@antellij

Added a BOM and STEP file to the repository, so it should become a lot more clear on how to reproduce the project, and should help prepare for shipping.

Added a new minigame

here you must accurately sort the objects to train the always watching AI. But you cannot get it wrong

I thought making something somewhat smooth with curves would be a little hard, but its really easy to slap on a lerp and everything works decently

Small things that add a lot

The game doesn’t end! Once all the minigames are completed, you can continue but the time gets faster over time (up to a certain point so its not completely impossible).

I haven’t gotten past 12, so I haven’t quite seen the max speed for long, so maybe it is not humanely possible at that max

I also procedurally made sounds so the game feels just a little more lively

Wow I remembered this project exists!

worked on actually making lives, and added a new minigame to connect pcb traces

I’ve been taking the time to work on the README and demo vid for this project, cleaning up some code and prepping everything for release

Actually started designing something to make it look nice in, and something to hold down the microcontroller and other components. That means you don’t need to touch the main board when plugging in power (novel). 

The wiring has been cleaned up a little (still looks terrible), so it should be far easier to repair / replace any parts that aren’t working. I have now actually been able to use the 8 buttons of the shift register due to this.

I cut some grooves for necessary IO sensors and for the power, added a filet to the corners to make it more ergonomic and comfortable to hold. There is now also a back panel so you can rest your hands there instead of pulling out a wire. 

I also designed a 3d version of this just incase it was necessary. 

Added some more things to the readme to prep it for launch

I added tips just before the start of the game to make it more clear what the objective of that particular level is. To make use of the assets I made a third minigame.

I also added a system to basically cache all the particles at the start, since it takes a good second for it to load on the first run, especially on web. 

I think I’ll properly implement the lives system once more games are added.

Cleaned up some of the minigames and made a fitting Readme for the github before shipping

I have no clue what I was talking about saying I was working on foundations, because I look around and all I see is garbage. 

Its been a while since I’ve worked on this, but I am really baffled by what I was trying to do in the code. At least I have art for placeholder stuff, and got to actually work on the ‘game loop’. Sometimes I am genuinely concerned with what I am even attempting to make, but maybe when it all comes together the absurd plot will at least be at home with the rest of the absurdity in the game.

The ereader project is something that I was working on before stardance and builds upon the incredible work of people who have implemented the libraries and tools that allowed this project to be quite expansive. 

I hermit-crabbed an old portable dvd player to be the shell, and learned how to intercept its remote to work with my project, reviving some life into the old hardware. 

I didn’t quite get to figuring out sd card storage (just because I’m using all the cards I have and don’t feel like buying more), so everything is on the board’s 16 Mb flash storage (less than that due to program size). But it is usually enough to hold some books and easy enough to wirelessly connect and update the library that is stored. (just go to ereader.local when connected and all the options appear)

Atomic14 on github made an epub reading repo using the espressif framework, but since I am more familiar with Arduino I remodeled a lot of the functionality to work with it and with the hardware that I had available, among other additions to fit my usage.
I hope to maybe make the project more accessible with some good installation and customization, and potentially even a utility to make uploading content onto the flash even easier.

Devlog 7.1

Was just about to ship when I realized there was a bug that I somehow never noticed before that would mean you couldn’t functionally use more than a single page of profiles (4), which would be quite detrimental to anyone wishing to turn on more than a set of lights

Devlog 7

While I could at leas try to make something pretty, I’ll just say I’m a pragmatist and don’t need extra fluff.

The casing is just a wooden frame that I drilled holes for the buttons and screen, and the final and basically only functional button is just taped on at the top, but with that being said, it does do what I want it to do, and I think that that is enough.

I’ve decided this project has set its sail and is about to roam the open waters of the shipyard. I’ve taken some fine looking photos to attach to the top of the github repository, shined up the README to make proper installation instructions, and am just about ready to ship what I have.

Devlog 6

I might just be the most oblivious person I know

Since my shift register wasn’t registering, I went ahead to continuity check every connection from each input pin to the register, then form the register to the microcontroller, then to just about every other pin, and cross referencing with the schematic, fixing minor issues and repeat like 5 times, but to no avail.

I seemed to believe I was Terry Davis or something because I was convinced it was a hardware issue and didn’t check any of the software, only the code that checks the inputs, which theoretically should have worked. 

I assumed at some point I catastrophically ruined the IC

So I desoldered all register related components and just used a single button for debugging. Just for fun I tested the IC on another breadboard with an ESP32 that I know was working and it functioned properly. Odd. When I’m rewriting the code to work for a single button I was trying to alter the logic for the register setup, it was at this moment I realized the setup function wasn’t called - gasp

one line – registerSetup(); would have made everything work. While I could put everything back together, I don’t want to deal with the glob just yet, I’ll wait to get a socket (in case the IC does actually break at some point)

I’ll also begin writing the README for the project on github since the major parts of the project are done

PS - I just realized I missed devlog 3 - welp there’s no going back now

Devlog 5

I’ve done a bit of soldering at this point, but I will say it is definitely not pretty. It is a rats nest of floating wires that probably won’t short or disconnect if I’m lucky, and all the power lines are held together with massive blobs of solder (or wires connecting the blobs since the blobs don’t stay together if they get too large)

In all my genius I also used solid core wire, which means they are more stiff, and more likely to break off from my weak solder points than flex, so I had to do a lot of reattachment.

Magically, it appears a lot of things are working, just not the shift register and its hard to say why. Perhaps I burned it and ruined the internal ICs, I’m not sure. I think I’ll disconnect it and reattach a singular button just to make sure everything else works (and I at least have some feasible product at the end of this).