michaelbolt / ElectronicBusinessCard

Project files developed for my weekly blog posts to build an Electronic Business Card with a built-in video game.

ElectronicBusinessCard

This repository contains the code and PCB design files I developed for my Electronic Business Card project. To see writeups and follow my progress, follow my blog: Mr. Dr. Prof. Bolt.

Current State of the Project: Finished!

The MSP430FR2433 microcontroller communicates with the SSD1306 OLED display through I2C and handles 8x8 sprite-based animations. A Python GUI is available to help with creating animated sprite data. GPIO Port 2 is debounced using a polling algorithm for player input. A basic game loop implementing player controls (verical movement and lasers), enemy AI (vertical/horizontal movement and lasers), and collision detection (explosions!) is run at 16 Hz using the TimerA module and Low-Power Mode 3. Three different enemies are implemented along with collision detection and a score counter, with life-time high score stored in non-volatile FRAM. If the player gets a high score, a fireworks show is shown to celebrate!

Using the Sprite Maker GUI

1. Download the SpriteMaker.py file from the PythonScripts folder.
2. Navigte to the directory where the source file is located. Use cd [folder name] to navigate on Mac/Linux or DIR [folder name] to navigate on Windows.
3. Run the script from the command line as python SpriteMaker.py. If you would like to see command line options, add the -h option.
4. Enjoy!

Using the SSD1306 display functions

1. At the start of each frame, call display_frameStart(); this erases anything drawn on the last frame from VRAM.
2. Draw up to 16 sprites at (x,y) coordinates with display_drawSprite(uint16_t x, uint16_t y, const uint8_t *const sprite).
3. After drawing all sprites, call display_drawFrame(); this updates all changed regions of the SSD1306 display with minimal I2C communication.

Board Design files

Open in Eagle, edit the silkscreen to show your name, and go forth! Impress job interviewers, your friends, and anybody sitting next to you while waiting for a table at a restaurant!