Like everything else related to weddings, invitations are expensive and follow a bunch of strange traditions and conventions. But 100 pound heavy ivory card stock with embossed foil is a Really Is it a reflection of you, or is it just what the magazine made you think? Mo Rahman and his bride weren't fooled and wanted something more in keeping with their personalities. So Rahman An invite in the form of a handheld video game console from Adafruit A custom-made game set is installed at the wedding venue.
Adafruit makes a few devices that look like “badges” at first glance. Really Small handheld video game consoles built around microcontrollers for homebrew gaming: PyBadge, PyBadge LC, and EdgeBadge. The PyBadge has a SAM D51 microcontroller, a 1.8″ color TFT display with 160×128 resolution, five onboard NeoPixels, an accelerometer, and other nifty hardware. The PyBadge LC is nearly identical, but omits the four NeoPixels, the Feather header, the accelerometer, and other small parts. The EdgeBadge is nearly identical to the PyBadge, but adds a microphone suitable for speech recognition machine learning tasks at the edge. All three boards have an NES-style control button layout.
Due to inventory shortages caused by the chip shortage, Rahman ordered enough EdgeBadge and PyBadge LC boards for each recipient, and then set about creating games that would run on the devices.
The game has a Super Nintendo Japanese RPG feel, but it's set in a Northern California campground where the wedding party and guests are staying for the big event. It's a luxury campground where guests can rent Airstream trailers. In the game, players explore the campground and interact with different characters to learn about the bride and groom.
If you want to try it for yourself, Click here to play the game in your browser.
Luhrmann programmed the game using Microsoft's MakeCode Arcade, then used an online sprite generator to create assets to incorporate into the game. The couple commissioned Jake Lawrence to create box art, some of which was used for the additional sprites. The game also includes a MIDI version of Depeche Mode's “Stripped.”
It was a fun project that gave Rahman a chance to learn the tricks and quirks of coding games for low-power consoles, and, more importantly, it reflected the couple's interests more than a fancy piece of paper. And judging by the photos Rahman included with his post, it's safe to say that both the invitations and the wedding itself were perfect.
