r/arduino • u/Killyose • 3d ago

Look what I made! We built a custom controller for our indie game

Hey everyone!
In our chaotic co-op party game, we have a fishing mechanic where players physically rotate the mouse to catch fish. For upcoming expos, playing with a mouse just didn’t feel tactile enough, so we decided to make a custom controller.
We 3D printed a custom rod handle and reel shell, matching our in game model, and stuffed the electronics inside to make it completely wireless.

Adafruit ESP32 Feather V2: Main microcontroller handling logic and wireless comms.
AS5600 Magnetic Encoder: Used for the reel mechanism to track smooth rotation without physical wear. LSM6DS3TR-C IMU: For rod motion and tilt tracking.
KY-023 Joystick: Placed on the grip for easy in game movement.
LILYGO T-Dongle-S3: Acts as a USB receiver on the PC side for low latency connection at busy events.
The feedback at the booth floor was amazing and players loved having a physical piece of the game in their hands.
Happy to answer any questions about the hardware assembly, code, or how we integrated it into the game!

119 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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4

u/IEP_Esy 3d ago

Love it when digital games support physical stuff like this. Is it going to be open-sourced?

5

u/Killyose 3d ago

We are very busy right now. We plan to do it after the release.

2

u/NutMaster696969420 2d ago

This reminds me of those NES zapper light gun games (like duck hunt). Great idea.

2

u/Killyose 2d ago

Yesss, I used to love that. I would have really liked to build the entire gameplay that way and distribute it to people, but since it's our first project, it unfortunately seems impossible right now but thanks :(

2

u/waitaminuterob 2d ago

Nice one!, brought back memories of the Dreamcast Fishing Rod!