Arduino Gaming

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
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Anyone interested in an arduino sketch generating NTSC video. I have a clone of the Atari Classic - Outlaw just about completed. You can check out an old video on youtube ( search for alloutmayhemteam, can't post links for some reason)
of me testing the graphical abilities of the arduino. It's a little outdated, i'll try to upload a newer video soon. All the different gameplay modes are implimented i just need to write the Level select logic. Below is a description of the game.

There are 16 gunslinger and target shooting games in this Game Program. Each one presents different variations. For a description of each variation, refer to the following code:

Blowaway: Your bullets are more powerful during gunfights with Blowaway. You can shoot away pieces of the protective center object--a Stage Coach, Wall or Cactus-- until it completely disappears.

Cactus: Some gunfights and target shooting games occur with a Cactus in the center of the playfield. Bullets cannot penetrate the Cactus. Use the Cactus as protection from your opponent's shots.

Stage Coach: A Stage Coach stands between the two gunslingers during some games. Bullets cannot pass through the Stage Coach, making it ideal for protection against opposing bullets. In some games, a series of Stage Coaches will MOVE up the screen between you and your opponents.

Wall: In some games, a wall is located between the two gunslingers. These games also feature Blowaway. Use your shots to make a hole in the wall and aim at your opponent.

Getaway: During a gunfight with Getaway, each gunslinger can move immediately after shooting the gun. Without Getaway, gunslingers must wait until their bullets disappears off the screen or hits a target.

Six Shooter: In these gunfights with Six Shooters, each player's gun only has six bullets in it. Receive another round of ammunition when BOTH players have used all six bullets.

Target Shoot: The Target Shoot is a feature of one-player games. The Target bounces up and down on the screen while you attempt to make a direct hit.

--From the Atari 2600 Outlaw instruction manual.

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Anyone interested in an arduino sketch generating NTSC video.

I suspect no. The arduino is not suited to this sort of application due to lack of memory.
The best you could hope is to make a video system that is controlled by the arduino with added SRAM, even then you are pushing it.

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I can imagine an Arduino generating RS-170 directly, but NTSC is going to be tough.

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Yeah, actually it is rs170 -- Animation Test - YouTube

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looks cool, what resolution are you drawing at

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I keep switching the resolution around, i think that video was around 104 px wide x 64 px high, i may have changed it since that video because i'm running it on a 32" widescreen lcd now rather than the crt, but i don't have the sketch handy to verify at the moment.

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Collision Detection test Level demonstrating blowaway mode playfield destruction. Collision Detection Demo - YouTube

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Wow, awesome work so far. Keep it up

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I think you may be wrong about the arduino not being a platform for gaming. The original NES/Famicon used only 2kb of ram, which the ATmega328 has. Granted, that doesn't count the video ram (another 2kb minimum) as well as the game information (technically supports only 32kb, but can change banks, making it possible to have a lot more data.)

Technically speaking, the arduino is capable, but the NES was built specifically for gaming, so it would have more optimized code for it. Aswell, there are more chips for handling the gaming aspects... Possibly a shield would need to be added for video output, but you can also get shields with video, an sd reader, and it's own video memory.

O-o Just pointing out the specs.