Mini Game Console

Inspiration: With big gaming companies releasing new consoles such as the PlayStation 5, we wanted to create a smaller device with easy transportation and mobility that maintains competitive user interaction through player vs. player gameplay.

Goal: Our console should be able to receive input commands from buttons via controllers that produce on-screen movements in the game via microcontroller and keeps track of the in-game score.

Description: The board is powered by a USB charged battery and voltage is stepped up to 5V and then down to 3.3V for the onboard electronics. The ESP32 processes voltage inputs from the controller buttons and game code data input that controls the in-game avatar executions and updates the values on the 7-segment displays. The user interacts with the board through buttons on separated, wired controllers.

LEVEL 1: The Main Board

LEVEL 2: Controllers

LEVEL 3: Layouts & Assembly

BOSS LEVEL: Footprint Errors

• 7-Segment Display components were too wide for footprint

• OLED Display pins did not fit into board through-hole slots

• USB-C schematic symbol did not match its layout footprint which did not show up on DRC

• MAX Driver component was too small for footprint

• Step-up chip footprint was too small

• Wrong footprints for power switches

• Charger Chip component did not match footprint

LEVEL 4: Game Code

FINAL LEVEL: Board Test

LESSONS LEARNED

• Make sure footprints actually match the purchased components

• Check compatibility between schematic symbols and layout footprints

• Be thorough with design reference on the BOM to mitigate board assembly process

• MAKE SURE FOOTPRINTS ACTUALLY MATCH PURCHASED COMPONENTS