Prototype Review - Team 21

Our controller is based around a real sledgehammer, the same tool used in Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. The Circuit Playground Express sits on the hammer’s head and uses its built in accelerometer to track tilt, translating it into mouse movement through the Arduino Mouse library. You hold the hammer in front of you and tilt it in any direction to move the mouse on screen. A single button mounted in the handle via breadboard and acts as a left click for navigating menus. Shaking the hammer triggers a shake detection on the accelerometer and sends an ESC keypress to pause the game, which feels natural since slamming the hammer down in frustration is exactly what the game makes you want to do anyway. This is currently a prototype with the electronics mounted on a foam cutout in the shape of a sledgehammer. The final version will have everything inside a fully 3D printed sledgehammer shell for a cleaner and more polished look.

How heavy should the final 3D printed shell feel? Too light might break immersion, too heavy causes fatigue. Would you rather it be heavy or light?

Should the button be mapped to anything else besides left click? Can you think of any other ways we can use the button to enhance the gameplay? We had thoughts of putting the button in the face/head of the hammer so you have to physically hit the hammer to click.