🕹️  Adaptive Snake Game with Environmental Interaction

DECEMBER 19, 2023

📝  Project Description:

This project presents an innovative twist on the classic snake game, integrating environmental sensors to dynamically adjust the game's visual theme based on real-world lighting conditions. Utilizing an ESP32 microcontroller paired with a light-dependent resistor (LDR) and a joystick, the game environment responds to the ambient light level, offering players a unique gaming experience that bridges the digital and physical worlds.

🔧  How It Works

• 🛠️  Hardware Components: The core of the project's hardware setup includes an ESP32 microcontroller, which serves as the brain of the operation. Attached to the ESP32 are two primary sensors:
  • Joystick: Allows the player to control the snake's direction, providing a tactile element to the gameplay.
  • Light-Dependent Resistor (LDR): Measures the ambient light level, enabling the game to detect whether it's being played in a brightly lit or a dark environment.
• 💻  Software Components: The game itself is developed in Processing, a flexible software sketchbook and language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts. The Processing sketch receives data from the ESP32 over serial communication, interpreting joystick movements for game control and light sensor readings to adjust the game's visual settings.
• 🕹️  Gameplay Mechanics: Players navigate the snake around the screen, aiming to eat food that randomly appears. Each piece of food the snake eats makes it longer, increasing the game's difficulty. The joystick controls the snake's direction, while the LDR influences the game's visual theme:
  • Day Mode: In bright environments, the game displays a light background with vibrant colors, simulating daytime gameplay.
  • Night Mode: In darker settings, the game shifts to a dark theme, with the snake and food colors adjusted for better visibility, creating an immersive night-time experience.
• Environmental Interaction: The most distinctive feature of this project is its use of the LDR to alter the game's appearance based on ambient light. This not only adds an extra layer of engagement by linking the game environment to the player's surroundings but also demonstrates how digital systems can interact with the physical world in real-time.

🛠️  Development and Tools

The project was developed using Arduino IDE for programming the ESP32 and Processing for creating the game interface. Serial communication between the ESP32 and the Processing sketch facilitates a seamless integration of hardware inputs into the software game.

C++ with Arduino IDE for ESP32

• Function: Utilizes C++ to program the ESP32, reading joystick movements and ambient light levels.
• Process: The ESP32 captures analog signals from the joystick and the LDR, then sends these as serial data to the Processing sketch, ensuring real-time gameplay interaction.

Java in Processing for Game Interface

• Function: Employs Java within Processing to create and control the game's visual elements based on the received data.
• Process: The Processing sketch interprets serial data from the ESP32, using it to dictate the snake's movement and adjust visual themes (like color schemes) according to the ambient light detected by the LDR.

Integration via Serial Communication

• Bridge: Serial communication links the ESP32's sensor readings to the Processing game, allowing hardware inputs to directly influence software outputs.