Hacking a 31x31 led display to play snake 🐍

🎮 Turning a 31×31 LED Matrix Into a Retro Game Console

During a department music event, our seniors (CSE’22 batch) built a giant 31×31 LED matrix with 961 colorful bulbs to display synchronized light patterns. After the event, it was left unused, so I decided to turn it into a playable Snake game.

---

💡 The Vision

My goal: transform this sound-reactive wall into a modular retro LED game console. I wanted to:

• 🎮 Add more games over time
• 🖥️ Simulate the display on a PC (for development without hardware)
• 🧩 Keep the code modular so others can contribute

---

⚙️ Architecture Overview

The system uses three threads:

• Render Thread: Sends visuals to the LED matrix
• Game Thread: Runs game logic (Snake, Galaxia, Tetris, etc.)
• Input Thread: Handles user input via a web controller (your phone can be the D-pad)

All threads share a 31×31 framebuffer:

<pixel type> framebuffer[31][31];

Games write to this array; the renderer displays it on the LEDs or in a web browser. This separation makes adding new games easy, no changes to rendering needed.

---

🐍 Playing Snake on a Wall of Lights

Here’s Snake running on the LED wall! (Press play below.)

🐍 Snake slithers around the grid, eating food and growing.
💥 Game over if it crashes into itself.
⏩ Speed increases as you score.
🎯 Score appears in the center at the end.
Nostalgic fun, on a glowing 961-pixel canvas.

---

🧪 PC Simulation Mode

To develop without the hardware, I built a web-based simulator:

• The ESP32 serves the framebuffer as JSON
• A web UI fetches and displays it in real time

Same code, same framebuffer, just a different display!

---

🌌 Adding More Games

After Snake, I added:

• Galaxia: A pixel space shooter
• Tetris: Classic falling blocks

All games use the same pattern: write to the framebuffer, read input, done! A menu lets you switch games, no code upload needed.

---

🔭 What’s Next?

• 🕹️ New controllers: gamepads or keyboards
• 🎧 Sound effects & animations in simulation
• 🧠 More games: Pong, mini RPG, maybe multiplayer

---

❤️ Wrapping Up

A leftover event prop became a retro pixel playground. I got to build a console, play old favorites, and experiment with rendering and threading. There’s more to come!

---

🤝 Want to Contribute?

I’ll open-source the project soon. If you want to:

• Create LED games
• Improve the simulation
• Chat about pixel art

Let’s connect!

🧑‍💻 Check it Out on GitHub