Interesting game written for use with an Arduino and a 20x4 LCD
This game was inspired by the Nokia Space Impact game and games such as Subway Surfers, but is less complex because of limitations in how sprites are handled by the LCD controller
The game is easy to play, all you have to do is avoid asteroids and enemy ships.
Coins give you points, and hearts give you additional HP (you have a max limit though).
The game gets faster and faster the more you play
I made it to experiment using LCD screens with Arduino. Also, I wanted to try using a 3.3v Pro Mini with a 5v power source and/ or a 3.7v Li-Po battery by removing the DC-DC converter present on the board.
The whole framework can be reused for even more interesting projects. One thing that comes to my mind is modifying this project into a system resource monitor for PCs (connected via serial or via bluetooth).
From a programming standpoint, I learned a lot: how to use an LCD, how to use custom characters, how to time all the events to make a playable game, how to randomly generate levels, how to keep a high-score in memory.
From a User Interface designer standpoint, I learned how to: make a playable game; design menus with limited resources; design a game that rewards the user by giving points, managing health points and using collectable 'coins'.
Of course, My electrical engineering skills got better too, because I learned to use a capacitor debouncer for the buttons, I used pull-down resistors and I improved my soldering skills.
I plan to design and 3d print a case, which will be another great learning experience.
There are certain thing I want to modify/ improve:
- More readable code. (at first I had no intention to make it public)
- More beautiful menus.
- Make the main ship able to shoot using the third button.
- HighScore should be stored into the EEPROM memory of the board.
- Different enemies that also change position on screen.
- Different random speeds for asteroids/ enemies/ items.
- New items such as different guns, portals, and other interesting things.
- Remove the endless nature of the game and add different (selectable!) levels with different themes.
- Add bosses at the end of each stage.
Keep in mind that the code itself can be changed to make different games
- Arduino (I used a 8MHz Arduino Pro Mini clone, any AVR board should be fine)
- 3× push buttons
- 3× 10kΩ resistor
- 3× 100kΩ resistor
- 3× 100nF capacitor
- 1× 10kΩ potentiometer
The component values don't have to be exact, a little variation is Ok.
Note: pay close attention to the resistors and their position.
Also, the project was made a while ago, so there is a very small chance that the diagram may contain errors (but I doubt it because I had the physical circuit on my desk when drawing it)