alt.ctrl games w/ Rust - EuroRust 2023

# .title[alt.ctrl games w/ Rust]

Lisa '[lislis](https://lislis.de)' Passing - [EuroRust](https://eurorust.eu) -  October 2023

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# $ whoami

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# $ whoami

lislis

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# $ whoami

lislis

Creative technologist

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# $ whoami

lislis

Creative Technologist

Around Rust since 2017

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# $ whoami

lislis

Creative Technologist

Around Rust since 2017

Organized [Rust in Arts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwaBaoAPOU0&list=PL85XCvVPmGQgF1UzXWnQHKtsPHmw6tEXx) in November 2021

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# $ whoami

lislis

Creative Technologist

Around Rust since 2017

Organized [Rust in Arts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwaBaoAPOU0&list=PL85XCvVPmGQgF1UzXWnQHKtsPHmw6tEXx) in November 2021

Started Masters in Creative Technologies in 2022

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## art + technology = <3

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## art + technology + playfulness = <333

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## Examples!

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## [Mr Floppy (2016)](https://twitter.com/Cosmografik/status/780674356385050624)

???

Mr Floppy @ altctrlgamejam 2016

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## [Hellcouch (2019)](http://carolmertz.com/game/hellcouch/)

???

Hellcouch @ GDC 2019

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## [Robo Mama's Cooking Kitchen (2014)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGI4-BQaaP8&list=PL2e4mYbwSTbaCATulMnQ1pvLvumYQr7YK&index=57)

???

Kristina Durivage and Jerry Belich in 2014

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Possible definitions:

## Using uncommon or custom controllers

## Using common controllers in a unusual way

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Where "common" controllers are more than game pads...

[lislis.de/games/swaj](https://lislis.de/games/swaj/) (WebMidi -> Chrome)
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Your first time hearing about alt.ctrl?

This seems nice but very niche?

Mostly at game jams, festivals or conferences?

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A lot of alt.ctrl games don't call themselves games!

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[L'Oeuf-Sphinx (2020)](https://mechbird.fr/oeuf-sphinx.html)

(Playful) art installations

???

Tatiana Vilela dos Santos & Olivier Drouet

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["Symbol Wheels" (2022)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNllI56OXMc)

Escape room puzzles

???

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## Rust's ecosystem gives us access to:

- game engines / cc frameworks

- hardware / microcontrollers

- sound / audio

- lots of protocols

## With all of Rust's niceness <3

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Case study:

## Riding in the park with parrots

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## What?

- alt.ctrl game + uni project

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## What?

- alt.ctrl game + uni project

- Inspired by that guy cycling with his parrots in Görlitzer Park, Berlin

- Rail shooter/ balancing game using a real bike handle

- Mix of 2d and 3d graphics

- Ultimately tabletop arcade cabinet

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## Okay, step by step

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## How?

- Main game written with [bevy game engine](https://bevyengine.org/)

- Bike handle equipped with an [ESP32 microcontroller](https://github.com/esp-rs/esp-rust-board/tree/v1.2)

- Raspberry Pi to run everything

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## Bevy

- Heard a lot about it, wanted to try it

- *Really* good tutorials and learning resources 🤩

-> Highly recommend [youtube.com/@logicprojects](https://www.youtube.com/@logicprojects)

- So many community plugins 🤩

- Rapid development 🤩, but materials and plugins are quickly out of date 😢

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## Anecdote 1

I want to directly read serial from the esp32 🤔

-> There is a plugin, bevy_serial 🥳

-> bevy_serial is no longer compatible with current bevy version (0.11) 😢

-> Have game and board communicate over wifi 💡

-> Write esp32 webserver, change game logic to poll from url (bevy_reqwest) 💻

-> Wireless controller 🤯 but how to power it 🤔

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## Anecdote 1

I want to directly read serial from the esp32 🤔

-> There is a plugin, bevy_serial 🥳

-> ~~bevy_serial was no longer compatible with current bevy version (0.11) 😢~~

-> ~~Have game and board communicate over wifi 💡~~

-> ~~Write esp32 webserver, change game logic to poll from url (bevy_reqwest) 🐱💻~~

-> ~~Wireless controller 🤯 but how to power it 🤔~~
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## ESP32
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- Standard in the Arduino environment

- Is Rust on ESP32 hobbyist ready? 🤷

- Read [this article](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/embedded-rust-esp32c3-board-hands-on-quickstart-guide-cyril-marpaud) and wanted to check out [ESP-IDF template](https://github.com/esp-rs/esp-idf-template) and [espflash](https://github.com/esp-rs/espflash)

- Start with [esp-rs/std-training](https://esp-rs.github.io/std-training/)

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## Anecdote 2

ESP32-C3-DevKit-Rust-1 comes with cool stuff on the board 🤩 but is kinda pricey 😢

-> Browsing for a cheap reseller, found really good offer

-> Board arrives! Setting up the environment 💻

-> Tooling is awesome 🤩 but I could not get the sensor reading examples to work 😢

-> Research, trying to find out what's wrong 🤔

-> Accidentally bought the wrong esp32-c3 board 🤦

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## Anecdote 2

-> Use different esp32 and gyroscope/accelerometer and fall back to Arduino setup 🫣

-> Order correct board, wait for it to arrive, start again

BUT the espflash workflow is still amazing!

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## Raspberry Pi

- Nice to run stuff on for installations in physical spaces

- Cross-compiling is easy! 🤓

- ... if you don't have external dependencies 🙀

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## Raspberry Pi / Anecdote 3

- Nice to run stuff on for installations etc

- Cross-compiling is easy! 🤓

- ... if you don't have external dependencies 🙀

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## Raspberry Pi / Anecdote 3

- Found out about [cross-rs/cross](https://github.com/cross-rs/cross)

- So close to configuring it correctly 🤪

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# 😤

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## Are we alt.ctrl game yet?

We are game, but you have to make the rest work by yourself!

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## Bevy

- [GitHub] [bevy-examples](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/tree/main/examples)
      - [YouTube] [@logicprojects](https://www.youtube.com/@logicprojects)
      - [YouTube] [Bevy 3d Third Person Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtuqZ11RhIc&list=PLp0sjyxOq4ATFgiJ4HL8ok9Yp2h7Hz1Fb)
      - [YouTube] [Blender to Bevy: components editing & export workflow + tooling !](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lcScjQCA3c)

## ESP32

- [Embedded Rust on ESP32C3 Board, a Hands-on Quickstart Guide](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/embedded-rust-esp32c3-board-hands-on-quickstart-guide-cyril-marpaud)
      - [GitHub] [esp-rs/std-training](https://esp-rs.github.io/std-training/)
      - [GitHub] [esp-rs/esp-idf-template](https://github.com/esp-rs/esp-idf-template)
      - [GitHub] [ivmarkov/rust-esp32-std-demo](https://github.com/ivmarkov/rust-esp32-std-demo)

## Misc
      - [Compile Rust for Raspberry Pi ARM](https://medium.com/swlh/compiling-rust-for-raspberry-pi-arm-922b55dbb050)
      - [Cross compiling Rust apps Raspi Pi](https://capnfabs.net/posts/cross-compiling-rust-apps-raspberry-pi/)
      - [GitHub] [cross-rs/cross wiki](https://github.com/cross-rs/cross/wiki/Configuration)
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## Play it here at the conference!

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.no-bullets[
        - 📧 mail@lislis.de
        - 🦣 [@lislis@toot.cat](https://toot.cat/@lislis)
        - 🌐 [//lislis.de/talks/eurorust-2023](https://lislis.de/talks/eurorust-2023)
        - 🦜 [//github.com/lislis/ridingintheparkwithparrots](https://github.com/lislis/ridingintheparkwithparrots)]