My Final Project

This is where I will start defining my final project idea and start to get used to the documentation process.

Application and implication

System Integration

Project Development

Game Board/ Console

Introduction

For my final project i wanted to explore how 8bit games can be brought back into this era. I also wanted to explore the aspect of being in the present and how it can help enhance cognitive function through strategic thinking and problem-solving, increased social interaction and bonding, and opportunities for relaxation and stress reduction. In this age where gaming has become individualistic, i would like to cultivate a sense of shared experience back into game spaces.

Revisiting Minesweeper

We all have played Minesweeper as children on our computers. Following the earlier said concept of nostalgia for the future, i wondered how it would be to bring the game into the physical world while keeping the soul of the game intact. There would be randomized set of possibilities to play for each person and similar effects of game such as the sound of the original game can be added to the physical playing console.

Research and development throughout the weeks

From Input Devices Week

We were asked to explore input devices that were required in our final project. The main input device i would have to use would have been switches. But i wanted to use this week to learn about other sensors that i didnt know much about.
So i thought about adding a possible feature to my project that can incorporate a sensor. I had intially thought of making a capacitive scrollpad to help navigate the score/difficulty setting of the game. After dicussing this with my instructor, i was given an option of using an rotary encoder to do the same function. So i thought of learning more about these two sensors by comparing them and then see which would be better suited for my project..

From Output Devices Week

I wondered if i could make a modular version of a part of my final project to test out these features. So i started to design a 2x2 grid that will help me visualize how each device will act when put together. With the board that i made during the input devices week, i thought of incorporating that to control the output devices. For this week i wanted to explore the output devices that would be required for my final project. The output devices i wanted to use this week are : led output that according to the codes, a led display for displaying the score and difficulty /volume . a buzzer for the sound effects.

Networking week

My final project board has way too many switches as well as the LEDs attached to each of the switches. It would be quite impractical to fit it all into a single PCB with the amount of of connections it would require. I also had this idea of the board being expandable to increases the difficulty factor of the game too. This led me to think of ways that i could make the board modular and have the number of keys be added or decreased according to the user.

From Molding and Casting Week

I worked figuring out how to make the button keycaps for my final project.I wanted to make the keycaps to retain the feel of the tiles from the computer game but also add some small details to bring it into the present era and add something of my own.At the end of the week i could produce quite nice keycaps.

System Integration week

The Idea is that macropads can be rearranged with various modules and compose different layouts using a magnetic connector system to play differentgames. The modularity allows it to flexible to able to perform many tasks. The Original idea was to create a physical board game of the classic minesweeper game. As the idea progressed it was seen that making the whole board modualr was the efficient way to go. So if the gamepad is modular why not expand its scope? This was the question that led be reach this point in my journey.

The biggest challenge came while trying to integrate all the components with in the dimensional constraints. The body of the macropad could not be made bigger to accomodate the components .So I had to figure out many ways in which the electronics can be placed within.

I drew a graphic explaining how the modularity works

After some iterations i decided to move on with the most viable option. There will be 4 macropad modules that can be used for game which will be controlled by the Master board that contains the display and the encoder. The user can connect as may modules they would like to play with.