Galaxy Explorer

Here's a project that combines ideas from my one-dimensional arcade game and orrery project. Think "1930's pulp science fiction" and you'll get the idea: The Circuit Playground lets you navigate a galaxy defined in a 100 element array with around 60 stars. You can stop at any one of the solar systems and observe an orrery-like display of the movement of the planets.

For me, the fun here is creating a UI with the CPX controls:

The program has three states:
travel - move through the galaxy
stop - choose a star displayed on the ten neopixels
explore - goes into orrery mode showing the planets in the chosen star-system

When in travel state, the A and B buttons increase the speed of the movement of the stars. A: clockwise, B: counter-clockwise. Multiple clicks increase the speed.

When in stop state, the A and B buttons move a blinking white pixel to select a star. A:move counter-clockwise, and B:clockwise. (yes, the opposite of travel mode).

Change state by pressing A+B - state cycles from travel to stop to explore and back to travel. In stop mode, you cannot move to explore unless the blinking pixel is on one of the stars.

At any point, shifting the switch to the left, turns off all the neopixels and switches the system to travel mode.

When the switch is shifted to the left, shaking the CPX will show all neopixels in green and generate a new galaxy.

Both versions, CircuitPython or Makecode work the same.

The generation of the galaxy creates two 100 element arrays. One defines the stars, and the other the "type" of solar system. When in explore mode, the defined colors and speed of the planets is set based on an algorithm.

Github Repository

Files

• explore.js - or makecode version: https://makecode.com/_Wt9P3udHMKjR
• explore.py - copy to code.py on a Circuit Playground with CircuitPython