Summary
This DIY ESP32 AR game turns your room into an interactive firing range.
The game spawns targets from your surroundings; you get 10 shots per game, and scores are logged.
It uses a 3D-printed gun shell with GC9A01 circular TFT mounts on the barrel for immersive aiming.
You know, I’m a little sad that AR games haven’t really taken off as much as they could. There’s something about turning your home into its own little game that I think is really cool, but I don’t think the tech is really there to really wow people. Fortunately, it turns out that people have been making their own AR games and uploading the how-to onto the internet.
Such is the case with HJWWalters, who has made a cool little ESP32-powered game where you shoot at AR targets around your real-life room. They even went so far as to shape the ‘console’ as a gun to better get you immersed in the game.
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This ESP32 project turns any room in your house into a firing range
And it’s even shaped like a gun
HJWWalters gave us a video of their newest project over on the ESP32 subreddit. It uses the power of AI technology to generate targets around your room, which you need to locate using the gun-shaped controller and shoot at them. It’s really cool, and if you want to make your own, HJWWalters has been so kind as to go through every little detail over on their blog.
Here’s how it works:
The rules of the game are simple: you have 10 shots to shoot at targets which pop up from your surroundings. The shots are scored, recorded and the game ends when the player has exhausted all of their ‘ammo’. There is no time limit aside from that set by the battery life.
The game utilises your surroundings to provide potential spawning points from where a target may pop up from, all while providing a real time video feed to a GC9A01 circular TFT display.
My favorite part of this project is the casing. It’s a 3D-printed enclosure that’s shaped like a gun, and the screen is on the back of the barrel. The idea is that as you look at the screen to see where the target is, you’re naturally pointing the gun toward whatever you see on the display. Line up your shot, hit the trigger button, and you’ll score a point. Very cool.