In 2011, Gameduino brought vintage gaming to the Arduino.
This time it's personal. The Gameduino 2 turns your Arduino into a hand-held modern gaming system. Touch control, a 3-axis accelerometer, microSD storage for game assets, headphone audio output, and all-new eye-popping graphics on its bright 4.3 inch screen.
Gameduino 2 is designed, tested, documented and the prototype is built. The videos were all taken from the real hardware - everything you see is running on an Arduino with the prototype. What needs to happen next is a manufacturing run. Your pledge gets you a Gameduino 2 from this first run.
The Gameduino 2's FT800 graphics engine is vastly more capable, and its OpenGL-style command set makes programming much easier. It can load JPEGs, supports alpha transparency, and has a full 32-bit color pipeline. There are examples and code on the project page at http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino2/.
The Gameduino 2 hardware and software is open-source (BSD license).
Music by Subdream.
The Graphics
The open-source GD library drives the onboard FT800 GPU. The GPU is a brand-new embedded video engine, with
- 32-bit internal color precision
- OpenGL-style command set
- up to 2000 sprites - sprites can be any size
- 256 KBytes of video RAM
- smooth sprite rotate and zoom with bilinear filtering
- smooth circle and line drawing in hardware - 16x antialiased
- JPEG loading in hardware
- built-in rendering of gradients, text, dials and buttons
The GPU runs the 4.3 inch 480x272 TFT touch panel screen at 60 Hz - for smooth animation and gameplay.
Genesis
Gameduino 2 is much more powerful than the original Gameduino. Besides the huge increase in graphics capability due to the new FT800 chip, it has
- a much simpler OpenGL-like graphics system
- built-in 3-axis accelerometer for tilt games and a resistive touch screen
- amplified audio output through the headphone jack
- a microSD slot on board for storage of game graphics, sound and maps
- a level-shifter so it can work with both 3.3v and 5v Arduinos
Once I finished the design, I hand-built the prototype units. Here is the first one, wired up to an Arduino running the very first program:
Production
The same manufacturer who handled the original Gameduino is ready to make Gameduino 2. We have a final design in place and they are all set to start the run as soon as we reach the target. The manufacturer sources the components, fabricates and assembles the PCB, attaches the screen and tests the finished unit. This process typically takes 5-6 weeks.
The Gameduino 2 book is a three-part introduction, reference and cookbook. The examples from the video are all featured in the book. It will be printed by Amazon CreateSpace.
Fulfillment
For international backers, we will airmail finished units direct from the manufacturer. For US backers we will save a few days by using a courier to bring the bulk units into California, and then USPS Priority Mail, just as we did for the original Gameduino. Our local postmistress will be delighted again!
Risks and challenges
This is a manufactured electronic product, and so there may be mishaps along the way. As with Gameduino, I will keep the manufacturing run on schedule and keep backers informed about the current status.
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Funding period
- (30 days)