r/PlayMUN • u/immmendoza • 7d ago

Welcome to r/PlayMUN: building a home console for physical games

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m Iván and this is the official community of MUN.

What is MUN?
A home console built around physical Game Cards. Each card holds the complete game: you insert it and play, offline, with no account and no download keys. Each game comes as a collectible, and when you insert it, the console takes on that game’s look and feel. Physical games are and will always be at the core of MUN, though we’re also considering a digital option in the future.

Where we are, honestly
We’re very early, but we’re all in. Our operating system, MUN OS, is open source and already running in an emulated environment. We’re in talks with several studios to create something unique together. On the hardware side, we have several candidate SBCs and ongoing conversations with manufacturers, and choosing the right one is our next big step.

What you’ll find here
A development diary: hardware decisions, MUN OS, Game Cards and everything in between, the good days and the hard ones. And a place to ask questions, give feedback and help shape MUN.

We also speak Spanish: también hablamos español ya que este proyecto, una vez vea la luz, saldrá de México y España para el mundo!

Links: playmun.com · github.com/Play-MUN/mun-os

Thanks for being here at the very beginning.

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r/PlayMUN • u/immmendoza • 1d ago

MUN is taking shape: a new website, MUN OS dev.4, and a look at our first games

3 Upvotes

I’ve updated MUN’s website to better show what I’m building: an independent console where hardware, the operating system and games are designed together.

I’m inspired by the character of ’90s consoles. Switching one on already felt like entering a distinctive world. I want to explore that relationship between a machine and the games that make the most of it.

What you can try today

MUN OS v0.1.0-dev.4 is available as an experimental preview for QEMU. It includes a new boot sequence, reorganized settings, reset options and reduced memory use.

It also includes MUN Collect with the “sea” MUN Shape example. Insert its Game Card and the interface takes on an underwater world. Shape lets a game extend its colours, materials, sounds and animations into the console’s interface.

What’s in development

The website introduces Tower of Chaos. Concept images are labelled, and these games aren’t included in the download yet.

The physical hardware is still in development. Today, you can try the OS in a virtual console. Windowed play and audio have been tested on Mac; Linux and Windows have passed automated headless tests.

The core idea remains Buy. Own. Play. Games on Game Cards, no mandatory account or internet connection to play, and saves that travel with the card.

Website and getting-started guide: https://playmun.com
MUN OS source code: https://github.com/Play-MUN/mun-os

I’d especially like feedback from people discovering the project for the first time: does the website make MUN clear, and can you get the preview running by following the guide?

If something fails, tell me what computer you’re using and which step stopped you.

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r/PlayMUN • u/immmendoza • 4d ago

MUN OS development update: lower memory use, smaller downloads, and rebuilt settings

2 Upvotes

The next MUN OS update is coming together, and we have the first measured results.

Compared with the published v0.1.0-dev.3, the interface now uses:

  • 20% less RAM at 1080p: 243 → 194 MiB.
  • 28% less RAM at 1440p: 355 → 256 MiB.

These measurements come from our QEMU environment on Apple Silicon, using software rendering. They measure the interface, not total system memory.

The savings come from releasing resources when they’re no longer needed, including startup graphics and MUN Shape’s rendered frames. Across the repeated card cycles tested so far, memory settles instead of continuing to grow.

There’s more in this update:

  • Smaller downloads: approximately 461.5 → 446.9 MB.
  • Reorganized settings: Display, Sound, Appearance & Accessibility, Language & Time, Network, and System.
  • Two reset options: restore your preferences, or return the console to its initial state while keeping the installed OS. Neither touches Game Cards or their saves.
  • Bounded system logs to keep storage use under control.

This is still in development, not a published release. Independent review, longer sessions, and interrupted-reset testing are part of the remaining work.

The focus is making everyday use lighter and more dependable while keeping MUN’s visual identity.

Code and development builds

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