DIY simple HUNTER Led Game with Arduino

This is a custom version of the Hunter game with 10 LED and LCD display to show the score, followed by various sound effects.

 Some time ago I presented you a simple to make, but interesting game, a 1D version simulation of "Pong game" made with Arduino and 10 LEDs. This time I'm going to use the same hardware with minimal pinout changes to show you how to make an equally fun and addictive game known as "Hunter". The goal of the game is to press a button at the moment when a pre-defined LED is lit and we get a point. 
 

This is a modified version of the Hunter, with two LEDs marked as the target. The Target LEDs are Blue, and the arrows indicate the direction of movement in which they are active. The LEDs "move" in the style of the Night Rider effect, where the first target (LED) is active when moving from left to right, and the second one vice versa, from right to left.
 Information about the game and the score is displayed on the 16x2 LCD Display. 

The first level is the easiest, and in each subsequent level the speed of movement of the LEDs increases. For each level we have 10 seconds to hit the target. With each passed level we get one point. If we fail to hit a target within 10 seconds, the game ends, the score is displayed on the screen, and after three seconds a new game begins. The movement of the LEDs, hitting the target, and the end of the game are followed by corresponding different sounds generated by a small buzzer.

   As I mentioned before, the game is very simple to make and contains only a few components:
- Arduino Nano microcontroller board
- I2C LCD Display 16x2
- 10 LEDs
- 2 Buttons (only one is enough, but in this case they are connected in parallel because they remained from the previous project)
- Buzzer
- And ten resistors of 470 ohms to limit the current of the LEDs
I should mention here that you can also use only one resistor for all the LEDs. Namely, in this project, more than one diode is never lit at one time. In this special case, we connect the anodes directly to the Arduino pins and the cathodes to each other, and through a series resistor of 470 ohms to ground (the negative pole). Schematic diagrams for this case is given below.

 Ðnd now let's see how this device works in reality: At the start of the game the LEDs start to move from left to right and vice versa in the style of effect night rider. Now you need to press one of the buttons at the moment when one of the  blue target Leds is lit. If we did it successfully, we go to the next level, where the Leds moves with higher speed. If we fail to hit the target in 10 seconds, the game ends and the final score appears, and after three seconds a new game starts.

 And finally a short conclusion:
This is a custom version of the Hunter game with 10 LED and LCD display to show the score, followed by various sound effects. It was made on the basis of a previous project, where the same hardware and box were used, and only the Arduino code was changed. In the next period I will try to make another interesting game, while again using the same hardware configuration from the previous two projects.

CODE
#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>

// Initialize the LCD, set the address to 0x27 or 0x3F depending on your module
LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x27, 16, 2);  // 16 columns, 2 rows

// Pin setup
int ledPins[] = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13};  // Pins for the 8 LEDs
int buttonPin = 2;  // Pin for the button
int buzzerPin = 3;  // Pin for the piezo buzzer
int middleLED = 5;   // The middle LED position (adjust if needed)
int direction = 1;   // Initial direction (1 = forward, -1 = backward)
int currentLED = 0;  // Start at the first LED
int level = 1;       // Start at level 1
int delayTime = 300; // Initial delay time for LED movement (in ms)
int score = 0;       // Player score
int levelTime = 10;  // Time allowed for each level (in seconds)
unsigned long startTime;  // Time when the level starts
unsigned long lastMoveTime = 0;  // Time when the LEDs last moved
unsigned long lastToneTime = 0;  // Time to control the duration of the tone
unsigned long buttonDebounceTime = 0; // For button debouncing
unsigned long debounceDelay = 50;     // Debounce delay in milliseconds

int lastRemainingTime = -1; // To track the last displayed time
int lastLevel = -1;         // To track the last displayed level
int lastScore = -1;         // To track the last displayed score

bool buttonPressed = false;
bool tonePlaying = false;  // Flag to indicate whether the tone is currently playing
bool gameEnded = false;    // Flag to indicate the end of the game

// Function to play a tone non-blocking
void startTone(int frequency) {
  tone(buzzerPin, frequency);  // Start playing the tone
  tonePlaying = true;          // Set tone playing flag
  lastToneTime = millis();     // Record when the tone started
}

void stopTone() {
  noTone(buzzerPin);           // Stop playing the tone
  tonePlaying = false;         // Reset tone playing flag
}

void setup() {
  // Initialize the LCD
  lcd.init();
  lcd.backlight();
  lcd.clear();
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("HUNTER Game");
  delay(2000);  // Display the welcome message for 2 seconds

  // Pin configurations
  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    pinMode(ledPins[i], OUTPUT);  // Set all LED pins as outputs
  }
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);  // Set button pin as input with pullup
  pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);  // Set buzzer pin as output
  
  Serial.begin(9600);  // Start serial for debugging
  Serial.println("Welcome to the Knight Rider Hunter Game!");
  
  lcd.clear();
  displayStatus();  // Display the initial level, score, and time
  startTime = millis();  // Record when the level starts
  lastMoveTime = millis();  // Initialize the last move time
}

void loop() {
  // If the game has ended, stop further operations
  if (gameEnded) {
    return;
  }

  // Check if the timer has expired
  unsigned long elapsedTime = (millis() - startTime) / 1000;
  int remainingTime = levelTime - elapsedTime;

  // If time has run out, end the game
  if (remainingTime <= 0) {
    endGame();  // Call the function to end the game
    return;     // Stop further execution
  }

  // Handle LED movement (non-blocking using millis)
  if (millis() - lastMoveTime >= delayTime) {
    moveLED();
    lastMoveTime = millis();  // Reset the last move time
    startTone(1000);  // Start playing the 1000Hz tone when moving LED
  }

  // Stop the tone after 50ms
  if (tonePlaying && millis() - lastToneTime >= 50) {
    stopTone();  // Stop the tone after 50ms
  }

  // Check if the button is pressed (with debouncing)
  int buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  if (buttonState == LOW && millis() - buttonDebounceTime > debounceDelay) {
    buttonDebounceTime = millis();  // Reset debounce timer
    if (currentLED == middleLED) {
      Serial.println("You win this level!");
      score++;  // Increase score for a successful hit
      startTone(2000);  // Play victory tone
      delay(500);  // Play for 500ms
      stopTone();
      levelUp();  // Go to the next level
    } else {
      Serial.println("Missed! Try again.");
      startTone(500);  // Play fail sound
      delay(300);  // Play for 300ms
      stopTone();
    }
    delay(500);  // Short pause after button press
  }

  // Update LCD with the remaining time and score only if there's a change
  if (remainingTime != lastRemainingTime || level != lastLevel || score != lastScore) {
    displayStatus();
    lastRemainingTime = remainingTime;
    lastLevel = level;
    lastScore = score;
  }
}

// Function to move the LEDs
void moveLED() {
  // Turn off all LEDs
  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    digitalWrite(ledPins[i], LOW);
  }

  // Light up the current LED
  digitalWrite(ledPins[currentLED], HIGH);

  // Move the LED in the current direction
  currentLED += direction;

  // Reverse direction if we reach the end of the LED array
  if (currentLED == 9 || currentLED == 0) {
    direction = -direction;
  }
}

// Function to advance to the next level
void levelUp() {
  level++;  // Increase the level
  delayTime -= 30;  // Decrease delay time to make LEDs move faster

  // Ensure delayTime doesn't go below a certain threshold (e.g., 50 ms)
  if (delayTime < 50) {
    delayTime = 50;
  }

  Serial.print("Level Up! Now at Level: ");
  Serial.println(level);
  Serial.print("New LED Speed (ms): ");
  Serial.println(delayTime);

  // Play level-up sound
  startTone(1500);  // Play a tone at 1.5kHz
  delay(300);       // Play for 300ms
  stopTone();
  delay(1000);  // Give a 1-second pause before starting the next level

  // Reset the timer for the next level
  startTime = millis();
}

// Function to display the current level, score, and remaining time
void displayStatus() {
  // Calculate the remaining time in seconds
  unsigned long elapsedTime = (millis() - startTime) / 1000;  // Convert to seconds
  int remainingTime = levelTime - elapsedTime;  // Calculate the remaining time
  
  // Ensure the remaining time does not go negative
  if (remainingTime < 0) {
    remainingTime = 0;
  }
  
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("Lvl:");
  lcd.print(level);

  lcd.setCursor(6, 0);
  lcd.print("Time:");
  lcd.print(remainingTime);  // Correctly print the remaining time in seconds
  
  // Clear any leftover characters by overwriting with a space
  if (remainingTime < 10) {
    lcd.print(" ");  // Overwrite the extra digit when remainingTime is a single digit
  }

  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
  lcd.print("Score:");
  lcd.print(score);
}



// Function to end the game when the timer runs out
void endGame() {
  gameEnded = true;  // Set the flag to end the game

  // Turn off all LEDs
  for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
    digitalWrite(ledPins[i], LOW);
  }

  // Display "End Game" and the final score on the LCD
  lcd.clear();
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("End Game");
  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
  lcd.print("Score:");
  lcd.print(score);

  // Play a sound to indicate the game has ended
  startTone(300);  // Play a low tone
  delay(1000);     // Play for 1 second
  stopTone();

  // Wait for 3 seconds before starting a new game
  delay(3000);

  // Restart the game
  resetGame();
}

// Function to reset the game and start a new one
void resetGame() {
  gameEnded = false;  // Reset the game end flag
  score = 0;          // Reset the score to 0
  level = 1;          // Reset the level to 1
  delayTime = 300;    // Reset the delay time for LED movement
  startTime = millis();  // Reset the timer

  // Clear the LCD and display the initial status
  lcd.clear();
  displayStatus();

  Serial.println("New game started!");
  
  // Restart the LED movement immediately
  lastMoveTime = millis();
}
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