Surely you’ve played some little games right on your PyGamer or PyBadge — perhaps using CircuitPython or Microsoft MakeCode. But did you know…you can also use PyGamer or PyBadge as a USB game controller with your regular computer or with popular emulators on Raspberry Pi! Not just any game controller though. With that little screen, why not give it some personality? So we made a little animated friend and named her JOY. Joy’s eyes blink and follow the joystick, and she makes an occasional encouraging “pew pew!” as buttons are pressed.
JOY will watch and cheer you on as you play, but doesn’t have to be a game controller. She can control all manner of software or media such as YouTube, Photoshop, Premiere, Ableton Live, etc. Anything that a USB keyboard can do, JOY can operate as well.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
