Working on custom harware, preparing a future class

Educators' Lounge
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Hello!

I’m an Art School Professor teaching Game production and Game design for BFA students.

  • I teach mostly capstone classes (ambitious 3D games), but also a mid-cursus Game design class (we focus on Board games) and an Intro to Game development class.
  • The intro class is the one relevant to this forum, as I have my students use MakeCode Arcade to quickly prototype 2D games to start some early discussions on Game design, Level design, Player narrative, etc..
    You can view some info about this class, and some student work sample here: http://luxregina.com/portfolio/intro-to-game-development/

This summer, I’ve started developing a custom hardware to possibly offer a class where students build their own handheld consoles. But I do have some questions! :slight_smile:
I assume tagging @jacqueline.russell is the proper etiquette?

The Project so far

I’ve been following the “MakeTato” tutorial > https://austonstewart.com/posts/maketato-diy-handheld/ and Maketato - A DIY, Pico-based handheld students can build
I have designed a shell prototype, 3D printed, and I do have a functioning console prototype:

midterm
midterm2845×1600 6.19 MB

midterm2
midterm22845×1600 5.84 MB

I’m very new to electronics, so I’m in the process of learning the whole thing. So far, everything is working as expected, but I’m running into some questions I need help with

My questions

Finally, I’m looking forward seeing some of you: I’ve registered for the talk on July 31st, about Custom Hardware!

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

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Hi @luxregina! It was very nice meeting you last week. Reading more about your Intro Game Dev class here, it looks amazing!!! I want to take this class :grinning_face:. As I mentioned on the call, we have no near-term plans to support the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. For getting unstuck with the wiring/bootloader issue you’re facing, could you please email me at jacqueline.russell@microsoft.com? Please include as much detail as possible about the setup and what you’ve tried so far. I’ll see if I can get someone to help troubleshoot this issue with you. Thanks! Jacqueline

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Thanks @jacqueline.russell !

I’m done with my console - I’ve made a video that can be viewed here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZcDpu__DRo
I will send you an email with all my questions tomorrow or Friday: I will organize them so that it’s easy to go through :slight_smile:

I had a blast building that console, and this is just the first step into developing a lot more hardware compatible with your amazing tool!!! :slight_smile:

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Oh wow!!! This is so so cool! I love the video - really brings the whole making process alive :sparkles: . Please do send us your tutorial and we’ll post. Congratulations!!!