Hacking Your Room’s Lighting to Match the Flickering Lights in Quake Makes the Game Feel Even Moodier

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As much fun as Doom was, it felt more like a gory cartoon with most of the scares coming from enemies hidden behind doors and blind corners. Quake, on the other hand, felt endlessly creepy and scary thanks in part to its real-time lighting that helped set the mood. To make any room feel as spooky, Rodrigo Feliciano went back to the game’s original source code to make a flickering Quake lamp.

What exactly is going on with the power grid where Quake takes place is anybody’s guess—there’s zero chance those buildings are up to code—but as someone discovered back in June, the moody lighting in Half-Life: Alyx used the same flickering code as the original Half-Life, and that code can actually be traced all the way back to Quake, which was created by id Software’s John Carmack over 25 years ago.

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Try Your Luck with a Virtual Puck

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A high-speed projector and camera combine to create a convincing virtual air hockey experience with limitless possibilities.

Many an hour has been whiled away in arcades by friends playing a game of air hockey. Just because this game is a classic does not mean that there is no room for improvement, however. Those that frequently faceoff at the air hockey table may have even noticed the occasional use of special lighting and sound effects to increase engagement in the game. But due to the high-speed nature of the game, enhancements do not normally go much further than that.

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Mix Fractal Bytebeat Vibes with MMXX T-APE

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Using math to create digital songs on a PCB the size of a cassette tape.

One look at the MMXX T-APE from PhonicBloom, and you know for sure it creates exciting music. The cassette tape form factor may suggest analog sound. However, it generates sounds digitally using a trick up its reels. The primary sound creation mode relies on fractals, not samples! (Although it does support samples and wavetables too.)

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Robot Dog V3 – 3D Printed & Open Source #1

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I’ve previously built several robot dogs which used a variety of servos and brushless motors. The most agile robot dogs are the ones with back-drivable low-ratio reducers which allows the motor to be back-driven so we get some natural spring in the legs – which can be controlled on the fly with software. So it’s time for openDog V3 – this version uses my Cycloidal Drives which I’ve developed over the last few months. I will eventually publish the CAD and code as open source when it works.

The Most Important Device in the Universe is Powered by a 555 Timer

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The Hackaday comments section has become infamous for a recurring theme that goes something like “I don’t know why they used an Arduino, they could have done it with a 555 timer!” If you’ve ever thought the same way, then this post is for you!

What is The Most Important Device In The Universe, then? It’s the Modern Props #195-290-1, a movie prop originally built in the 1970’s. It’s a product of the creative mind of [John Zabrucky] who founded Modern Props in 1977 to serve Sci-Fi television and movie productions that wanted to invent the future with their props. Known for their high quality and impeccable craftsmanship, Modern Props’ products were in demand until the day they closed the doors so that [John] could retire.

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The BEST VR Headset in the WORLD – I CAN’T GO BACK!

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This is the Varjo XR3, legit the best VR and XR headset I have ever used. Some of my experiences in this video could be categorized as a life changing experience, especially in the Virtual World. This was one of the coolest devices I have ever used. I want to thank Foxguard solutions for letting me borrow this headset for a while to make a video. They are a reseller of Varjo products.

If you are interested, here’s a link: https://foxguardsolutions.com/

3D Printed “What If Machine” Plays Every FUTURAMA Episode

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Reddit user Remoheadder has 3D printed the infamous “What If Machine” from Futurama and hooked it up with a Raspberry Pi 3 to play every episode of Futurama. You can check out a video of it working on Reddit as well as a how to guide for how it was put together. Inspired by Bubba447 and their working Simpsons TV, Remoheadder took a lot of the code from that build and tweaked it to fit their own project. One of those tweaks? Adding a long hold option to the button to bring up the Hypnotoad channel. All hail Hypnotoad!

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An Arduino-powered underwater ROV made out of PVC pipe

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Exploring the vast underwater world is exciting, and personal breathing devices such as SCUBA allow for people to descend far further than usual. However, robots can be even better since they can operate much longer and more efficiently than a person. And because these underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) can be so expensive, Ranuga Amargasinghe wanted to construct his own DIY version that costs less. 

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Ubiquitous Energy tech turns any everyday glass surface into a solar cell

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With the continuous creativity of humans, solar batteries have “escaped” from the familiar gray photovoltaic cells. With surprising ways of “transforming,” solar cells not only help to utilize the energy from nature, but they also have applicability and high aesthetic efficiency.

Now, a young California company Ubiquitous Energy has developed a “ClearView Power window” with transparent solar cells that selectively transmit light visible to the human eye while absorbing only the ultraviolet and infrared light and converting it into electricity. The company, which emerged from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, hopes to use that technology to turn virtually any everyday glass surface into a solar cell.

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