Arduino game consoles? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 04:59:47 pm
content: I was able to find gamebuino and a few other projects, but I'm interested in seeing other consoles/DIY projects too. If any forum members might have made a game with Arduino or a similar easy to use package, I would love to see it.While of course you can get a Pi and load some emulator and get a probably high quality console (depending mostly on the chosen screen, case, etc), I'd like to see simpler and cheaper solutions. I loved watching Ashen's videos on weird game consoles (there's quite a few "popstation" videos), and I'd like to see more home made ones.

author: TK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 06:47:29 pm
content: There is a Gameboy type Arduino game console named Arduboy:https://arduboy.com/

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 07:02:04 pm
content: Quote from: TK on September 24, 2017, 06:47:29 pmLooks good. If ever making such a project, I thought about the possibility of reusing a case from a cheap Chinese handheld, as 3D printing would be more expensive (except maybe for those that have a 3D printer). Then, all dimensions of all of the components would need to fit (without even knowing the exact case dimensions). There are also cases for gameboys and etc. but I'm not sure that's preferred to a generic Chinese handheld case anyway (although the dimensions might be known).As for reusing any parts, perhaps the tiny speaker would be the only reusable thing. Display not likely. Button caps possibly, but those would need to be used anyway as they are a part of the case.

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 07:04:05 pm
content: Arduino is the stupidest MCU to run any game on, unless you want a monochrome snake or tetris.

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 07:22:13 pm
content: Quote from: Yansi on September 24, 2017, 07:04:05 pmTrue that such MCUs are not intended for games, but I don't have any issues with the type of games running on the mentioned examples.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 07:47:11 pm
content: I always thought it would be neat to try to do something equivalent to the NES using arduino. I imagine it could be done though I'm not sure if the clock frequency is fast enough to do the video at a decent framerate/screen res. I don't know much about that but I imagine video needs to run at a very specific clock speed to work, depending on what format. (ex: composite out, HDMI etc). Could have a separate MCU to handle that though and it could bit bang the video stream. Suppose a FPGA would be better suited for this.

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 08:09:33 pm
content: Quote from: Red Squirrel on September 24, 2017, 07:47:11 pmI'm sure it would be better suited and also allow for a hardware level emulation of some console. That's some advanced stuff, though.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 02:12:04 am
content: Quote from: kalel on September 24, 2017, 08:09:33 pmThere are some FPGA+Arduino systems out there, eg. Look for "Gameduino".

author: Kevman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 12:39:54 pm
content: The problem with DIYing a console is that you then have to write the games for it.I know its not strictly Arduino-based, but the Uzebox has a bit of software and runs on an Atmega.

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 01:53:29 pm
content: Why are people so much wanting to stick with the stupid and ugly old AVR tiny/mega MCUs? These are pure crap, in terms of year 2017 performance and peripheral equipment. Move at least to the atXmega series. These are at least competitive products. Much more flexible peripherals, DMA, etc...Yes, you can generate a real time video and sprites on an 8bit PIC. But, hell, tell me why would one want to do it? May be as an extreme assembly language exercise?You have to decide yourself, if you want just crazy asm exercise, or to make game console.There is a metric shit ton of better suited MCUs with out-of-the box RGB image support, like for example the STM32F429, and many others. You can make a very decent looking true color graphics at respectable image resolutions, even running a basic pseudo-3D like wolfenstein. You can output on an LCD-TFT directly, or convert the RGB data to anything like VGA, DVI or even HDMI, even PAL.

author: plazma
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 02:46:07 pm
content: Or use a RaspberryPi Zero + RetroPie

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 02:46:46 pm
content: That is not a microcontroller, that is a dumb PC.

author: TK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 02:46:54 pm
content: It is not a matter of having more peripherals or running at higher clock speed or being more modern. It ss reaching to millions of makers that are not EE and do not even have electronics knowledge to create art, music, robots, home automation and so on. It is the ecosystem that was created around the main development board. Try to find such ecosystem with other microcontrollers. Even when teensy boards are bringing the Arduino ecosystem using cortex-M microcontrollers and affordable boards, the volume is like 1 to 1000000.

author: Yansi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 03:40:59 pm
content: Yes, the ecosystem of terrible software, even more terrible hardware and a bunch of people that are not willing to learn anything properly. I honor the exceptions!Why not to help some people actually to become an EE?

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2017, 04:54:05 pm
content: Regarding game content quality, it's relative how much quality in terms of graphics and sounds is necessary.There is no specific limit that makes a game fun or boring to play, as even things like Tetris and Snake can be interesting (perhaps that's the limit).As some mentioned, writing games will always be a difficult part too (if you wanted to have more than one), unless there's a library of games available for that type of device already (some of those Arduino systems have a few games made).So, graphically, even limited solutions are okay. Now, what kind of coding, effort, and teaching people to be an EE it involves, that depends on the specific project and interests of the user.

author: timothyaag
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 28, 2017, 03:59:56 pm
content: Quote from: Yansi on September 25, 2017, 03:40:59 pmSome people need an approach suited to their interests. A gateway. I learned to program by making (very) shitty games and now I'm a few jobs into my career as a software developer.