Basketball Arcade Game

[kahlid74]

Wife complained about not having a Skeeball or Basketball style arcade game yet.  Both commercial arcade versions are a couple grand and I didn't feel like paying that, so decided to start with building a basketball one.  Thought about making it 8 feet long but it didn't jive so I made it 6 feet long with a 4 foot high backboard.  The rim in these pictures is a standard 18" but it feels too easy with that, so I'm going to try a 15" trick rim and see if that ups the difficulty.  The brains will be an Arduino with multiple versions of Gameplay/players.

Build so far is Sanded Ply with 2x4's.  I plan to use 1x2's for the posts to hold up the netting.

[pbj]

https://www.amazon.com/Downtown-3-Indoor-Basketball-Arcade-Style-Electronic/dp/B0081TZOOO/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1467057740&sr=1-5&keywords=basketball+arcade

[yotsuya]

Watching with interest.

[kahlid74]

https://www.amazon.com/Downtown-3-Indoor-Basketball-Arcade-Style-Electronic/dp/B0081TZOOO/ref=sr_1_5?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1467057740&sr=1-5&keywords=basketball+arcade

Right, that was actually why I did this project.  The quality of those is so poor it's not even worth the $41 bucks.

[thatpurplestuff]

Not sure what you were planning on doing software-wise, but I created a game called "Free Hoops" that is pretty customizable if you are just looking for a simple 1 or 2 player basketball game.  It runs in Windows... it's not optimized at all so I don't know how well it would work on an Arduino.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=143722.0

Either way, I'm watching this thread with interest!

[kahlid74]

Not sure what you were planning on doing software-wise, but I created a game called "Free Hoops" that is pretty customizable if you are just looking for a simple 1 or 2 player basketball game.  It runs in Windows... it's not optimized at all so I don't know how well it would work on an Arduino.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=143722.0

Either way, I'm watching this thread with interest!

Nice!  The challenge there, is I plan to use IR to denote when a basketball goes through the hoop, so if your program had the drivers to interpret and translate it, then it would work.  The Arduino was a choice due to code I already found that utilizes an LCD screen and IR.

[thatpurplestuff]

Not sure what you were planning on doing software-wise, but I created a game called "Free Hoops" that is pretty customizable if you are just looking for a simple 1 or 2 player basketball game.  It runs in Windows... it's not optimized at all so I don't know how well it would work on an Arduino.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=143722.0

Either way, I'm watching this thread with interest!

Nice!  The challenge there, is I plan to use IR to denote when a basketball goes through the hoop, so if your program had the drivers to interpret and translate it, then it would work.  The Arduino was a choice due to code I already found that utilizes an LCD screen and IR.

The Free Hoops software is basically a vastly simplified version of the software that I've got running in my Skeeball machine, and all of the Skeeball holes use IR beam break sensors for detection.  They are currently being driven by a Keywiz, but if you can make your Arduino simulate a keypress when the IR sensor is triggered then you should be able to use the software no problem.

[JudgeRob]

Nice dude, this looks interesting!

if you can make your Arduino simulate a keypress

If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know! 

[kahlid74]

The Free Hoops software is basically a vastly simplified version of the software that I've got running in my Skeeball machine, and all of the Skeeball holes use IR beam break sensors for detection.  They are currently being driven by a Keywiz, but if you can make your Arduino simulate a keypress when the IR sensor is triggered then you should be able to use the software no problem.

Making an Arduino simulate a key press is counter productive, lol but what you've described is very interesting.  So how do you work the IR?  Do you have it always on and when the IR is broken it triggers a break?  Can you make it four players but one player at a time?  Can you include sounds?  Can you change the timer?

[pbj]

https://www.google.com/#q=beam+break+sensor+arduino

[kahlid74]

https://www.google.com/#q=beam+break+sensor+arduino

Right, that's what I was already using for the Arduino, but for Windows and KeyWhiz I was wondering what they did.

[thatpurplestuff]

The Free Hoops software is basically a vastly simplified version of the software that I've got running in my Skeeball machine, and all of the Skeeball holes use IR beam break sensors for detection.  They are currently being driven by a Keywiz, but if you can make your Arduino simulate a keypress when the IR sensor is triggered then you should be able to use the software no problem.

Making an Arduino simulate a key press is counter productive, lol but what you've described is very interesting.  So how do you work the IR?  Do you have it always on and when the IR is broken it triggers a break?  Can you make it four players but one player at a time?  Can you include sounds?  Can you change the timer?

Not sure how you'd go about implementing it with an Arduino, but using the Keywiz it's as simple as wiring the sensor (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2168) like a standard pushbutton.  The sensor has the circuit open when the beam is unbroken, and when an object breaks the beam it closes the circuit and the Keywiz recognizes it as a button press.  I have been very pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of the sensors and they are plug and play with the necessary resistors already included.

The game only allows for simultaneous play, not turn-based play so it's either 1 player or 2 players at the same time.  It has a GlobalSettings.txt file where music/sounds are configurable, timer is configurable, graphics are configurable, you can turn high scores on/off, and you can turn on/off a "Blitz" feature that makes shots made in the last X seconds worth X bonus points.  The only requirements for the game are that you use Windows and have 3 buttons to navigate the menu (up, down, and start) and at least 1 input to act as basket detection (2 if you want 2 players).

The game is made entirely with ActionScript2 and I am just a hobbyist with little programming knowledge, so input methods are limited to keystrokes.

[kahlid74]

The Free Hoops software is basically a vastly simplified version of the software that I've got running in my Skeeball machine, and all of the Skeeball holes use IR beam break sensors for detection.  They are currently being driven by a Keywiz, but if you can make your Arduino simulate a keypress when the IR sensor is triggered then you should be able to use the software no problem.

Making an Arduino simulate a key press is counter productive, lol but what you've described is very interesting.  So how do you work the IR?  Do you have it always on and when the IR is broken it triggers a break?  Can you make it four players but one player at a time?  Can you include sounds?  Can you change the timer?

Not sure how you'd go about implementing it with an Arduino, but using the Keywiz it's as simple as wiring the sensor (https://www.adafruit.com/product/2168) like a standard pushbutton.  The sensor has the circuit open when the beam is unbroken, and when an object breaks the beam it closes the circuit and the Keywiz recognizes it as a button press.  I have been very pleasantly surprised with the accuracy of the sensors and they are plug and play with the necessary resistors already included.

The game only allows for simultaneous play, not turn-based play so it's either 1 player or 2 players at the same time.  It has a GlobalSettings.txt file where music/sounds are configurable, timer is configurable, graphics are configurable, you can turn high scores on/off, and you can turn on/off a "Blitz" feature that makes shots made in the last X seconds worth X bonus points.  The only requirements for the game are that you use Windows and have 3 buttons to navigate the menu (up, down, and start) and at least 1 input to act as basket detection (2 if you want 2 players).

The game is made entirely with ActionScript2 and I am just a hobbyist with little programming knowledge, so input methods are limited to keystrokes.

Open source?  I'd be interested in changing it to be turn based, as there will only be one hoop.

[Malenko]

Open source?  I'd be interested in changing it to be turn based, as there will only be one hoop.

Whats the difference between turn based 2 player game, and 2 players taking a turn playing a 1 player game?

[kahlid74]

Open source?  I'd be interested in changing it to be turn based, as there will only be one hoop.

Whats the difference between turn based 2 player game, and 2 players taking a turn playing a 1 player game?

Asthetics/Semantics.  If two players cannot play side by side, the option for both playing at the same time should be removed or not present.

[Malenko]

Open source?  I'd be interested in changing it to be turn based, as there will only be one hoop.

Whats the difference between turn based 2 player game, and 2 players taking a turn playing a 1 player game?

Asthetics/Semantics.  If two players cannot play side by side, the option for both playing at the same time should be removed or not present.

I think I misread/misunderstood, we're on the same page 

[kahlid74]

Was gone on vacation for 14 days but before I left I finished building it.  Now I need to enable/install electronics and then I will tear it down to get it out of the shop and into the basement proper and then paint/re-assembly and get overlays and graphics on it.

Can't seem to find the capability to embed it, so here's the link.

https://www.youtube.com/v/EILYGkywGek

[Slippyblade]

Just change https:// to http:// and it will embed.

You're a LOT better at that than I am!

[PL1]

Can't seem to find the capability to embed it, so here's the link.

It's probably because you used the URL provided by youtube when you right-click on the video and select "copy video URL".
(doesn't contain "watch?v")

Code: [Select]

https://youtu.be/EILYGkywGek
Use the URL from your browser (contains "watch?v") and change from "https" to "http" -- no tags needed.

From:

Code: [Select]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EILYGkywGek
To:

Code: [Select]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EILYGkywGek
Result:



Scott

[kahlid74]

Whew, it's been ages, but I finally got the majority of the POC finished and then worked on some of the electronics.  I'll make another post with lots more data but here's a video using @thatpurplestuff's "Free Hoops".

Lots to finalize but the fam had a blast during the holidays shooting.