Andreas Garmannslund / Mbed 2 deprecated SimplePlatformGame

A simple one-level platform game. Developed as part of ELEC2645 at University of Leeds, spring 2015.

Dependencies:   N5110 PinDetect PowerControl mbed

An ARM mbed LPC1768 microcontroller have been used to develop a handheld arcade game in the style of an old-school platformer. This project is entirely my own independent work in all stages of the development; including design, defining project specifications, breadboard prototyping, schematic and PCB layout using CAD, assembly, testing and software development. Due to this being part of the ELEC2645 Embedded Systems Project module at University of Leeds, spring 2015, limitations were given on the available hardware components. Credit is due to the authors of the dependent libraries (N5110, Pin Detect, PowerControl and mbed). I would also like to thank the author of Game Programming Patterns as well as the authors of SFML Game Development for providing me with useful sources for programming design patterns.

Project aims

• Implement simple gameplay:
  • A single, fixed (no scrolling) level.
  • Player can move left to right, jump and shoot.
  • Enemies will drop from the top of the screen.
  • The player gets points for shooting enemies.
  • The player dies when it gets hits by an enemy.
• Implement a simple menu system.
• Enable the user to adjust the brightness of the display.
• Output sound to enhance the user experience.

Software

The program flow is controlled by a finite state machine. The implemented design was inspired by the State design pattern from the books Game Programming Patterns and SFML Game Development. The StateManager class is responsible for updating and rendering the current selected state. It also changes the state based on request from the current state. The framework built for the state machine used in this project makes it easy to add new screens. The different main states (indicated by the background colour) and how the user interaction is shown below:

Hardware

Schematic:

Printed circuit board (PCB):

Images

A seperate program was written to convert images (png) to text-representation of the maps. Enemies and numbers on the screen are also collected from a sprite-sheet created in the same manner.

#include "StateManager.h"

// Delete the old state and create a new one
void StateManager::changeState(MainState newState)
{
    if (currentState != 0)      // if a state exist
        delete currentState;    // delete the old state

    // Create new state
    switch (newState)
    {
        case MAIN_MENU:
            currentState = new MainMenu(this, lcd, input);
        break;
        
        case GAME:
            currentState = new Game(this, lcd, input);
        break;
        
        // TODO: Make classes for the other states.
        case SUBMIT_HIGHSCORE:
        //break;
        
        case GAME_OVER:
        //break;

        default:
            error("Invalid state!");
    }
}

void StateManager::requestStateChange(MainState requestedState)
{
    if (nextState != NO_STATE)
        error("Invalid - can't request new state before the first request has been processed!");
        
    nextState = requestedState;
}

void StateManager::update(float dt)
{       
    currentState->update(dt);
}

void StateManager::render()
{
    currentState->render();
}

void StateManager::processRequest()
{
    // Check if there has been a request to change the state
    if (nextState != NO_STATE)
    {
        changeState(nextState);
        nextState = NO_STATE;       // reset, state has been changed
    }
}