Published November 10, 2020

Pain Game Controller

The main purpose of this controller is to feel pain as you play! Prick yourself with Cacti to move, and scream in pain to jump!

IntermediateShowcase (no instructions)6 hours165

Story

This is the Pain Game Controller. The entire purpose of this controller is Sensory intervention, where the more you interact with it, the more you want to stop. I tried to pull in the feelings of angry game addicts, where they are playing a competitive game and get no enjoyment to the point of mentally hurting themselves, but for some reason they keep playing.

This Pain Game Controller is made with a few simple parts. 2 Cacti (preferably with sharp spines to prick yourself with), a circuit board playground express, 2 alligator clips, Some cardboard and duct tape for the housing. The alligator clips are connected to the A1 and A2 capacitive touch pads on the CPX, and the other end are stabbed into the Cacti respectively. Since the Cacti have ample water inside them and they induce harm, they are the perfect conductors for this controller. The housing is made up of cardboard and duct tape, which hide the wires, pots, and elevates the CPX so that it is in screaming distance. The CPX is in the center, where the scream hole is. The CPX detects the players scream, and emulates the keyboard press "Space" to jump in the Pain Game. Pricking oneself on the Cacti will move the player in that direction.

Obtaining Cacti

Connecting Capacitive Touch

Securing Connection

Making Housing

Final Product

Pain Game Controller Code

   # Write your code here :-)

from adafruit_circuitplayground import cp
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode
import time
import array
import math
import audiobusio
import board


def mean(values):
    return sum(values) / len(values)


def normalized_rms(values):
    minbuf = int(mean(values))
    sum_of_samples = sum(
        float(sample - minbuf) * (sample - minbuf)
        for sample in values
    )

    return math.sqrt(sum_of_samples / len(values))


mic = audiobusio.PDMIn(
    board.MICROPHONE_CLOCK,
    board.MICROPHONE_DATA,
    sample_rate=16000,
    bit_depth=16
)
samples = array.array('H', [0] * 160)
mic.record(samples, len(samples))

kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)
a1_delta = [False, False]
a2_delta = [False, False]
##a3_delta = [False, False]

jumpToggle = False
while True:
    time.sleep(0.2)

    mic.record(samples, len(samples))
    magnitude = normalized_rms(samples)
    print(((magnitude),))
    time.sleep(0.1)

    if cp.touch_A2:
        print("Touched pad A2 - Right")
        kbd.press(Keycode.RIGHT_ARROW)
    if cp.touch_A1:
        print("Touched pad A1 - Left")
        kbd.press(Keycode.LEFT_ARROW)
    if not cp.touch_A1 and not cp.touch_A2 and not (magnitude>500):
        kbd.release_all()
    if magnitude>500:
        print("Scream - Jump")
        jumpToggle = not jumpToggle
    else:
        jumpToggle=False

    if jumpToggle:
        time.sleep(0.01)
        kbd.press(Keycode.SPACE)

Pain Game Controller

Story

Code