Hello! I'm the creator of the Arduboy, thanks for sharing! This is the new Arduboy FX with over 200 games all made by other members of the community all free and open source. If you don't want to buy, there are lots of instructions of how to make your own DIY version too. If you have the original Arduboy you can upgrade using a mod chip. (Backordered too - thanks chip shortage)
Would like to make a new console using the RP2040 and a larger color screen. Also interested in music/synth. Happy to answer any questions you have, thanks again! AMA!
What sort of display interface would you go for if you did the rp2040 thing? SPI doesn't really go fast enough. MIPI DSI is tricky. Are there any panels that do the simplicity of VGA style R,G,B,H,V (which the rp2040 has already shown aptitude at handling)
I like the design of your modchip. I'm a lead engineer on a pretty expensive multi-PCB product so whenever we have updates either from unavailable parts or customer directed changes, we have to add in little patch boards. We've had to fit all kinds of shaped PCBs into tiny areas. Sometimes we get lucky and there's a perfectly sized empty spot that can take some glue, sometimes we don't get lucky and we'll have a small board mounted to whatever nearby screws we can find. As difficult as it is making changes to a design that was never meant to be flexible, I both love and hate the challenge so I can definitely appreciate creative solutions like yours.
I can not buy via PayPal - can pay with normal credit card number input (maybe Stripe?), SEPA, cryptocurrency, or maybe a bank transfer in USD with Transferwise or Revolut. Please let me know if any such payment method would be possible to use for an order :-) Or I’ll take you out skiing and treat you to dinner if you come to Scandinavia
Hey there, great job! I've been messing with Arduino and Rpi's for years, but just recently started trying to go lower level with some Atmega AVR's, while learning the fundamentals of circuit design. Your project is almost exactly what I want to do - build a functional PCB from scratch that does...something useful. Any learning materials you'd suggest?
I like the mechanical design. Do you have any blog posts about creating the plastic mold and having the plastic parts produced (I looked around and didn't find anything)?
Any chance of a USB-C variant coming around? I'm currently migrating everything I can to USB-C to eliminate needing to keep various types of charging cables around.
Hey I'm really happy that you've provided an option for people to upgrade their OG arduboys with the new FX chip, but it seems I'm being charged $15 USD (same as the cost of the chip) to have it shipped to me, is there any chance to revisit the price to send the modchip to AU? :D
Amazing project. Poor marketing. Authors should put in huge bold letters: no in app purchase, no subscriptions, no spying on you, just pure joy of gaming.
I found the marketing to be very concise. Small device, games preloaded, make your own games. While the points you make may be important to you, I don't think they're the key selling points of such a device.
It's not really about playing games. The project seems to target people who want to learn microcontroller programming with a fun interface. Sure you can load community games on but that seems a lot less fun than making your own since the display and microcontroller are so limited you aren't getting much on there.
Another excellent device in this genre is the RP2040-based PicoSystem from Pimoroni.
Surprisingly good build quality, but don’t have a big library of games yet. I guess it has to do with Pimoroni making things more for the DIY-crowd rather than for indie game devs.
Anyhow loved more here by the 4 year old than the Nintendo DS.. :)
My dream version is this exact form factor but capable of running games similar to pico-8 games. Something that has an MMU and can load binaries from external sources but does not necessarily run a full OS.
You and me both. There is already a lot out there similar running linux. Odroid go and other things running open dingux. Pico-8 as it stands needs a lot of horsepower as it's all lua scripts. I've talked to Lex about making a dedicated pico-8 console he says it would be tough, you basically need fully PC hardware to be faithful to what the virtual console should be able to do. I'm certain a lot of carts could be cross compiled into binaries and run just fine though he wasn't excited about that approach.
If you're up for some hacking and soldering iron use, the Nintendo game and watch systems can be modded pretty easily to load more games, or homebrew code of your own creation. I don't think there's a pico-8 port yet, but it is a tiny little ARM Cortex-M4 board with a nice color screen, dpad, and buttons that you can load any bare metal code and go wild. There's a lot of good info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GameAndWatchMods/
I made Tetris[0] on mine a few years back. Surprisingly, at almost the exact same time the Tetris MicroCard[1] was released, which was an officially licensed Tetris device based on the Arduboy. It was a crazy coincidence.
I still love my Arduboy! It's really fun to program on.
Arduboy is legit, these have been around and in production for years. There have been clones that sold with licensed games (Galaga, Tetris, etc.) in big brick and mortar stores like Target. It's a great little game system with a big community. It's also basically an Arduino with game-specific hardware attached (screen, buttons) so you can treat it just like an original Arduino board for hacking around with stuff.
The pinout compatibility is public domain. The software is covered under it's respective licenses, the most popular library is now this: https://github.com/MLXXXp/Arduboy2 and is BSD. The name Arduboy is covered under US trademark. If you want to make your own clone, there are several out there already, you just can't use the trademark or include any games that carry it.
Can't wait for the landfill to be filled with these in 10 years time... I genuinely do not understand the appeal, even as a former indie developer.
I don't see why we need yet another tiny gaming console that's like the NES, except not. It has tiny buttons that look painful to use, it's credit card sized so you can barely hold the thing, it has an outdated usb port so it's not compatible with any of your devices, and a tiny screen that's going to shine in the sunlight.
I wonder where all the copies of the OUYA are now. Or the PlayJam Gamestick[0] (Whose founders sold out, then pivoted to bespoke software, and their site is no longer online now). Or any of the other thousands of consoles and gaming devices like these, after 10 years when the actual hardware is outdated and about 5 other things that are exactly the same came out except with an OLED screen and other things that make it nicer.
Despite raising 600k, the only place you can get the PlayJam Gamestick is on Ebay, for the shocking price of... 35 pounds. Because literally nobody wants one. It's value is zero, 10 years after the fact. The same for the OUYA (Which had more hype and is slightly cheaper now). The Caanoo, the GCW Zero, the GPD XD, etc. are all lying in the gutter. They either crashed when they tried to take off, or they crashed after 10 years.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do understand the appeal of things like the Analogue Pocket -- it has both Homebrew appeal, and the possibility of playing original, 1980s game carts, that is hardware accurate, along with homebrew. A developer making a game for this can know their game works on the original hardware, too! It's an alternative to emulators for time-tested and beloved hardware, so it has staying power.
This, like it's predecessors, objectively doesn't have that. It seems like a waste of resources.
I mean, you're using a computer right now that's probably 10 times the ecological impact of an arduboy once you toss it. And you're going to go through many of them.
I own a few arduboys and I like making games for people and giving them the console itself as a desk toy. It's pretty nice to use all things considered, and I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it.
It doesn't seem like a huge problem for someone to make this, even if other works exist close to it. Especially since it's barely going to effect your own life. Just don't buy it.
We are a different company with a different model to all of these businesses and products you have mentioned. It's intended to learn how to code on bare metal system using a language that both approachable and powerful, C++. Developing homebrew using assembly is tough. You can learn a lot by developing for a true 8 bit system and Arduino makes it easy and accessible.
It's ok to be a nay-sayer but you are super late to the party. We're on year 6 so maybe check back in 4 and see how we are doing! :)
The impression I got from the project is that it isn't about just loading premade games on but its about giving you a fun and accessible development platform for microcontrollers. I don't think this will be obsolete in 10 years because microcontrollers will have mostly the same requirements.
Anecdotal, but I still have and use my GPD XD regularly. It's better than 99% of 'retro' handhelds out there and it holds together well. There's a guy out there updating it to a recent Android version too.
Not all of us succumb to the latest flavour of the month, and wasteful people are naturally wasteful regardless. If it's not this, it'll just be something else.
[+] [-] bateskecom|4 years ago|reply
Would like to make a new console using the RP2040 and a larger color screen. Also interested in music/synth. Happy to answer any questions you have, thanks again! AMA!
[+] [-] iampims|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Lerc|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wildzzz|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeofken|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vanderZwan|4 years ago|reply
https://www.arduboy.com/blog
[+] [-] alexk307|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coupdejarnac|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] manaskarekar|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattl|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajford|4 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] doublepg23|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] southerntofu|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sturmeh|4 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dang|4 years ago|reply
Arduboy – A game system the size of a credit card - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13058148 - Nov 2016 (94 comments)
Arduboy – Open Source Card-Sized Gaming Board - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12443635 - Sept 2016 (25 comments)
Arduboy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11467731 - April 2016 (1 comment)
Arduboy: The Interactive Digital Entertainment Card - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8127022 - Aug 2014 (2 comments)
Arduboy: The Interactive Digital Business Card - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7325486 - March 2014 (23 comments)
[+] [-] choletentent|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mousetree|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bateskecom|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Gigachad|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asp_hornet|4 years ago|reply
https://mattgreer.dev/blog/squeezing-the-arduboy-for-every-b...
[+] [-] nightowl_games|4 years ago|reply
https://twitter.com/00jknight/status/993188057812742144
hope my game is on this thing!
here is the code for it: https://github.com/jknightdoeswork/ardutoids
Is there any hardware improvements to the arduboy fx? I found the screen scratches easily and the on/off switch is easy to break
[+] [-] jlundberg|4 years ago|reply
Surprisingly good build quality, but don’t have a big library of games yet. I guess it has to do with Pimoroni making things more for the DIY-crowd rather than for indie game devs.
Anyhow loved more here by the 4 year old than the Nintendo DS.. :)
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/picosystem
[+] [-] no_time|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bateskecom|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] city41|4 years ago|reply
https://gamebuino.com/
[+] [-] qbasic_forever|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emacsen|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hungryforcodes|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerkstate|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buzzert|4 years ago|reply
I still love my Arduboy! It's really fun to program on.
[0]: https://github.com/buzzert/Ardutris
[1]: https://tetris.wiki/Tetris_MicroCard
[+] [-] notRobot|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ivoras|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _1tan|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ngcc_hk|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unwind|4 years ago|reply
Should be easy to find reviews, videos etc to learn more.
Really feels low-risk unless I'm missing something major.
[+] [-] qbasic_forever|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spicybright|4 years ago|reply
But I fully agree with you, 99% of kickstarter style projects are complete scams.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] asp_hornet|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] VectorLock|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bateskecom|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steveklabnik|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] terrycody|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fao_|4 years ago|reply
I don't see why we need yet another tiny gaming console that's like the NES, except not. It has tiny buttons that look painful to use, it's credit card sized so you can barely hold the thing, it has an outdated usb port so it's not compatible with any of your devices, and a tiny screen that's going to shine in the sunlight.
I wonder where all the copies of the OUYA are now. Or the PlayJam Gamestick[0] (Whose founders sold out, then pivoted to bespoke software, and their site is no longer online now). Or any of the other thousands of consoles and gaming devices like these, after 10 years when the actual hardware is outdated and about 5 other things that are exactly the same came out except with an OLED screen and other things that make it nicer.
Despite raising 600k, the only place you can get the PlayJam Gamestick is on Ebay, for the shocking price of... 35 pounds. Because literally nobody wants one. It's value is zero, 10 years after the fact. The same for the OUYA (Which had more hype and is slightly cheaper now). The Caanoo, the GCW Zero, the GPD XD, etc. are all lying in the gutter. They either crashed when they tried to take off, or they crashed after 10 years.
Now, don't get me wrong. I do understand the appeal of things like the Analogue Pocket -- it has both Homebrew appeal, and the possibility of playing original, 1980s game carts, that is hardware accurate, along with homebrew. A developer making a game for this can know their game works on the original hardware, too! It's an alternative to emulators for time-tested and beloved hardware, so it has staying power.
This, like it's predecessors, objectively doesn't have that. It seems like a waste of resources.
[0]: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872297630/gamestick-the...
[+] [-] spicybright|4 years ago|reply
I own a few arduboys and I like making games for people and giving them the console itself as a desk toy. It's pretty nice to use all things considered, and I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it.
It doesn't seem like a huge problem for someone to make this, even if other works exist close to it. Especially since it's barely going to effect your own life. Just don't buy it.
[+] [-] bateskecom|4 years ago|reply
It's ok to be a nay-sayer but you are super late to the party. We're on year 6 so maybe check back in 4 and see how we are doing! :)
[+] [-] Gigachad|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Underphil|4 years ago|reply
Not all of us succumb to the latest flavour of the month, and wasteful people are naturally wasteful regardless. If it's not this, it'll just be something else.