Firefly Zero

A modern handheld game console with effortless multiplayer. It's fun to play, alone or with friends, and easy to program.

For players

  • Lots of never-before-seen unique games.
  • The easiest same-room multiplayer.
  • Unique touchpad controls inspired by Steam Controller.
  • Works and will always work without the internet.
  • You own it. No cloud subscription, no online-only games or services, no DRM. The games you buy today will stay yours forever.
  • A beautiful glowing case changing its color with the game.
  • Safe, thanks to cryptography.

For developers

  • Programmable in Go, Rust, Zig, TypeScript, Python, Lua, and lots of other languages.
  • Don't know programming yet? Make your first game in 5 minutes with Blockly!
  • The easiest way to make multiplayer games.
  • Desktop emulator, CLI, and lots of other development tools.
  • Friendly and safe API without direct memory manipulation.
  • Open source software and hardware.
  • Touchpad, accelerometer, multi-color display.
  • First-class support for scores, leaderboards, and achievements.

Keep me posted!

Tell us your email using the form below, and we'll send you only 3-5 emails ever:
when the gamedev SDK is 100% complete, when we launch a Kickstarter campaign, and when you can buy the device.

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Early adoption FAQ

What happens to my game if your startup fails?

As one of our first steps, we plan a web emulator. And we already have a desktop emulator. Even if the physical device will never come to life, your game will still be playable online.

Will it be open-source?

Yes! Both software and hardware will be free and open-source. Our main profit will be from selling physical units. Check out our Github to see what's already available.

How much will it cost?

It depends on the production costs. It won't be expensive, we're not trying to reinvent a smartphone. But it won't be as cheap as countless Chinese GBA clones. In any case, we'll make sure that it's free considering the included games. For example, if the device costs $100 and an average retro game costs $5, we'll make sure to provide at least 20 free high-quality games.

When can I buy it?

We go with the flow. We focus on delivering the best product rather than delivering anything but fast. We'll make sure to provide a way to donate money for the cause. And when we have the prototype perfected, we plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the production.

How can I help?

The most valuable help we can get is people who'll make games for the console and provide us feedback on all the difficulties they have. We want to perfect the development tooling and experience. But we need to settle some moving parts first.

Team

We are geeks making gamedev fun and easy.

Gram

Software

github mastodon email

Alex

Hardware

github

Roadmap