OLED Pixel Game with IMU Control

An interactive Arduino game with accelerometer-based controls and OLED display

Project Overview

This is an interactive game developed for Arduino with an OLED display (128x64 pixels) where a player controls a pixel using an MPU9265 IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensor to hit targets on the screen. The game demonstrates embedded systems programming, sensor integration, and real-time display rendering.

Course: CMSC 730 - Interactive Technologies in HCI
Term: Fall 2023

Video Demonstration

Watch the game in action - demonstrating IMU-based control and real-time gameplay on the OLED display.

Key Features

  • IMU-Based Control: Control the pixel using the MPU9265 accelerometer by tilting the device
  • Button Control: Alternative control using physical buttons (UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT)
  • Two Difficulty Levels:
    • Easy Mode (Level 1): 4 active targets to hit
    • Hard Mode (Level 2): 2 active targets to hit
  • Real-time Rendering: Smooth 25 FPS gameplay on SSD1306 OLED display
  • Collision Detection: Accurate hit detection between pixel and targets
  • Game Timer: Tracks completion time in seconds

Hardware Components

Electronics

  • Microcontroller: ESP32 board
  • Display: SSD1306 OLED Display (128x64 pixels, I2C)
  • IMU Sensor: MPU9265 (9-axis motion tracking)
  • Buttons: 7 push buttons for control and menu selection

Pin Configuration

Button Pin Function
UP 19 Move pixel up
DOWN 18 Move pixel down
LEFT 5 Move pixel left / Select Easy mode
RIGHT 17 Move pixel right / Select Hard mode
MID 16 Middle button
SET 4 Settings button
RST 0 Reset button

Software Architecture

The project demonstrates clean object-oriented design with the following components:

Core Classes

Pixel - Manages the player-controlled pixel

  • Handles movement with boundary checking
  • Position starts at center of screen (64, 32)

Targets - Manages up to 5 targets on screen

  • States: ACTIVE, INACTIVE, HIT
  • Random position generation within screen boundaries

Position - Simple 2D coordinate class

  • Stores x, y coordinates
  • Overloaded equality operators

Renderer - Static methods for display rendering

  • Frame management
  • Border, pixel, and target rendering
  • Menu and game over screens

MPU9265 Driver - Custom IMU sensor driver

  • Accelerometer and gyroscope reading
  • I2C communication at address 0x68

How to Play

  1. Setup: Select difficulty level using LEFT (Easy) or RIGHT (Hard) button
  2. Control: Tilt the device to move the pixel using the accelerometer, or use direction buttons for precise control
  3. Objective: Navigate the pixel to hit all active targets
  4. Win: Complete all targets as quickly as possible - your time will be displayed at the end!

Technical Highlights

  • Real-time sensor fusion: Integrated accelerometer data for smooth, responsive controls
  • Embedded systems programming: Efficient memory usage and real-time rendering on resource-constrained hardware
  • Modular architecture: Clean separation of concerns with dedicated classes for game logic, rendering, and sensor management
  • I2C communication: Custom implementation of MPU9265 sensor driver
  • Frame rate optimization: Maintained consistent 25 FPS gameplay

Technologies Used

  • Arduino IDE for development
  • C/C++ for embedded programming
  • I2C Protocol for sensor and display communication
  • Adafruit GFX & SSD1306 libraries for graphics
  • MPU9265 accelerometer/gyroscope sensor

Repository

The complete source code, including all class implementations and the custom MPU9265 driver, is available on GitHub:

GitHub Repository

This project showcases the integration of multiple hardware components, real-time sensor processing, and interactive game design principles in an embedded systems context.