Although not everyone has the ability to make a hacked Pong game Like [Marcelo], even fewer have the ability or the creativity to come up with the elaborate hack that he did. The basic premise of his game is a version of pong played on a breadboard with a 8×8 matrix of LEDs. The controls are really what sets this hack apart. Instead of using a paddle controller or normal switches, small flashlights are used to control the on-screen (on-LED matrix) paddle. This is accomplished using a series of photoresistors and a PIC processor.
Innovative as this would be by itself, [Marcelo] decided to make a program in Flash to display the action on a computer. Communication is done serially, and C# is used to translate everything as Flash doesn’t natively work with a serial connection.
Another innovation is that there are two LEDs connected on either side powered via pulse width modulation. The lights get dimmer as one player is about to lose. Check out [Marcelo’s] pong game after the break!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jny5ZGEzBtw&w=470&h=345%5D
Such an interesting interface idea, good job.
Yeah somehow it works.
It’s odd since there are so many interfaces but this has something special for some reason in how it reacts so naturally.
Very interesting idea! Now I want to build a version of pong that can be played against a nighttime wall with flashlights using a projector and a camera… that would be a lot of fun… I can imagine all sorts of great games on a platform like that.