Gaming Controllers with micro:bit(s)

In this collection of projects, we aim to program Micro:bit as a controller for games or simulators.

Team members: Nadeen Gebara, Philippos Papaphilippou, Jingqing Zhang, Ruizhe Zhao (order by surname)

Modified Games

Application 1: Neverball

Programmer: Philippos Papaphilippou

"Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course within the given time." Neverball

This is a version of Neverball that supports micro:bit as a controller. It uses micro:bit's accelerometer as a gyroscope to adjust the angle of the floor. See the project's Readme description for more details and information on how to run.

• Source code: Neverball for micro:bit
• Video: Controlling Neverball with micro:bit, close-up

Application 2: TORCS

Programmer: Ruizhe Zhao

• Source code: TORCS
• Video: Controlling TORCS with micro:bit

Application 3: AirSim

Programmer: Jingqing Zhang

In this project, we use Micro:bit to control a car/drone based on AirSim.

• Source code: AirSimController
• Videos: Driving a Car, Driving a Drone

Build

• Follow the installation guide to set up the Unreal Engine and AirSim project.
• Encode and run the script microbit_code.hex(Javacript microbit_code.js) on Micro:bit and keep the Micro:bit connected by USB.
• Run the AirSim project (drone by default or choosing a car).
• Run the corresponding controller script (drone_controller.py or car_controller.py) in the source code

Generic Controllers

1. Single/Multi-player wireless gaming for games with keyboard support (Linux)

Programmer: Philippos Papaphilippou

This project maps actions on wirelessly-connected micro:bits to keyboard events. In this way, a variety of multi-player games can be adapted without the need to modify their source code. As a test case we used SuperTuxKart. See the featured image above, or the video below.

• Source code: GenericLinuxController
• Video: Multi-player wireless gaming with micro:bits

Files

• microbit-client.py Uploaded to the micro:bit of each player for wireless gaming
• microbit-server.py Uploaded to the micro:bit connected to the PC
• linux-keyboard.c Translates the serial output of the micro:bit server to keyboard events (Requires the libXtst-devel package or equivalent) (see the source code comments for more information)

2. Implementation for online games (Bubble Trouble) and Multi-player modification (Windows)

Programmer: Nadeen Gebara

In this project, we use Bubble Trouble as an example to show how a generic controller for online games (single/multi-player) can be created using micro:bit(s).

• Online Game: Link
• Game details: Readme
• Video: Bubble Trouble Control with Micro:bit