Cobalt – a pixel-art painting studio for the Nintendo DS

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Hey everyone, Cobalt is a program for painting textural and expressive pixel-art on Windows, Linux, Nintendo DS, and in-browser. The same 46KB core executable runs on all platforms, with a thin emulator layer sitting on top to handle differences in inputs and filesystem access (which makes it easy to port between systems). It's built on Bedrock[0], an 8-bit virtual computer system I posted about here in July. I created Cobalt because I wanted to draw messy, gritty pixel art without smooth gradients, and the smaller colour palette helped with making bolder colour choices. Images can be moved back and forth between platforms, so you can copy works-in-progress to the DS to keep working away on the bus or train. It's like a 2004-era vision of the future. There's a live demo on the linked page that runs in the browser, and there are downloadable demos for every platform here[1]. Let me know if you try it out or have any questions! [0] https://benbridle.com/bedrock [1] https://derelict-engineering.itch.io/cobalt

Visit product View on Hacker NewsSep 30, 2025

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Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: computer · Missing: mac, agents, macos

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Hacker NewsStrong engagement from HN community · Strong signals: filesystem, io · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

72%72% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

Indie HackersFits the IH revenue-focused audience · Strong signals: created · Missing: supports, reddit linkedin, podcasting

64%64% predicted probability of success on Indie Hackers, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoStrong fit for a featured deal · Strong signals: platform · Missing: plus, intuitive, reviews

57%57% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

TrustMRRLess likely to generate early MRR · Strong signals: way · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

34%34% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

16%16% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

0%0% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

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