ubuntu

Features

• Debug Lua code running in the Playdate Simulator
• Compile games to .pdx using pdc
• Problem matchers for pdc
• Open the Playdate Simulator
• Run and debug current Lua file in the Playdate Simulator from the editor toolbar

Requirements

• The Playdate SDK must be installed separately

Quick setup

Tasks and debug launcher

Copy the following .vscode/tasks.json and .vscode/launch.json configuration:

// .vscode/tasks.json
{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "type": "pdc",
      "problemMatcher": ["$pdc-lua", "$pdc-external"],
      "label": "Playdate: Build"
    },
    {
      "type": "playdate-simulator",
      "problemMatcher": ["$pdc-external"],
      "label": "Playdate: Run"
    },
    {
      "label": "Playdate: Build and Run",
      "dependsOn": ["Playdate: Build", "Playdate: Run"],
      "dependsOrder": "sequence",
      "problemMatcher": [],
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

// .vscode/launch.json
{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "type": "playdate",
      "request": "launch",
      "name": "Playdate: Debug",
      "preLaunchTask": "${defaultBuildTask}"
    }
  ]
}

The debugger can be launched from the "Run and Debug view" by selecting the "Playdate: Debug" launch configuration and then clicking the "Start Debugging" button.

A cookiecutter project template is available for quickly generating new projects with the above configuration from the command line.

See the basic configuration example for more information.

Run and debug current Lua file

NOTE: The "Run/Debug file in Playdate Simulator" command is intended to be a shortcut for prototyping and learning. It is recommended to use the task and launch configuration above.

The extension can build, run and debug the current Lua file in the editor with zero configuration as long the automatic configuration conditions are met.

When you open a Lua file in the editor after installing the extension, you will now see a launch icon and dropdown menu in the editor toolbar. Clicking the launch icon or selecting an item from the dropdown menu will build and run the current Lua file in the Playdate Simulator. The "Debug file in Playdate Simulator" option will enable breakpoints to be hit.

Configuration

Automatic

The tasks and debugger will attempt to automatically resolve the correct configuration using the environment. One of the following conditions must be met for this to work:

• The PLAYDATE_SDK_PATH environment variable is set to the Playdate SDK path
• ~/.Playdate/config exists and the SDKRoot property is set to the Playdate SDK path (macOS only)

Workspace settings override

The default behavior can be overridden by setting the SDK path, game source path, compiled game path or game name in your workspace's settings.json file. The extension will fall back to the default behavior for any configuration fields that are not set.

// .vscode/settings.json
{
  "playdate-debug.sdkPath": "/path/to/PlaydateSDK",
  "playdate-debug.sourcePath": "/path/to/MyGame/source",
  "playdate-debug.outputPath": "/path/to/MyGame",
  "playdate-debug.productName": "My Game"
}

See the override configuration example for more information about these properties.

PDC task

See the pdc configuration example for additional pdc task properties.

Playdate Simulator task

See the playdate simulator configuration example for additional playdate-simulator task properties.

Debugger

See the debugger configuration example for additional playdate debugger properties.