🎮 ESP32 Retro Gaming Console (Pacman & Flappy Friends)
An ESP32-powered hand-held retro gaming console featuring a unified custom bootloader interface, an interactive game selection menu, and two fully functional games: classic Pacman and a highly personalized version of Flappy Bird called Flappy Friends.
This project integrates custom SPI hardware drivers, matrix keypad scanning, and a custom rendering engine that loads 21 hand-drawn pixel art character frames directly from an SD card.
Key Features
- Console Bootloader & OS Style Menu: A centralized entry state allowing users to navigate and launch different games seamlessly using the 4x4 matrix keypad.
- 7 Playable Characters (Flappy Friends): Features 7 custom characters designed after real-life friends (İrem, Han, BigBoy, Batıkan, Azra, Ayça, Arda).
- Custom LibreSprite Pixel Art: Each of the 7 characters contains 3 custom-animated behavior frames (Normal, Flapping, Scared/Dead) drawn entirely from scratch in LibreSprite (Totaling 21 unique 32x32 pixel 16-bit BMP structures).
- Fake Transparency Rendering Engine: Features a direct
GFXcanvas16buffer manipulation routine (drawSpriteWithBg) that overrides pure white background pixels (0xFFFF) to inject dynamic color backgrounds, preventing solid square artifact boxes around the sprites. - Chiptune Chords & Sound FX: Immersive 8-bit audio feedback synced with jumps, scores, selection changes, and game-over sequences using a passive buzzer.
- Adaptive Difficulty: Real-time variable adjustment changing physics speed parameters dynamically as the game progression updates (Levels 1 to 3).
| Component | Specifications / Connection Pins |
|---|---|
| Microcontroller | ESP32 (DevKit V1 NodeMCU) |
| Display Panel | 1.8" ST7735 TFT Color LCD (SPI communication, BGR panel color mapping) |
| Input Matrix | 4x4 Membrane Matrix Keypad |
| Storage Unit | Micro SD Card SPI Module (Stores game assets and sprite arrays) |
📌 Schematic & Pin Configurations
- TFT Display Subsystem:
CS➡️ GPIO 15,DC➡️ GPIO 2,RST➡️ GPIO 4 - SD Storage Subsystem:
CS➡️ GPIO 5 - Keypad Rows: GPIO 25, 26, 27, 32
- Keypad Columns: GPIO 22, 21, 14, 13
📂 SD Card File Hierarchy
Format your micro SD card to FAT16/FAT32. Create an images root directory and place the 32x32 pixel 16-bit BMP sprite files inside using the exact naming structure below:
text SD Card Root └── 📁 images ├── 📄 h1_r1.bmp, h1_r2.bmp, h1_r3.bmp (İrem - 3 animation frames) ├── 📄 h2_r1.bmp, h2_r2.bmp, h2_r3.bmp (Han - 3 animation frames) ├── 📄 h3_r1.bmp, h3_r2.bmp, h3_r3.bmp (BigBoy - 3 animation frames) ├── 📄 h4_r1.bmp, h4_r2.bmp, h4_r3.bmp (Batıkan - 3 animation frames) ├── 📄 h5_r1.bmp, h5_r2.bmp, h5_r3.bmp (Azra - 3 animation frames) ├── 📄 h6_r1.bmp, h6_r2.bmp, h6_r3.bmp (Ayça - 3 animation frames) └── 📄 h7_r1.bmp, h7_r2.bmp, h7_r3.bmp (Arda - 3 animation frames)
