Worklog Handheld Rhythm Game

[Luke]

Man I miss the age of frankencased N64s (and SNESs and NESs and PSONEs, etc). I just can't get into the age of totally perfect 3D printed Wiis xD

A frankencased N64 with basic features (about the limit of my skills) would be old news and not worthy of a building contest. And I'm not doing a wii, and no other systems interest me sooooo I've gotta think of something else.

I've always been into rhythm games though I've mostly only done things like Guitar Hero and american-ized versions of DDR. I did have a hand-held version of Beatmania as a kid, and IIRC it looked something like this.

It made me think, maybe I want to create a handheld rhythm game, it could be fun. My first thought was to use Stepmania, would be simple enough. I tried for a while to get it working on the Raspberry Pi, and the version I finally got working was Project Outfox, which has a ton of other variations of rhythm games, cool. I fought the temporary urge to try and support as many of them as I could into one handheld. It did have a beatmania version, and so I considered that for a while too. However in a twist to my initial thougths...

At the moment, I'm leaning very heavily toward an SDVX game. I've been going to some arcades lately that have exposed me to such games and a few others, and I'm hooked. I already have Unnamed SDVX Clone built on my RPI and it runs quite well.

A gif of what the game is, for those who don't know:

More details coming soon...

 

[Y2K]

Man I miss the age of frankencased N64s (and SNESs and NESs and PSONEs, etc). I just can't get into the age of totally perfect 3D printed Wiis xD

A frankencased N64 with basic features (about the limit of my skills) would be old news and not worthy of a building contest. And I'm not doing a wii, and no other systems interest me sooooo I've gotta think of something else.

I've always been into rhythm games though I've mostly only done things like Guitar Hero and american-ized versions of DDR. I did have a hand-held version version of Beatmania as a kid, and IIRC it looked something like this.
View attachment 33777

It made me think, maybe I want to create a handheld rhythm game, it could be fun. My first thought was to use Stepmania, would be simple enough. I tried for a while to get it working on the Raspberry Pi, and the version I finally got working was Project Outfox, which has a ton of other variations of rhythm games, cool. I fought the temporary urge to try and support as many of them as I could into one handheld. It did have a beatmania version, and so I considered that for a while too. However in a twist to my initial thougths...

At the moment, I'm leaning very heavily toward an SDVX game. I already have Unnamed SDVX Clone built on my RPI and it runs quite well.

A gif of what the game is, for those who don't know:
View attachment 33778

More details coming soon...

Love the idea! I'm also quite into rhythm games, so I'm excited to see what you come up with!

If you're planning on making a portable Sound Voltex machine, I have a couple of things for you to keep in mind:

The rotary encoders used for VOL-L and VOL-R need to be quite rigid or else they risk becoming either very loose or very grindy after a lot of use. There isn't really a super small rotary encoder to use that'll get the build into a handheld size IMO, but perhaps you could look into a small tabletop project based around Pocket Voltex or Pocket SDVX Pico v4? The rotary encoders they employ are rigid enough to last quite a while. I have some extensive use with Pocket Voltex and got one of the last units Mon ever sold, it's quite good, and also open source! Might be better to go with the RP2040 based one, as its a newer and more supported design.

I also like the idea of using a Raspberry Pi, however that limits you to just USC or anything that can run under Linux. USC is great, but Konami has an official Windows version called SDVX Konasute, which is currently on Exceed Gear just like the arcade version. Perhaps it could be a good idea to find a small x86 PC capable of running the game? Not sure how well the game runs on integrated GPUs, as SDVX was known to have problems running on anything but Nvidia GPUs. Game also costs a subscription fee and is a bit of a pain to set up too as it's Japan exclusive (iirc you have to set up a Japanese eAmusement account and buy some Paseli, and then you can purchase the subscription using Paseli), but it's an extremely close to arcade experience!

Best of luck to you, I hope you succeed!

 

[Luke]

Love the idea! I'm also quite into rhythm games, so I'm excited to see what you come up with!

If you're planning on making a portable Sound Voltex machine, I have a couple of things for you to keep in mind:

The rotary encoders used for VOL-L and VOL-R need to be quite rigid or else they risk becoming either very loose or very grindy after a lot of use. There isn't really a super small rotary encoder to use that'll get the build into a handheld size IMO, but perhaps you could look into a small tabletop project based around Pocket Voltex or Pocket SDVX Pico v4? The rotary encoders they employ are rigid enough to last quite a while. I have some extensive use with Pocket Voltex and got one of the last units Mon ever sold, it's quite good, and also open source! Might be better to go with the RP2040 based one, as its a newer and more supported design.

I also like the idea of using a Raspberry Pi, however that limits you to just USC or anything that can run under Linux. USC is great, but Konami has an official Windows version called SDVX Konasute, which is currently on Exceed Gear just like the arcade version. Perhaps it could be a good idea to find a small x86 PC capable of running the game? Not sure how well the game runs on integrated GPUs, as SDVX was known to have problems running on anything but Nvidia GPUs. Game also costs a subscription fee and is a bit of a pain to set up too as it's Japan exclusive (iirc you have to set up a Japanese eAmusement account and buy some Paseli, and then you can purchase the subscription using Paseli), but it's an extremely close to arcade experience!

Best of luck to you, I hope you succeed!

Thanks for the feedback! The rotary encoders I think are the biggest unknown for me at this point. I had sort of written off the use of actual rotary encoders, but maybe I'll take another look. I'm thinking this unit will be somewhere around DMG sized, so the bigger ones would be out of the question. If I do go with some alternative it would be at least somewhat similar and not merely buttons, something to think more about. I obviously don't want to make very big compromises on the most differentiating aspect of the game

Thanks for the info on SDVX Konasute, I will dig into that a bit.

 

[Y2K]

Thanks for the feedback! The rotary encoders I think are the biggest unknown for me at this point. I had sort of written off the use of actual rotary encoders, but maybe I'll take another look. I'm thinking this unit will be somewhere around DMG sized, so the bigger ones would be out of the question. If I do go with some alternative it would be at least somewhat similar and not merely buttons, something to think more about. I obviously don't want to make very big compromises on the most differentiating aspect of the game

Thanks for the info on SDVX Konasute, I will dig into that a bit.

Perhaps you could look at developing your own small encoders? Gamo2 on their Faucetwo controllers utilize a optical encoder (google if you're not familiar, its a neat concept) and they feel fantastic. Basically bulletproof too! I think they're better than arcade or copal encoders! It might be possible to condense that down but might be a bit of a design challenge. Some food for thought in any case! Best of luck!

 

[Luke]

I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS.
An electrical engineer turned software dev should not have had as much trouble configuring my pi, but I did. But, I'm mostly there now (with the pi, that is).

I tried for a long time to get USC (unnamed sdvx clone) to directly boot when powered on, rather than have to be executed manually, but failed. I swear I tried everything. Read every online help, chatted with chatgpt, etc. But what I have now I kind of like, here are the key points:

• Boot into Rasbian
• Use a .desktop file as a shortcut to the actual executable
  • This allows a custom icon
• Increased the icon size by as much as possible
• Configure to open on a single click rather than a double click
• Icon size + single click makes it feel like an app on a smart device rather than a desktop with icons

Why all that nonsense? I'm okay with booting into the actual raspbian OS (nevermind that I couldn't figure out how not to), but more importantly, my future plan, probably in time for the contest: Project Outfox will be there, which I have mentioned in my original post. It should look kind of like two "apps" in a "smart device" for rhythm games.

I am incredibly impressed with the screen I got:
Amazon product
Some reviews were a little mixed, we'll see how long it lasts, but my goodness, for a 3.5" screen, it is incredibly clear... I can read very small text on it and the game looks great.

The touchscreen facilitates opening the "app", and navigating the initial menu, including Start, Settings and all settings interactions, and exiting that app. Following that, everything else will be controlled by the buttons and encoders.

I will at some point get a nice custom desktop image and then customize USC to the extent that I can, haven't messed with that all yet.

Controls next!

 

[Pablo]

Looks neat so far! shame about the autoboot though, suprised nothing got it working, i've had some luck autorunnning python scripts with crontab in the past

 

[Y2K]

I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS.
An electrical engineer turned software dev should not have had as much trouble configuring my pi, but I did. But, I'm mostly there now (with the pi, that is).

I tried for a long time to get USC (unnamed sdvx clone) to directly boot when powered on, rather than have to be executed manually, but failed. I swear I tried everything. Read every online help, chatted with chatgpt, etc. But what I have now I kind of like, here are the key points:

• Boot into Rasbian
• Use a .desktop file as a shortcut to the actual executable
  • This allows a custom icon
• Increased the icon size by as much as possible
• Configure to open on a single click rather than a double click
• Icon size + single click makes it feel like an app on a smart device rather than a desktop with icons

Why all that nonsense? I'm okay with booting into the actual raspbian OS (nevermind that I couldn't figure out how not to), but more importantly, my future plan, probably in time for the contest: Project Outfox will be there, which I have mentioned in my original post. It should look kind of like two "apps" in a "smart device" for rhythm games.

I am incredibly impressed with the screen I got:
Amazon product
Some reviews were a little mixed, we'll see how long it lasts, but my goodness, for a 3.5" screen, it is incredibly clear... I can read very small text on it and the game looks great.

The touchscreen facilitates opening the "app", and navigating the initial menu, including Start, Settings and all settings interactions, and exiting that app. Following that, everything else will be controlled by the buttons and encoders. More on that next!

Video showing what I've mentioned above:

(no audio and I'm not actually playing it at the end, though it works fine with keyboard)

I will at some point get a nice custom desktop image and then customize USC to the extent that I can, haven't messed with that all yet.

Controls next!

Please reupload your image and video in this post to the forums and YouTube respectively. Imgur is not an approved video host, and we only allow images to be uploaded directly to the forums for archival reasons. Thanks!

 

[Luke]

Small update. Most of this project is figured out.

I have everything powered via 2 18650s connected to a CMB and a trusty PTH08080 converting to 5v, that all works great.

The audio amp I bought was drawing too much current and powering down the pi when I turned it on, so I used one of my own designs I made a while back, and it worked fine
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/gXUJiYW4

I have followed this guide for the controller: https://consandstuff.github.io/rhythmcons/sound-voltex/sdvx-normal/
I am failing to get the LEDs on the buttons to work. I was thinking the LED output pins would provide voltage to power the LED, but that seems not to be the case. I may have needed to buy fancier buttons than what I have; time is running out for me to solve this unfortunately.

 

[Customledmods]

Can you provide the parts number for buttons with leds you are using? Also can you upload pictures of the leds and wiring of them.

 

[Luke]

The switch has NC, NO, and C contacts for the switch and + and - for the LED.


The LED can be powered on by 3.3V, I did not test the required current. The teensy output pins can apparently do 3.3v 50mA which I don't expect to be an issue.

Based on the guide, I wired A switch (for test purposes it was not the same one as the one with the light) to pin 4 and verified the button press is registered properly, both in a debug program and in the game. I wired the + (red) of the LED to pin 13 as the diagram suggests and - (black) to ground, and my expectation was that when I closed the switch on pin 4, pin 13 would go high.

That doesn't seem to be the case though, in fact no readable voltage on pin 13 when pin 4 is shorted to ground. I suspect it's some sort of digital signal that controls a more advanced LED than what I have.

The last thing my late night brain didn't bother to try was to wire the LED in series with switch on pin 4 and forget about pin 13, will get to that this evening.

Unfortunately the code for this controller is already in hex, I'm not sure if it would be very easy to decompile and edit.

Any insight is much appreciated!