Hi @ all,
As some here might know, I'm studying Game Art and Interactive Animation, but I also do like to tinker with electronics and have managed to complete a few projects that brought in some money to buy me shiny new toys (mostly T&M-Equipment and parts for projects I have yet to finish
).
So now that I have to do my Bachelor-Thesis, I've decided to build a device that allows a game made with the Unreal Engine 4 to interface with a breadboard on which circuits can be built to complete quests the game gives the player.
The idea is to allow game designers and developer studios to make Education-Entertainment with physical experiments instead of only simulated experiments. This allows students to grab the Multimeter or Scope and see what the circuit actually does. WITH the possibility that, for example, the amplifier turns into a oscillator or the oscillator putting out an entirely different frequency than calculated. This, in my opinion, offers a much better and more fun learning experience. Especially if combined with a game that uses the experiments in a smart way to advance the story.
Based on the Book "Halbleiter Schaltungstechnik" by Ch. Tietze and U. Schenk, I've devised a few experiments:
- Voltage based Experiments with resistors (Voltage and Current - Ohm's law)
- Voltage based Experiments with Diodes (LEDs, Zeners)
- Building Amplifiers, Attenuators (Involves basic Transistor-Circuits and OpAmps)
- Experiments involving oscillators (measurement of Frequencies)
- Filters (Measuring of AC-Voltages on LowPass-Filters, and Frequencies on HighPass- and BandPass-Filters)
- Simple digital logic (Use of various 74-Series Chips to create the desired output-signal from a Input-Signal)
- Complex digital logic (Requires a Microcontroller or CPLD-Module that won't be part of my Bachelor-Thesis)
- RF-Experiments (Mixers, Receivers)
Do you guys miss something here?
At the moment I'm in the first design-phase of the project (My deadline for the 1st PCB-Design is early November - The due-date of the whole thing is 31st March 2018), where I define what Inputs and Outputs I need. That will determine what kind of Arduino-Compatible Microcontroller I'm going to use.
Thx in advance for any ideas and suggestions you have on this project.
Also what do you think about involving computer games in teaching electronics?