Make an Interactive Memory Game from the Touch Board Starter Kit

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748 Views Posted on: 06/09/2021

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to use conductive ink to create and play an interactive memory game. The game is similar to the game "Simon Says" where the player has to remember a sequence of colours. The paint is used to create an interface on the buttons for the game and the Touch Board is configured as a keyboard and communicates with the computer.

Before we begin, make sure to download Processing and set up the Touch Board with the Arduino IDE.

Step 1: Cut out the Buttons

First, we're going to create the game buttons. Cut out 8 pieces of different shapes from red, green, yellow cardboard and make sure each individual shape is about the size of A4 paper. We want to have 3 yellow, and green buttons and 2 red ones. Additionally, cut out one more piece for a start button from black cardboard, which is smaller than the other buttons. This will be start and reset button.

Step 2: Paint the Buttons

Next, we're going to apply Electric Paint to the buttons, which is going to be the interface for the game. We painted diagonal lines and used masking tape to neatly apply the paint. If you also want to use masking tape. we recommend sticking the strip of masking tape to a piece of clothing first to reduce its stickiness and avoid ripping the cardboard.

Step 3: Upload the code onto Touch Board

While the paint is drying, connect your Touch Board to your computer with the USB cable and turn the Touch Board on. In the Arduino IDE go to:

File -> Sketchbook -> Touch Board Examples -> HID_Keyboard

In the code, comment out line 50 and comment in line 52. Make sure to select the correct Board and Port settings before hitting upload.

When the code has been uploaded, swipe across the electrodes on the Touch Board from E0 to E8 to test the code. On your computer, the numbers: "801234567" should have appeared in the code file. You can simply remove it again, we are just checking if the code is working as expected.

Step 4: Prepare the game in Processing

If you haven't used Processing before, open and close it once so that it generates the necessary files for initial set up.

Then download Bare Conductive's game (Click Here). Unzip the file and move the folder "MemoryGame" to the corresponding directory:

Windows

Libraries\Documents\Processing

or

My Documents\Processing

Mac

Documents/Processing

Linux (Ubuntu)

Home/Processing

With the folder in place, open Processing. We will need to install the "Sound" Library for the game. In Processing, head to:

Sketch -> Import Library ->Add Library...

In the search field, look for "Sound" and then click "Install". Once you have installed the library, open the game sketch, by heading to: File -> Sketchbook and then opening "MemoryGame". If you want, you can run it, by pressing the "Run" button in Processing.

Step 5: Connect the buttons to the Touch Board

Once the paint has dried and the code has been uploaded to the Touch Board, turn the Touch Board off and disconnect it from the computer. Take 9 alligator to alligator clips and attach them to the Touch Board from E0 to E8. Connect the other end of the alligator clips to the painted buttons making sure that paint is in contact with theclips. Make sure that none of the cables is crossing over each other as it might cause interference. In the end, you want to have a set-up like the image below.

Step 6: Play the game

Connect your Touch Board to the computer again and turn the board on. In Processing, run the game and then press your start button to play. Learn and memorize the sequence of colours and sounds and press the corresponding buttons in the order they appear on the screen. Voila! we have successful created an interactive memory game using the Touch Board Starter Kit.

What is next?

We can take this project even further by modifying the memory game in Processing or designing our own game controllers. Here is an example of modification: change the button fields in Processing by changing the colours of each buttons. They are declared in the set-up with each button have a HEX number for their colour. You can also increase the number of buttons making the difficulty of the game higher.

To learn more about the Touch Board Starter Kit: Click Here

Posted in: Learn, Bare Conductive

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