Gaming Hardware and HID Studio/Group/Consortium?

General
#1

I see a lot of people on twitter or online making similar stuff and I wonder if there is some way to work together?

I was inspired watching by how art studios are formed, from artists that are working independently but also together to help grow a larger shared vision.

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This forum is great, but I wonder if there is a way to make something that would almost function as a parent forum to arduboy that could include other hardware platforms.

There are quite a few projects out there that either already have, or have the potential to be more than just a “maker” project and can be a community platform similar to what arduboy has become.

There is already a kind of loose community of people who know each other and like each others tweets and probably a lot of them are already members of this community.

I’m not sure how many people are doing it as a business and how many are doing it part time full time, etc.

It would be cool to have more open and focused dialoge with other people doing similar stuff. We have so much to learn from each other on these types of projects because so many are doing it as individuals. It used to be that it required entire companies with dozens of engineers to produce electronics that can be useful to other people. Now one person can do it, but I think that there are a lot of network effects that happen from being a group.

I’m wondering how it would be possible to form some kind of “industry” group around people who are either currently or some point in the future interested in selling their hardware, and are otherwise individuals or just a couple friends.

A super huge pipe dream would be to actually form an entity out of this group and get some investment for it that could be managed as grants to members of the group! That group could potentially be a resource for everyone that join in the same way that HAX was to me in the beginning, access to mentors and other professionals, but that would take some time to build all that out of course!

How you can help?

If you make and sell hardware and this sounds interesting to you, let me know by commenting below!

Do you know a project that you think would benefit from something like this?

If there is interest in this I’d like to come back in and share some of the other projects or people I’ve seen that I’m thinking about.

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#2

I do more HID than gaming and we’re a two person company rather than an individual, but it’s certainly interesting.

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#3

I’m thinking of an official kind of version what we had at Chinese bbq place in China!

(To those who didn’t know Jessie, Myself and any number of a dozen different hackers/makers who were in shenzhen would meet almost every night for food and beers at a restaurant from 2015-2017 mostly hosted by Ian from dangerous prototypes but then kind of dispersed into ad-hoc events)

Except with FUNDING!

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#4

Excellent idea! )
Right now it’s difficult to say about benefits, but I like the idea to bring together similar platforms and people interested in these platforms doing the connected activity.
After forming the criteria of this union and goals statement, I suppose the benefits will be more visible.
www.espboy.com project is just a hobby for me now, but it grows up and who knows what it will be in the future.

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#5

It would be cool to get some investment to have as a budget, so the different companies could apply with projects they want to do and it could get funded when voted by other members. The idea would be have enough resources where it’s just a matter of waiting for your turn to get your project green lit (assuming it’s actually good).

Meeting certain review stages from the group could determine funding, so that way you gotta show a working prototype to get it and stuff. And in addition to be self policing, the group also helps you figure out what you need to get to the next step, since everyone has a shared goal of seeing each other succeed.

And as far as those help, honestly, it’s probably just as simple as like… what is a good part number to use for this, or do you have an example schematic for something else, or who is your pcba supplier? stuff like that.

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#6

Cooperation between devices and platforms could be deeper, not only forum or chat or magazine. the common development platform, the common protocol for data exchange (multiplayer between the different devices), the common online “hall of fame”, the records from the games.

Idea of these devices not only playing games or retro games emulation. it’s about creativity, DIY, making, learning the code or pixel art or chiptune music, it’s about development, exploring the technology and playing with this technology things like robots, schematics, IoT, algorithms, protocols, all these popular today neuro nets, and bigdata )

Such joint activities are also interesting from the point of view of intercultural interaction. people from different countries and cultures do something interesting together regardless of borders, politics and other differences.

#7

I just hope these still more or less niché consoles don’t go “too big”, as too much commerce spoils everything… you know, DRM, patents, consumer stuff. I like this where it is, a bit away from mainstream “gaming”. I would also like a meta forum, just not “too much” money and attention of investors in suits.

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#8

“HID” as in the USB device class?

#9

According to Wikipedia:

  • [Hardware interface design]
  • [Helium ionization detection]
  • [High-intensity discharge]
  • [Human-implantable device]
  • [Human interface device]
  • [USB human interface device class]
  • [Hystrix-like ichthyosis–deafness syndrome]

Take your pick!

#10

I think a lot of “badge life” stuff fits in this category.

Doing a blog or like some kind of coverage of similar consoles. I guess Hackaday.io is something like it but it’s too broad and not curated at all. They do their hackaday prize too so I mean it’s somewhat similar in theory, I think of doing something more focused and small.

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#11

Reading your opening text, i cannot fully get what you are trying to say/accomplish. Can you narrow it down? Or is it to complex to get your idea in a single line?

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#12

I think something like this would be greatly beneficial. I found out about the Arduboy because I got an Arduino Uno with a bunch of gizmos and gadgets to play with. One of them was an 8x8 single color dot matrix display (I upgraded to an 8x8 bi-color display and made a custom handheld game system with it). Another was a 128x64 OLED display nearly identical (only a 0.96" screen) and after playing with it looked to see if anyone had made any games using it. Lo and behold the Arduboy already existed and was exactly what I sought to make (128x64 OLED display, little piezo speaker for simple sounds, and some basic buttons).

Unfortunately for these devices the hackaday and makerspace ecosystems focus primarily on DIY gadgets people have made, but these lightweight handhelds are becoming more popular (Arduboy, Pokitto, GameBuino, ESPBoy to name a few, not to mention all the emulator focused ones). I’ve often wondered if they’re popular enough to deserve their own space. Like an ecosystem that promotes the various devices and shifts the focus from what emulators can run on them and instead focuses on the games people have made, the features of the device, and the community around it.

Some kind of award (possibly yearly) for different dev categories (similar to indie game awards). Like there could be one for best original concept, best visual style, best non-game use of a device, etc. The awards wouldn’t be tied to any one device and would encourage devs to use the device they like best (or the one best suited for their current concept). If no project fits a particular award category then that award simply isn’t handed out that round. This would also allow cross-platform promotion as people might decide to purchase a device they don’t yet have just for the games alone (I’m still sad I wasn’t ever able to have enough to purchase a GameBuino while it was around, though admittedly I’m not sure if I would have made anything for it myself, but there were a good amount of awesome games).

One thing I’ve enjoyed over on the Pokitto side is the Discord channel as it’s not strictly Pokitto related and sometimes different dev’s swap ideas around or get some quick debugging help. Other times it’s a group of people with a common interest sharing life stories and just having a good time.

I haven’t had as much dev time as I would like and my ArduManFX tool has a few finishing touches but I haven’t been able to test it properly as I need to design a case for my modded Arduboy (uses the flash cart as well as an audio booster and 8ohm mini-metal speaker with volume knob). I was finally able to at least have enough to order an official FX mod chip and can’t wait for that to arrive (though I don’t care much if it arrives tomorrow or February or later, just excited to eventually get one).

All in all I think these devices could greatly benefit from a marketing strategy similar to books in that authors would recommend books by other authors. As others have mentioned on multiple forums most of the people that have one of these devices have at least two different ones (I have an Arduboy and Pokitto for example, but would have liked a GameBuino as well just couldn’t afford it).

Seems like these devices need their own makerspace that focuses more on handheld game systems and the games people have made for them. This can include systems that are capable of running emulators, but the focus should be on the games made by the community rather than the emulators it can run.

#13

If expanding the podium (that’s what i guess I’m reading) for “niche market” devices means better availability and more reasonable pricing (no more over the top shipping/tax costs) I’m in. But being niche has its charm, having/building something cool that not everyone has…

#14

I guess what I’m thinking might be something between tindie and hackaday.io sorta? But focused specifically on gaming and HID devices, basically… things you can interact with that actually “do” something.

No blinking christmas trees or pcb trace motors, which are cool, but I think that the focus of a platform like this could really bring a lot of help to different developers.

A kind of virtual maker space for people looking to make this kind of stuff.

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