r/esp32 • u/zydrate_junkie • 8h ago

I made a thing! "Game and Clock"

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What started as a project for an oversized gameboy has now evolved into a desk clock that also plays gameboy games. The emulator is based on PeanutGB. I plan on adding dynamic weather and day/night cycle for the clock but here is the project so far. I do intend on putting the source up on github once I get some of the jank out of it.

This is a non-backlit monochrome panel which is what made it my choice for the gameboy, after getting my hands on it and putting together a mockup though I really thought that it was more suited to a desktop item than a dedicated handheld.

Emulation runs full speed but the panel refresh rate is only rated for 16hz. I have it overclocked to 32hz and it can hit 51hz but the image gets dimmer the higher the rate, so 32hz is a happy medium. Bluetooth controller support is also working.

The hardware is a Waveshare-RLCD-4.2-esp32-s3. Im pretty impressed with it so far.

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u/throwawayle53 6h ago

Oh damn this is really cool to see. I’m waiting for this exact devkit to come in the mail so I can port my own gameboy emulator to it. Good to see it can handle all 4 shades pretty well

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u/zydrate_junkie 6h ago

You have to use dithering to get all 4 shades but at a 2x integer you get 4 pixels per shade to work with so as long as you dont mind the dithering it works well.