3 Games
I made this project for a high school course. The course was about Arduino and some basic applications but i was really curious if it could be used for some actual video games. I started researching and found out about Adafruit. I ordered my an Adafruit screen and taught myself how to use it.
My idea for the project was to make a video game console with Arduino and program 3 games into it. I wanted to use the screen for everything but the rubric for the project was not gonna allow me to do that. So I went for a Simon Says with leds in a protoboard, a Pong game in the screen and I intended for the last game to be a game that used an ultrasonic sensor.
I did not have experience with C++ or programming in general. Simon Says was an easy game to make but what I was really interested on was Pong. I made a lot of research and stumbled upon other versions of Pong made by other people. I analyzed their codes and created my own version which was later implemented with Simon Says. I created a whole menu and interface for the console. I remember it took my hours to make and it is also the project that made me realize that I really loved coding.
Unfortunately I no longer have the whole project built because I later reused the Arduino to make the R-Bot but the code still works and I plan on remaking this project with its own case and some improvements in the future.
The third game
The third game was never implemented because I ran out of memory in the Arduino which was a real shame. I plan on optimizing the code to add the extra game.
The Pong code
The code for my Pong was heavily influenced by the code made by Michael Teeuw. Because I really was just a rookie when it came to C++.
What did I do?
Although the Pong code was not made entirely by me, all the menus, selection UI and implementation was entirely made by me. I also learned how to use the Adafruit display library and even used it in other projects. It was really instructive since it was the first time I ever created a UI like this. In the end this project was a major factor in my decision to study Computer Science. The code can be found in my Github.
Arduino Arm
This project was made by a team of 5 people. It is a robotic arm that can turn around, go up and down and grab small objects. It has 3 modes: Manual, Auto-1 and Auto-2. Currently only the Manual mode is implemented, but in the code functions are already in place to program specific movements using servo values.
It is made out of Medium-Density Fireboard (MDF) and it was designed by Miguel Medina, with technical adjustments requested by me to make the device more functional. The laser cutting and material processing was made by the other members of the team.
The electronics inside were made by me, using the experience I got from the 3 Games project everything went quite smoothly. I used a perfboard to organize the components that needed power and soldered it to make it sturdier.
The programming was simple thanks to my previous experience working with the Adafruit libraries although I did ran into some problems because the libraries got updated and I had to adapt. Also I had to familiarize with the servos given that they had some quirks I was not aware existed. Sometimes they would just try to go all the way around or get stuck. I had to make several experiments to get it just right and smooth.
The Code
This Code was entirely made by me this time I did not use any external help which for me was quite a big accomplishment at the time. It can be found in my GitHub.
The teamwork
We were able to delegate tasks and had really good communication. If it weren’t for our teamwork the project might’ve never become a reality.
The guts of the project
COVID GAME
This is a game that I am currently developing that started as a project for the One Month Hack Hackathon. We had the idea of making a game in which the player controls a person in a sort of simulation of how life during COVID was. The player would have to fulfill the basic needs of the character including exercise, mental health and social needs. The game would periodically include tips about how to fulfill this basic needs yourself in this 2020 pandemic.
This game is being developed in Unity using C# as its primary programming language. We currently are working on developing de UI, scenes and the overall gameplay. We were not able to finish this project for the hackathon because we started learning Unity from scratch but we continue to develop updates.
We aim to make an actual objective for the game and we hope that by seeing how your character develops himself during quarantine it will help motivate people to make the most out of quarantine.
What did I do
I was the one who set up the organization in Unity and made sure we had a reliable way of working collaboratively. I also contributed to the rough design of the scene and some basic scripts.
What if we don’t finish on time for the pandemic?
The game I believe can also be used as a way to remembering how the pandemic was. The pandemic will probably not be a nice memory but we aim to make an actually fun and immersive gameplay that we think people will be able to enjoy.
The Game is subject to change
We haven’t figured out everything about the game so everything is subject to change this is just the point to where we have arrived as a team.