This week, I am starting to work on the technical aspects of the tactile gameplay for my Unity game, Oops! Lights Out!. I will be using an Arduino Uno and a heating pad . Here is the shopping list for the required items:
An Arduino Uno motherboard and a matching USB cable* 1 ($28): Amazon.com: Arduino Uno REV3 [A000066] : Electronics
A package of male-to-male Dupont wire * 1 ($7): Amazon.com: EDGELEC 120pcs 10cm Breadboard Jumper Wires Male to Male Multicolored Dupont Wire 3.9 inch 1pin-1pin 2.54mm Connector for DIY Arduino Raspberry PI 10 15 20 30 40 50 100cm Optional Ribbon Cables : Electronics
A heating pad matching Arduino * 1 ($2): 适用于Arduino/ESP32 石墨烯加热片驱动模块加热膜发热片加热控制-淘宝网 (taobao.com)
The code uploaded to the Arduino is as follows：
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(10, LOW);
}
void loop() {
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
char command = Serial.read();
if (command == '1') {
digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
} else if (command == '0') {
digitalWrite(10, LOW);
}
}
}
With the connection and Arduino code completed, I wrote a communication protocol between Arduino and Unity for the programmer. Shortly afterward, he managed to implement my vision. Then, a problem arose: the temperature of the heating pad changes gradually over time, making it difficult to accurately perceive a temperature threshold by human touch. This conflicted with the binary judgment of detecting a wall of fire/no wall of fire ahead, complicating the optimization of the player's gameplay experience.
I once considered replacing the tactile signal of temperature with more obvious signals, such as electricity or vibration, but none of these fit the story or art of the game. With limited time, altering mature game content for this extra device seemed risky, and electrical signals could even pose a safety hazard. Therefore, I explored ways to make the heat changes faster and more noticeable.
Edit one week later: I purchased two heat sinks and attached them to the back of the heating pad. This allows the heating pad to dissipate heat quickly and clearly indicate to the player that the area in front of them is safe. However, due to the insufficient heating efficiency of the graphene heating pad, there is still an issue with unclear indication of a "firewall ahead." Perhaps a material with higher heating efficiency could solve this problem.
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