I’ve been an amateur 2d game programmer for years now, but recently after stumbling upon DIY projects involving how to make your own mp3 player, I’ve become facinated with the idea.
My idea is to create a small mp3 player with an OLCD screen which is capable of running small apps like 2d games.
However, I’m a complete newb in this end of life. I’ve begun by studying basic electricty concepts, but I need more direction as to which board I should buy, or if I would need to design and build my own, and to which controller type to buy, and really anything to do with this project idea.
So, any suggestions? This seems to be a good website for these kinds of DIY projects, but I realize I’m going to have long road ahead of me before I can figure out exactly how to do this. And I realize my first project is greatly ambitious (even if I fail, I’ll still learn a lot, just like programming).
Well, I’d appreciate any help I can get. I need tons of information, but right now I’m motivated like the severe newb that I am.
This is not an emoticon in shock, this is an emoticon which represents me looking for information on this project: :shock:
Maybe you don’t want to hear this but it would be good to take baby steps at first. Simple projects like blinking an LED will teach you a lot and the mistakes you make aren’t quite so costly. Consider what you would say to some newbie that said “I’ve never programmed but i want to create a MMORPG, how do I start?”.
That said, there are lots of plans for building MP3 players. Google is your friend. SFE has a ready made board if you want to go that route - http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=7832 If nothing else, you can study the schematic for ideas. They also carry a number of MP3 decoder chips.
You will definitely want to get up to speed on microcontrollers to run your interface, buttons, manage power, etc… Either a PIC or AVR is the best choice.
Your absolutely right about my ambition. Of course, this reminds me of the first project I started about 7 years ago in programming–an mmorpg, Which failed horribly. That said, I’m the kind of person who needs a very large carrot out in front of him in order to be motivated. If I hadn’t tried that audacious mmo, I’d never have been interested in programming games at all. It’s odd, I know, but that’s how I tend to work.
However, if I could use some of these training boards and things to get up to speed, disguising it under the pretense of a greater aim, but keeping that aim in sight by learning only things which will help me develop my idea, then it might be possible to not create a colossol failure.
I know that it isn’t a true DIY build it project, but you might want to look at the Chumby (www.chumby.com). It has a lot of features that are integrated into the device including Wi-Fi, accelerometer, MP3 playback, Flash player, and more. It runs Linux, can be hacked to your heart’s content, and is a lot of fun to play with.
A bit off topic, but what tools do you use for your 2D game development? My son has been tinkering on and off with a few platforms, the latest being Slick and SlickSet.
Well, I tried posting a response to your question yesterday, but I’m guessing the filter for this site is wired up too tight (so to speak), or it picked up something accidentally embed within a word or between words it didn’t like.
I use BYOND for most 2D games, but I also use XNA. Your son should definitely try BYOND as it is very easy to get into and as a nice easy to understand reference, has been around for quite a while, and has a large community, and a large pool of resources like demos and libraries to learn from. (I’ve even written some demos, libs, and a couple tutorials).