A PLAY EXPERIENCE MAKER'S WORK LOG FOR FUTURE SELF©2001 – 2023 Kyle Li 李肅綱 All Rights Reserved.

When I was reading Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (DRAGON QUEST –ダイの大冒険–) as a kid, I had always fascinated by all the magic artifacts in the story. The magic bullet gun (魔弾銃) was my all-time favorite.

The gun belongs to Maam (マァム), one of the main protagonists in the story. It takes form of a gold-colored large-caliber single-shot pistol. There are a total of 8-10 bullets depends which version it is. For each bullet, a sacred stone that accumulates magical power is embedded at the tip, and by touching it and chanting a spell, it becomes charged with magic. The charged bullet can be loaded into the pistol from the the back by opening the tail cover, one bullet at a time.

After the defeat of Flazzard (フレイザード) on the island of Bulge, large firepower was needed to save Princess Leona (レオナ姫) who was frozen in ice by a forbidden spell. Because of this, Dai (ダイ) charged the bullet through his dragon emblem (竜の紋章), and although he was able to shoot it and melt the ice, due to the recoil from using a bullet with more power than the allowable amount. The gun barrel breaks in half. Badak (バダック), the self-proclaimed “King of Inventions,” tried to repair it, but it was broken beyond repair. Badak said, “Avan (アバン), who created this gun, was a genius.”. The Magic Bullet Gun was no more which is a pity.

Gun Visual No.1

Gun Visual No.2

https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E9%AD%94%E5%BC%BE%E9%8A%83

There are 2 major gun visuals. The biggest difference is the design of the trigger area and handle. Little torn here, because I like both designs. I am going to focus on Gun Visual No. 2 for this round because I had boxed out a prototype a while ago.

This is designed specifically to with M5Stack system. I did hack it a little so I can use the B port for both a limit switch unit (SKU: U145) and a Neopixel ring. I used a RFID 2 unit to detect the bullet. In my first iteration, I had put the unit flat on the button of the bullet chamber. It doesn’t detect the RFID tag at all. Now I have it stand vertically and it works beautifully.

Neopixel Light Effects:
https://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/arduino/adruino-led-strip-effects/

I don’t have solution for sound effects to be built into the gun, but I am going to try the thing I learned from the Chiba Hogwarts — send sound to a Bluetooth speaker. Take advantage of M5Stack’s built-in Bluetooth and connect it to a Unity app that plays the sound effect.

[Sound Testing Video]

The next thing I want to improve is the battery life. M5stack Fire comes with a 500 mAh battery bottom and it doesn’t last long. I am planning to create a type C port at the handle and attach one of those mini 5000 mAh power bank. That will provide about 10 times more battery life that what I have now.

Test Scene: