E Ink shows provide a paper-like viewing expertise that makes them a very good match for eBook readers and digital signage. They devour much less energy than LCD or AMOLED screens, emit no mild, and may be seen utilizing ambient mild solely. However additionally they are likely to have a lot decrease display screen refresh charges than different show applied sciences which is why, with just a few exceptions, you don’t usually see them used as laptop computer, pill, or recreation console shows.
A handful of parents have determined to make use of E Ink shows for a completely different sort of handheld recreation console although. Earlier this yr a developer previewed a crowdfunding marketing campaign for Ink Console, which was designed for taking part in interactive journey books. That marketing campaign was cancelled after “one other group” took over the undertaking to develop Ink Console. However now an unbiased developer has unveiled a work-in-progress E Ink recreation console known as Figment.
Whereas Ink Console had a type of book-like design with two buttons on the backside, Figment is designed to appear and feel extra like a recreation console. It has a horizontal 7.5 inch E Ink show from Waveshare within the middle, three motion buttons on the best, and 4 buttons organized like a D-Pad on the left.
Based on a latest reddit publish from the developer, a working prototype options an ESP32 microprocessor and a physique made out of 3D printed and laser-cut components.
For software program there’s a recreation engine that “makes use of a mixture of pre-written ‘books/video games’ and AI to fill out recreation paths that the writer didn’t outline,” by producing textual content and pictures for tales that weren’t already ready by the authors of current choose-your-own journey books.
The AI options require an web connection for the reason that AI fashions can not run on the system itself. However as soon as generated, new content material is saved regionally in order that it may be accessed even once you’re offline.
There’s an opportunity that the {hardware} or software program could possibly be open sourced sooner or later and the developer plans to publish updates on the Figment web site, so you may signal as much as discover out if this ever turns into actual {hardware} you could purchase or if the designs or software program are launched so that you can obtain.
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