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Gameduino 3X adds a bright touchscreen to the Arduino. It features amazing graphics, audio and video from the FT815 GPU -- right in your hand. There are three models:
- the 4.3" has a 480x272 screen,
- the 5" model has a larger 800x480 screen
- the Dazzler has 1280x720 HDMI output
Gameduino is by far the most capable graphics shield for the Arduino, and many find it the easiest to use.
The Gameduino 3X Dazzler with HD HDMI out, dual Wii controllers, and many other features is now available from Crowd Supply, Amazon and the Excamera Store.
You can buy a Gameduino 3X for $39 from our online store. Same day shipping is free.
You can also buy from Amazon: Gameduino 3X 4.3" and Gameduino 3X 5".
The UK distributor Cool Components carries all models: Cool Components.
Resources
You can download the Gameduino library and tools on this page.
The Gameduino user forum -- see you there!
And finally there is a FAQ.
Example sketches
There are dozens of examples included with the Gameduino library, and many more in the Gameduino book. These samples here give an idea of what it can do.
Gameduino has a no-fuss approach to graphics. A few lines of code are enough to start creating. details
Minimal sketch to play back an AVI video from SDcard. details
Menu for choosing a video to play from SDcard. details
Spinning 3D cube with video playing on each face details
A full game for the Gameduino. Fast moving action with beautiful contemporary graphics. details
Gameduino 3 isn't just for games. Thanks to its onboard GPU it has a full library of ready-made interactive widgets, all touch-enabled. details
A spinning 3D cube with a jpg image on each face details
Animated sketching using the touch screen, using transparent circles. details
A conversion of the ancient classic to the Gameduino. Twenty levels of 8-bit jumping action. details
Tiny chess program running on the Arduino, with a very nice-looking board. details
3D graphics demo. A "virtual trackball" interface lets you rotate a spaceship model, with bitmapped backgrounds. details
Arcade classic converted for Arduino + Gameduino. details
Another arcade classic converted for Arduino + Gameduino. details
Animation demo. Multiple background planes, rotating foreground spites with spinning polygons. details
Parallax scrolling with touch-based map editing on the Arduino itself. details
Abstract graphics demo using the transparent blending capabilities of the BT815. details
Maximum sprite complexity. The Gameduino 1 could handle 256 sprites. For the Gameduino the maximum is over 2000. details
Browse JPG files on the SDcard. details
About Gameduino 3X
The Gameduino 3X shield that adds a bright touchscreen, an embedded GPU, headphone jack, accelerometer and microSD slot to your Arduino - or anything else with an SPI interface. Everything you need to create compelling games -- right in your hand.
- video output is in 24-bit color
- Gameduino 3X 4.3" is 480x272
- Gameduino 3X 7" is 800x480
- Gameduino 3X Dazzler is 1280x720
- OpenGL-style command set
- Up to 2000 sprites, any size
- 1 Mbyte of video RAM
- smooth sprite rotate and zoom with bilinear filtering
- smooth circle and line drawing in hardware - 16x antialiased
- JPEG and PNG loading in hardware
- built-in rendering of gradients, text, dials and buttons
Sound output is via an amplified headphone jack. The system supports a selection of built-in samples and instruments, and can also play samples from video memory, at up to 48KHz.
The BT815 can handle media in several formats directly. These save CPU memory, and mean simpler code on the CPU.
- decodes JPEG and PNG images directly. No libraries required
- for lossless image loading, decompresses (zlib INFLATE) directly
- audio samples can be 8-bit linear, ulaw or ADPCM
Built into the GPU's ROM are:
- high-quality fonts in 6 sizes
- samples of 8 musical instruments, playable by MIDI note
- samples of 10 percussion sounds
and of course you can load your own fonts and audio samples into the on-board 1 megabyte RAM.
Hardware
Gameduino 3 is much like the first Gameduino, an SPI peripheral. The sdcard is also on SPI. Touch and audio functions are handled by the FT810, so take no extra pins. The full pinout (Arduino shield pin numbers) is
| GND | pwr | Signal ground |
| 5V | pwr | Main supply: 5-7V |
| 11 | in | SPI MOSI |
| 12 | out | SPI MISO |
| 13 | in | SPI SCK |
| 8 | in | GPU SEL |
| 9 | in | SD SEL |
| 2 | out | INTERRUPT |
For power, the shield needs 5-7v at 200ma on the 5V input; it has on-board regulation.
It is a 3.3v device, but the inputs go through a level-shifter so are also 5v tolerant. The range of the analog outputs is 0-3.3v.
Gameduino 3 is open source hardware and software, released under BSD license. The PCB schematics and layout are here.