The small control box has a light sensor in it to sense when the bat is swung above it. There needs to be a light shining down that is strong and direct enough so that the bat casts a shadow as it goes by. I’ve been using a mic stand with a small Maglight flashlight […]
hand controller
Changes for Next Playtest
I’ve been fixing problems, tuning software, and laser cutting as I prep for my next playtest. Software Changes Fixed swing timing. The biggest issue from Playtest #1 was with players swinging late. The game allowed you to swing a bit early, but never late. Fixing a couple lines of code was all it took to […]
Hand Controllers
Two plastic and foam bats with my hand controller hardware strapped on with cable ties. The red button is used to put the controller back in two way communications mode so it can be reset for a different game.
First Working Demos
After a long weekend of debugging I got the whole system to work reliably with one controller. To commemorate that I shot a couple of demo videos. First Game Demo Showing a simple single-player rally game on 30 meters of LED strips (900 LEDs). Hardware Tour Quick overview of all the individual elements involved.
Light Trigger Circuit
The breadboard version of the light trigger worked so I built a more usable version of it for the game prototype. I’ll do a full PCB version next time I do a run. This pass includes a larger potentiometer because the sensitivity will need to be tuned for the lighting at each installation. It worked on […]
Light Trigger Test Circuit
The Hand Controllers will be attached to bats or rackets that the players will swing to hit the “light ball”*. The accelerometer on the Hand Controller will tell me how fast (read: powerful) their swing is, but I still need to know if they timed it right. My original design involved actually hitting something (like […]
Connector Cable Assembly and First Test
I thought it would take an hour to make all the custom cables I need to connect the shield to the front panel, RJ45 jack, etc. Luckily I started with the RJ45 jack cable so I could test the boards. I needed to crimp a connector onto each wire and slide them into the female […]
PCB Assembly
Over the course of a couple nights I got the PCBs cut up and mostly assembled. I used a Dremel router table with a 3/32″ router bit to cut the PCB down to its individual elements. It worked okay, but I wouldn’t want to do too many this way. The small boards tended to shutter […]
First PCB Fab Run!
All the PCBs are designed and ready to print. I was able to combine them onto one panel for a single run. High confidence in the Hand Controller board and most of the Mega Shield, but only the communications portion of the shield has been tested. The other parts are primarily plugs, so easily fixable […]
Hand Controller v3.1
Swapped out R3 for a potentiometer and made VBAT and GND traces wider on the PCB.