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Show HN: Imposter Attack – Among Us-themed infrared game made with ESP32

202 points by statico 2y ago

statico 2y ago
This took a few evenings to make :) Full source code is on GitHub: https://github.com/statico/imposter-attack-2024 https://github.com/statico/imposter-attack-2024
- Joel_Mckay 2y ago
  Looks fun, and certainly worth a star. =3
- ryanisnan 2y ago
  This is awesome! I may try to get this working locally with my 6 year old son!
  - statico 2y ago
    Shoot me a message if you need any help!
    - cookie_monsta 2y ago
      Haha. I see what you did there
- bschwindHN 2y ago
  Nice work! I got into electronics with infrared remote decoding and ESP chips, so this was a bit nostalgic and fun to read :) Making a PCB is the next step, and it's quite easy to get started with KiCAD, especially if you're just mounting header sockets to pop in the various boards you're using. Good luck!
  - statico 2y ago
    Thanks! That's what I'm hoping. I'm already going down the YouTube hole of KiCAD...
t_mann 2y ago
> I was told that I had the second biggest crowd, second only to a Pokémon bean bag game (which did look pretty cool). Some adults were curious, but most importantly, a handful of questions from kids who wanted to know how I built it. It was especially rewarding to show one off one of the extra targets I brought. One kid even recognized the ESP32 chips and said, “Oh, these are the ones you can make drones out of!” That paragraph really stood out to me. Apparently, where OP lives, people casually make stuff even cooler than a laser shooting game for a one-off school event, and elementary-school-age kids recognize specific types of microcontrollers.
- statico 2y ago
  Part of me wants to say, "Well, that's Silicon Valley for you," but I'm confident there are many other places you could say something similar about. Compared to what my neighbors are working on and with self-driving cars roaming around, infrared shooting games seem pretty mild :)
- bragr 2y ago
  1 out of 115 kids recognizing a microcontroller doesn't seem that surprising considering many kids play with little electronics kits these days.
  - mock-possum 2y ago
    Plus kids follow makers on social media and video sites.
duxup 2y ago
This might be one of the coolest maker projects I've seen. Congratulations!
- statico 2y ago
  Thanks!
starkparker 2y ago
> I might try a different theme than Among Us This might've been thrown out for being too obvious, but did you consider Ghostbusters? Swap the magic wand for a proton pack wand and it seems to fit almost too well.
- statico 2y ago
  Wow, I never considered a Ghostbusters theme. I'll keep that in mind for next year.
monocularvision 2y ago
So cool and a great write up. Thanks for sharing!
dang 2y ago
We put Show HN in the title (the convention for sharing your own work on HN, which this certainly is! - https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html). But putting that in pushed MicroPython out the end of the buffer (which is fixed to 80 chars). If MicroPython is more interesting than ESP32, we can swap them... (Submitted title was "Imposter Attack – Among Us-themed infrared game made with ESP32 and MicroPython")
- statico 2y ago
  Thanks, dang. It's been a while and I forgot the rules.
jackschultz 2y ago
Great timing. I've been wanting to learn how to do projects like this, but been so unsure what types of microcontroller I should get and what else could be needed. Similar in the software world where we all have our preferred tech stacks, I was so uncertain of what stack to use for these projects that it definitely causes a hurdle. His mention of the ESP32 and how >While working on the game I used my newfound ESP32 skills to do some other projects, such as automating the remote-controlled blinds in our bedroom as well as a motion sensor that would send Pushover notifications to my phone. is absolutely what I'm wanting to be able to do. Learn the tech needed for one controller that can be used on tons of different places. That, plus that talk with MicroPython (and other parts) gives some confidence about learning this hardware stack.
- statico 2y ago
  I'd say you're on the right track, then! It's kind of like software — figure out how the components talk to each other and figure out where to hook in. Instead of APIs, you've got multimeters and oscilloscopes. In the case of the blind automation, the remote uses some kind of proprietary wireless signal. Instead of figuring that out, I soldered some leads into the remote's momentary button terminals, which I connected to transistors on a breadboard. The ESP32 simply pretends to press a button and complete a connection on the remote. Also check out ESPHome (https://esphome.io https://esphome.io), a firmware for ESP32 that lets you more easily integrate with home automation systems.
boomskats 2y ago
Hard pass on Among Us. I heard it makes kids murder CEOs when they grow up[0]. [0]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ironic-suspect-unitedhealthcare-slaying-played-video-game-killer-rcna183550 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ironic-suspect-unitedhe...
- nancyminusone 2y ago
  Monopoly is the only game anyone should ever need.
  - outworlder 2y ago
    And that only to learn why monopolies suck and that some regulations are actually useful. Also how real state can be unfair :)
- connicpu 2y ago
  I'm not sure if you're serious, but that guy was already 20 when the game came out.
  - boomskats 2y ago
    I'm definitely not serious, it's a ridiculous take. The response to it on bluesky[0] is an entertaining read though. [0]: https://bsky.app/profile/amongus.innersloth.com/post/3lcxvjklzn22n https://bsky.app/profile/amongus.innersloth.com/post/3lcxvjk...
salynchnew 2y ago
Very, very cool-looking project! It would be very cool to somehow make a laser tag variant, and build a persistent game and multiple players, StreetWars style. https://web.archive.org/web/20151026121204/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Have-gun-will-squirt-130-compete-in-Street-2594471.php https://web.archive.org/web/20151026121204/http://www.sfgate...
nabilt 2y ago
Super impressive project, especially for what seems to be your first embedded project. I haven't played with microPython/uOTA so this was an interesting read. Since you mentioned the water meter Flume, I wanted to shamelessly plug my open source water meter that I'm currently developing. It also uses the ESP32 so I thought you might be interested. Main page. https://y-drip.com/ https://y-drip.com/ Docs: https://y-drip.com/docs/site/v0.4/ https://y-drip.com/docs/site/v0.4/
tony-allan 2y ago
Liked the reference to uOTA - OTA updater for MicroPython https://github.com/mkomon/uota https://github.com/mkomon/uota

202 points by statico 2y ago

This took a few evenings to make :) Full source code is on GitHub: https://github.com/statico/imposter-attack-2024 https://github.com/statico/imposter-attack-2024

Joel_Mckay 2y ago
Looks fun, and certainly worth a star. =3
ryanisnan 2y ago
This is awesome! I may try to get this working locally with my 6 year old son!
- statico 2y ago
  Shoot me a message if you need any help!
  - cookie_monsta 2y ago
    Haha. I see what you did there
bschwindHN 2y ago
Nice work! I got into electronics with infrared remote decoding and ESP chips, so this was a bit nostalgic and fun to read :) Making a PCB is the next step, and it's quite easy to get started with KiCAD, especially if you're just mounting header sockets to pop in the various boards you're using. Good luck!
- statico 2y ago
  Thanks! That's what I'm hoping. I'm already going down the YouTube hole of KiCAD...

t_mann 2y ago

> I was told that I had the second biggest crowd, second only to a Pokémon bean bag game (which did look pretty cool). Some adults were curious, but most importantly, a handful of questions from kids who wanted to know how I built it. It was especially rewarding to show one off one of the extra targets I brought. One kid even recognized the ESP32 chips and said, “Oh, these are the ones you can make drones out of!” That paragraph really stood out to me. Apparently, where OP lives, people casually make stuff even cooler than a laser shooting game for a one-off school event, and elementary-school-age kids recognize specific types of microcontrollers.

statico 2y ago
Part of me wants to say, "Well, that's Silicon Valley for you," but I'm confident there are many other places you could say something similar about. Compared to what my neighbors are working on and with self-driving cars roaming around, infrared shooting games seem pretty mild :)
bragr 2y ago
1 out of 115 kids recognizing a microcontroller doesn't seem that surprising considering many kids play with little electronics kits these days.
- mock-possum 2y ago
  Plus kids follow makers on social media and video sites.

duxup 2y ago

This might be one of the coolest maker projects I've seen. Congratulations!

statico 2y ago
Thanks!

starkparker 2y ago

> I might try a different theme than Among Us This might've been thrown out for being too obvious, but did you consider Ghostbusters? Swap the magic wand for a proton pack wand and it seems to fit almost too well.

statico 2y ago
Wow, I never considered a Ghostbusters theme. I'll keep that in mind for next year.

monocularvision 2y ago

So cool and a great write up. Thanks for sharing!

dang 2y ago

We put Show HN in the title (the convention for sharing your own work on HN, which this certainly is! - https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html). But putting that in pushed MicroPython out the end of the buffer (which is fixed to 80 chars). If MicroPython is more interesting than ESP32, we can swap them... (Submitted title was "Imposter Attack – Among Us-themed infrared game made with ESP32 and MicroPython")

statico 2y ago
Thanks, dang. It's been a while and I forgot the rules.

jackschultz 2y ago

Great timing. I've been wanting to learn how to do projects like this, but been so unsure what types of microcontroller I should get and what else could be needed. Similar in the software world where we all have our preferred tech stacks, I was so uncertain of what stack to use for these projects that it definitely causes a hurdle. His mention of the ESP32 and how >While working on the game I used my newfound ESP32 skills to do some other projects, such as automating the remote-controlled blinds in our bedroom as well as a motion sensor that would send Pushover notifications to my phone. is absolutely what I'm wanting to be able to do. Learn the tech needed for one controller that can be used on tons of different places. That, plus that talk with MicroPython (and other parts) gives some confidence about learning this hardware stack.

statico 2y ago
I'd say you're on the right track, then! It's kind of like software — figure out how the components talk to each other and figure out where to hook in. Instead of APIs, you've got multimeters and oscilloscopes. In the case of the blind automation, the remote uses some kind of proprietary wireless signal. Instead of figuring that out, I soldered some leads into the remote's momentary button terminals, which I connected to transistors on a breadboard. The ESP32 simply pretends to press a button and complete a connection on the remote. Also check out ESPHome (https://esphome.io https://esphome.io), a firmware for ESP32 that lets you more easily integrate with home automation systems.

boomskats 2y ago

Hard pass on Among Us. I heard it makes kids murder CEOs when they grow up[0]. [0]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ironic-suspect-unitedhealthcare-slaying-played-video-game-killer-rcna183550 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ironic-suspect-unitedhe...

nancyminusone 2y ago
Monopoly is the only game anyone should ever need.
- outworlder 2y ago
  And that only to learn why monopolies suck and that some regulations are actually useful. Also how real state can be unfair :)
connicpu 2y ago
I'm not sure if you're serious, but that guy was already 20 when the game came out.
- boomskats 2y ago
  I'm definitely not serious, it's a ridiculous take. The response to it on bluesky[0] is an entertaining read though. [0]: https://bsky.app/profile/amongus.innersloth.com/post/3lcxvjklzn22n https://bsky.app/profile/amongus.innersloth.com/post/3lcxvjk...

salynchnew 2y ago

Very, very cool-looking project! It would be very cool to somehow make a laser tag variant, and build a persistent game and multiple players, StreetWars style. https://web.archive.org/web/20151026121204/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Have-gun-will-squirt-130-compete-in-Street-2594471.php https://web.archive.org/web/20151026121204/http://www.sfgate...

nabilt 2y ago

Super impressive project, especially for what seems to be your first embedded project. I haven't played with microPython/uOTA so this was an interesting read. Since you mentioned the water meter Flume, I wanted to shamelessly plug my open source water meter that I'm currently developing. It also uses the ESP32 so I thought you might be interested. Main page. https://y-drip.com/ https://y-drip.com/ Docs: https://y-drip.com/docs/site/v0.4/ https://y-drip.com/docs/site/v0.4/

tony-allan 2y ago

Liked the reference to uOTA - OTA updater for MicroPython https://github.com/mkomon/uota https://github.com/mkomon/uota