User manual

ManualsBrandsCONRAD COMPONENTS ManualsScience KitsGame programming Spieleprogrammierung mit Arduino 14 years and over

PREFACE

In front of you are the components of the game bundle. Besides the quick start

guide, you have the LCD Display Shield and the Joypad Shield is in front of you.

The two boards were specially developed and geared to perfectly fit the Arduino

Uno. They make it possible that you are able to try out the examples presented or

develop your own games. Let us take a closer look at the two shields. There is a

lot to discover.

1.1 | The Display Shield

The display shield

The Display Shield is a board which in combination with two hardware buttons

renders the LCD display 12864 LCD ST7565 Arduino-compatible. The display has

a resolution of 128 x 64 pixels and is controlled via the SPI (Serial Peripheral In-

terface). Let’s go to the technical details:

Display Shield Arduino Uno compatible shield

Display DXDCG12864-4330

Display controller ST7565

Resolution 128 x 64 pixels

Operating voltage 3.3 V

Periphery 2 Onboard button (at A4 and A5)

Display size 38 x 20 mm

Other shorter design – 14 free I/O ports on Arduino

However, there is no need to learn much about the details of the display control,

thanks to a library that does most of the work for you and lets you focus on pro-

gramming the games. If you are interested in more detailed information about the

Summary of content (15 pages)

PAGE 1
PREFACE In front of you are the components of the game bundle. Besides the quick start guide, you have the LCD Display Shield and the Joypad Shield is in front of you. The two boards were specially developed and geared to perfectly fit the Arduino Uno. They make it possible that you are able to try out the examples presented or develop your own games. Let us take a closer look at the two shields. There is a lot to discover. 1.
PAGE 2
control of the display and its characteristics, I would recommend to you the study pack “Programming the Franzis Maker Kit Graphic Display". 1.2 | The Joypad Shield Joypad Shield The Joypad Shield was specially developed for this project. It allows you to play games conveniently and intuitively. The shield has six buttons. Four of them form a directional pad so that directions can be given intuitively. Functions can be assigned to the other two buttons individually depending on the game.
PAGE 3
The Joypad Shield thus fits exactly onto the lower connector strips, as seen in the picture. This constellation offers you optimum handling conditions and you can also pick up the Arduino together with the shield and operate it while holding it in your hand. 1.4 | The Documentation This quick start guide gives you introductory information and simple examples for a successful entry into game programming.
PAGE 4
have downloaded and installed the environment, choose the right board and the correct port under Settings and you can start programming your Arduino or your game console. In addition to Arduino, a few other tools are used, including software to create and edit graphics. This book uses Windows Paint and the open source editor Gimp. Finally, an online tool on tiny.systems lets you convert these graphics into a compatible format - but more on that later.
PAGE 5
In this program example, you can also test the various features of the shields. For example, if you press a Joypad button, it will be highlighted on the display. You can also test the sound. You should test the full functionality of all components before you kick off for real. BALL – GETTING STARTED WITH GAME PROGRAMMING Now that everything is set up and tested - it is time to deal with the development of the actual game.
PAGE 6
001 void drawBall() { 002 engine.drawPixel(ballX, ballY); 003 engine.drawPixel(ballX + 1, ballY); 004 engine.drawPixel(ballX - 1, ballY); 005 engine.drawPixel(ballX, ballY + 1); 006 engine.drawPixel(ballX, ballY - 1); 007 } This function with the appropriate name drawBall(), the places ball on the display. A few simple lines are needed to activate the appropriate pixels on the display. Basically, this is due to the fact that most of the work is taken care of in the background by the game engine.
PAGE 7
002 if(engine.joypad.isPressed(UP)){ 003 ballY = ballY - 1; 004 } 005 if(engine.joypad.isPressed(DOWN)){ 006 007 ballY = ballY - 1; } 008 } With the controlBall() function you are now able to control the ball. The joypad buttons are queried in a simple way. The engine.joypad.isPressed(UP) function returns TRUE as soon as the key is pressed. Next the ball’s y-position is reduced by one pixel, which results in the ball approaching the upper display edge. Analogously there is the engine.joypad.
PAGE 8
too fast. PONG – SOMEHOW DIFFERENT The next programming example is about the famous game Pong, but probably a bit different than you may know it. Rather than using one of the paddles, you are influencing the ball by using the directional buttons. Along the way, you are also learning about some new elements of game programming. Pong was released by Atari in 1972 and is one of the best known games ever. It is based on the game of ping pong or table tennis.
PAGE 9
002 if (ballX == 1 || ballX == 127) { 003 setup(); 004 } 005 if (ballY == 1 || ballY == 63) { 006 collisionY = collisionY * -1; 007 } 008 if (abs(ballX - player1X) <=2 && abs(ballY - player1Y) < 9) { 009 collisionX = collisionX * -1; 010 level++; 011 } 012 if (abs(ballX - player2X) <=2 && abs(ballY - player2Y) < 9) { 013 collisionX = collisionX * -1; 014 level++; 015 } 016 ballX = ballX + collisionX; 017 ballY = ballY + collisionY; 018 } As you can see, there are different q
PAGE 10
003 player1Y++; 004 } 005 if (player1Y > 55) { 006 player1Y--; 007 } 008 player1Y = (player1Y -1 + random(3)); 009 if (player2Y < 7) { 010 player2Y++; 011 } 012 if (player2Y > 55) { 013 player2Y++; 014 } 015 player2Y = (player2Y -1 + random(3)); 016 } The movement of the player (paddle), however, is determined at random. But whether the paddle travels too closely to the upper or lower edge will be checked before that.
PAGE 11
011 if(engine.joypad.isPressed(RIGHT) && ballX < 115){ 012 013 ballX = ballX + 1; } 014 } With the controlBall() function the buttons are now queried and the position of the ball is changed as per input. Of course, the "stubborn ball" is subject to the laws of physics. So the natural movement of the ball can only be influenced. 001 void loop(){ 002 if(engine.update()){ 003 controlBall(); 004 if(engine.isFrameCount(10 - (level/10))) { 005 moveBall(); 006 } 007 if(engine.
PAGE 12
SNAIL – EMBEDDING BITMAPS Game elements were represented mainly by lines and pixels in the previous examples. This example will teach you how to integrate more complex graphics into a game. You will get familiar with the online converter on Tiny.systems. The website http://tiny.systems/article/mosaic.html has a tool that allows you to create drawings easily. There is a grey area in the centre of the website. When you click anywhere now within the area, you are activating a pixel.
PAGE 13
alternative, for example, that also works well. That way, you are saving the picture in Paint correctly. The folder of this program with examples already contains an appropriately formatted picture. It is called Snail.bmp. You can upload this file to the Mosaic webpage, in return you will get the image information in the form of hex numbers as output. These hex numbers are now copied into the snail variable, and you see a snail on the display as soon as you load the program.
PAGE 14
Flappy Birds on the Display Use File -> Examples -> GameEngine -> GameEngine1 -> FlappyBirdClone to open the program. The goal of the game is to navigate a small bird between two pipes. The display is turned edgeways for the purpose of this game, so you can make the most of the wider side of the display. The control is easy to remember, because in general you only need the hardware button shown left, which is used to give the bird a brief upward flap.
PAGE 15
Brief summary of the main commands of Game Engine 1: init byte contrast (0–63) Initialization of the display with the contrast value to be delivered update - Update of the game engine (transfer display contents, query inputs, etc.