Games

770 Articles

Photo of 3D Tetris LED matrix

From Retro To Radiant: 3D Tetris On A LED Matrix

January 21, 2025 by 8 Comments

We love seeing retro games evolve into new, unexpected dimensions. Enter [Markus]’ adaptation of 3D Tetris on a custom-built 3x3x12 RGB LED matrix. Developed as a university project, this open-source setup combines coding, soldering, and 3D printing. It’s powered by an ESP32 microcontroller with gameplay controlled by a neat web interface.

This 3D build makes the classic game so much harder to play, that one could argue whether it’s still a game, or has turned into a form of art. Although it is challenging to rotate and drop blocks on such a small scale, for die-hard Tetris fans (and we know you’re out there), there is always someone up to become best at it. Just look at the FastLED-powered light show, the responsive web-based GUI, and fully modular 3D printed housing, this project is a joy to look at even when nobody is playing it. Heck, a game that turned 40 only a year ago should be so mature to entertain itself, shouldn’t it?

From homemade Pong tables to LED cube displays, hobbyists keep finding ways to give classic games a futuristic twist. Projects like this are about pushing boundaries. Hackaday’s archives are full of similar innovations, but why not craft some new ones?

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You Can Now Play DOOM In Microsoft Word, But You Probably Shouldn’t

January 20, 2025 by 23 Comments

DOOM used to primarily run on x86 PCs. It later got ported to a bunch of consoles with middling success, and then everything under the sun, from random embedded systems to PDFs. Now, thanks to [Wojciech Graj], you can even play it in Microsoft Word.

To run DOOM inside Microsoft Word, you must enable VBA macros, and ignore security warnings, to boot. You’ll need a modern version of Word, and it will only work on Windows on an x64 CPU. As you might imagine, too, the *.DOCM file is not exactly lightweight. It comes in at 6.6 MB, no surprise given it contains an entire FPS. It carries inside it a library called doomgeneric_docm.dll and the whole doom1.wad data file. Once the file is opened, a macro then extracts all the game data and executes it.

If you think that Microsoft Word doesn’t really have a way of displaying live game graphics, you’d be correct. Instead, that DLL is creating a bitmap image of the game state for every frame, which is then displayed inside Word itself. It uses the GetAsyncKeyState function to grab inputs from the arrow keys, number keys, and CTRL and space so the player can move around. It certainly sounds convoluted, but it actually runs pretty smoothly given all the fuss.

While this obviously works, you shouldn’t get in the habit of executing random code in your word processor. It’s just not proper, you see, like elbows on the dinner table! And, you know. It’s insecure. So don’t do that.

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DIY Handheld Is An Emulation Powerhouse

January 19, 2025 by 10 Comments

If you’re into handheld gaming, you’ve got a wide array of hardware options to choose from these days that are capable of running everything from console classics to full-fledged PC titles. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t enterprising gamers out there who are still building their own custom handhelds —  like the Retro Lite CM5.

For this project, [StonedEdge], [GinKage], and [notime2d8] set out to create a powerful enough handheld that could emulate games spanning the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and 3DS eras. Using a Radxa Rk3588s compute module as a base, the build navigates the design and construction of things like the carrier board, custom controllers, and the enclosure.

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Nice PDF, But Can It Run DOOM? Yup!

January 15, 2025 by 13 Comments

DOOM is a classic game to implement on a variety of platforms, but doompdf by [ading2210] is one we didn’t see coming. It runs a bit slow and controls are a little awkward but it does run. Entirely within a PDF file, at that.

How is this possible? PDFs are technically capable of much more than just displaying static content, and support JavaScript with their own library of functions. Adobe Acrobat implements the full spec, but modern web browsers implement at least a subset of the functionality in a sandboxed JavaScript runtime environment. Input and output are limited to things one might expect from a fancy PDF form (text input boxes, clickable buttons, things of that nature) but computation-wise, just about anything goes.

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Homebrew Retro Console Runs On PIC32

January 13, 2025 by 9 Comments

[Chad Burrow] decided to take on a noble task—building a “retro” style computer and video game console. Only, this one is built using somewhat modern hardware—relying on the grunt of the PIC32MZ2048EFH144 to get the job done. Meet the Acolyte Hand PIC’d 32.

It’s name might be a mouthful, but that chip can pull off some great feats! With a clock speed of 200 MHz, it’s not  short on processing power, though RAM and flash storage are somewhat limited at just 512 KB and 2MB respectively. [Chad] was able to leverage those constraints to get a VGA output working at a resolutions up to 800 x 600, with up to 65,000 colors—though 256 colors is more practical due to memory concerns. The Acolyte Hand also rocks two 8-bit audio channels. It has a pair of Genesis-compatible controller ports as well as PS/2 and USB for keyboards and mice, along with more modern Xbox 360 controllers.

[Chad] cooked up some software to put it through its paces, too. It’s got a Tetris clone on board, and can also run Game Boy games at full speed via the Peanut-GB emulator. That provides for a pretty rich game library, though [Chad] notes he plans to develop more native video games for his system to demo at his local college. Design files are on Github for the curious.

This project is a great example of just how powerful modern microcontrollers have become. Once upon a time, just driving a simple black-and-white graphical LCD might have taken some real effort, but today, there are pixels and clock cycles to spare in projects like these. Truly a wonderous world we live in!

Gaming Table Has Lights, Action

January 12, 2025 by 2 Comments

We couldn’t decide if [‘s] Dungeons and Dragons gaming table was a woodworking project with some electronics or an electronics project with some woodworking. Either way, it looks like a lot of fun.

Some of the features are just for atmosphere. For example, the game master can set mood lighting. Presets can have a particular light configuration for, say, the woods or a cave.

But the table can also be a game changer since the game runner can send private messages to one or more players. Imagine a message saying, “You feel strange and suddenly attack your own team without any warning.”

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Regular (Expression) Chess

January 7, 2025 by 17 Comments

[Nicholas Carlini] found some extra time on his hands over the holiday, so he decide to do something with “entirely no purpose.” The result: 84,688 regular expressions that can play chess using a 2-ply minmax strategy. No kidding. We think we can do some heavy-duty regular expressions, but this is a whole other level.

As you might expect, the code to play is extremely simple as it just runs the board through series of regular expressions that implement the game logic. Of course, that doesn’t count the thousands of strings containing the regular expressions.

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