Initially, for the final project I was set on making a polished video game. My plans changed when I spoke to Michelle who had what seemed to be a crazy idea of building a playable dress. would consist of five light-up buttons and strands of luminescent wires in the shape of hearts. I was sold on the idea as soon as I was told I would only have to contribute code. However, my role turned out to be a lot work than just writing code.
I have always been curious about building physical electronics so I was more than willing to learn how the hardware of the dress would be built. Michelle showed me how to solder and from there I learned about building every aspect of the hardware. I soldered wires, designed button circuits, and learned lots about the Arduino micro-controller. All of this of course was learned by trial and error. I alone was responsible for burning out at least 6 led lights. Two of which caught fire the day before the presentation and nearly melted the arcade button. I have much to learn about electricity.
The first iteration of the game consisted of only buttons which you would play like whack a mole -- one light turns on and you press it to increase your score. Getting this far was my first real indication that this project might actually work out.
A few sessions of working on the game went on and it began to all come together. The electronics were finally on the dress and the code was complete, so I thought. Of course during the presentation the code decided to fail unfortunately.
Going forward with the project I will fix the errors that caused to game to not play and continue to provide support to Michelle for whatever plans she has for the dress.
