Tinyjoypad_SDL

A Port of the attiny85, esp8265, ... + ssd1306 oled screen games like Tinyjoypad and other games to SDL2/3 and Playdate

Project maintained by joyrider3774 Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

TinyJoypad → SDL

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A native SDL3 port bringing 82 games behind one shared game-select menu, running as a plain desktop executable - no emulator required. Most originally targeted the TinyJoypad itself (an ATtiny85 driving a 128x64 SSD1306 monochrome OLED); the rest come from other small handhelds sharing that same 128x64 SSD1306 display/ button shape but built on a different microcontroller (ESP8266, ESP8285, or the CH32V003 - a RISC-V chip, not AVR at all, behind the 22-game “Cate engine” batch from inufuto’s own UIAPduino boards) - see each game’s own MCU column in the table below.

Two more ports also live in this same repo, alongside the primary SDL3 port in src/sdl3/, all three sharing one src/gameworld/ codebase (all 82 games, the menu, the shims):

SDL2 (src/sdl2/) - built by porting src/sdl3/’s own platform files API-call-by-API-call, then verified functionally identical (every behavioral constant, every input mapping table, both passing the same 33-game regression pass).
Playdate (src/playdate/) - a genuinely different kind of port (fixed 400x240 1-bit hardware, its own C SDK, no CLI/window/desktop concept at all), so a from-scratch platform layer instead - a brand-new Playdate-native menu (alphabetized, numbered, paginated, with a live gameplay thumbnail + author caption for the selected game), manual GAME_SCALE-based rendering (128x64 native OLED content scaled 3x, 388x192, to fit the real panel), and Playdate’s own square-wave synth for audio - see CLAUDE.md’s own “The Playdate port” section for the full design writeup, including a couple of real SDK gotchas found doing it (an invalid pd->display->setScale() value that silently did nothing, a MinGW-vs-MSVC DLL-export difference).

See CLAUDE.md’s “Directory layout / multi-port structure” section for the full writeup on how this multi-port layout works, and for what a future fourth port would need to add.

The game logic itself is already-ported, already-bug-fixed C, carried over by converting only the small amount of nonstandard Vircon32 C-dialect syntax it depended on back into standard C (array declaration order, int[]-as-string → char*, bare struct Tag → typedef struct) - the actual game code, and the whole bug-fix history behind it, is unchanged. Every per-game bug already found and fixed there (the byte-truncation/ shift-wraparound/signed-sentinel/RNG-range/logical-shift family of dialect bugs, plus dozens of genuine game-logic bugs found via real play) applies here too, since it’s the same C.

The platform layer itself - window/input/audio/rendering, the menu, the CLI, and the presentation effects below - is new, built directly against SDL3, reusing infrastructure and technique from the same author’s crisp-game-lib-portable-sdl project (cglpSDL3.c) where it fit: the CInput abstraction, the audio oscillator shape, and the glow/CRT/pixel- grid presentation effects (rebuilt around GPU textures rather than ported verbatim - see CLAUDE.md for why).

This port was built with the help of Claude AI (Anthropic) - the platform layer, the dialect conversion, every bug found during the port, and the optimization/verification passes documented in CLAUDE.md/ OPTIMIZATIONS.md were all done through an AI-assisted development workflow.

Building

Requires CMake and a C compiler (developed against MinGW-w64/GCC on Windows; nothing in the source is Windows-specific beyond the -mwindows linker flag, which only suppresses the console window and is skipped on non-Windows).

This repo has no top-level CMakeLists.txt - each port under src/ (src/sdl3/ and src/sdl2/) is its own standalone CMake project, built from inside its own directory:

cd src/sdl3          # or: cd src/sdl2
cmake -B build -G Ninja -DUSE_VENDORED_SDL=1
cmake --build build

USE_VENDORED_SDL=1 builds SDL from the matching vendored checkout at the repo root (SDL3/ for src/sdl3/, SDL2/ for src/sdl2/) as a static library and statically links everything into one self-contained executable (no SDL DLL needed alongside it).
Omit -DUSE_VENDORED_SDL=1 (or set it to 0) to link against a system- installed SDL instead (find_package(SDL3 CONFIG) / find_package(SDL2 CONFIG) respectively).
The menu’s thumbnail images are compiled directly into the executable (assets/thumbnails/thumbnailData.h, generated from assets/thumbnails/ *.bmp by tools/gen_thumbnails.py - re-run it after changing any thumbnail) - there’s no assets/ folder to ship or find alongside the built exe. The single resulting binary is the complete, runnable, relocatable artifact - copy just the .exe to distribute it.
The resulting binary ends up at src/sdl3/build/TinyjoypadSDL3 (or src/sdl2/build/TinyjoypadSDL2, or .exe on Windows either way). See CLAUDE.md’s “Directory layout / multi-port structure” section for why the build entry point is per-port rather than a single repo-root command.
The two ports are functionally identical (see the intro above) - pick whichever matches what’s actually available to link against on your system/platform. SDL3 is the primary, most-exercised port.

Running

Identical CLI/behavior on both ports - examples below use the SDL3 binary, substitute TinyjoypadSDL2 (from src/sdl2/build/) for the SDL2 one.

./TinyjoypadSDL3           # opens the menu
./TinyjoypadSDL3 -g "TINY INVADERS"   # launches a game directly by title
./TinyjoypadSDL3 -list     # prints every game's title, then exits
./TinyjoypadSDL3 -help     # full command-line reference

See -help for the complete flag list (window size/fullscreen, -ns to skip audio, -fps for a live FPS overlay, -nd to uncap the framerate, -s to force software rendering instead of the default GPU-accelerated one, -ms to batch-capture a gameplay screenshot of every game, -joy to write a .joy stub file per game for external frontends, and a .joy file itself as a positional argument to launch straight into that game).

Controls

Action	Keyboard	Gamepad
Move / navigate menu	Arrow keys	D-pad or left stick
Fire / confirm / A	X	South button (A on Xbox)
Fire2 / B (only Tiny Minez - instant flag toggle)	C	East button (B on Xbox)
Start / pause / quit-confirmation dialog	Escape	Start or Back
Cycle glow / CRT scanlines / pixel-grid effect	G	West button (X on Xbox)
Toggle fullscreen	F3	-
Volume down / up	PageDown / PageUp	Left/Right shoulder
Mute / unmute sound	S	North button (Y on Xbox)

The quit-confirmation dialog (Start, mid-game) freezes the current game and asks YES/NO before returning to the menu - unless the game was launched directly (-g <NAME> or a .joy file), in which case there’s no menu to return to, so Start quits the app immediately instead, with no dialog. The glow/CRT/pixel-grid cycle is a single button stepping through 5 combinations (none → pixel-grid+glow → pixel-grid → CRT scanlines → glow alone → back to none) and only has any visible effect during actual gameplay, not on the menu screen. Fullscreen/volume/ mute work everywhere (menu and in-game) and are logged to the console on every change, since there’s no on-screen indicator for them; -f/-ns on the command line still cover fullscreen/no-sound at launch time.

Games

Click a thumbnail for the full-size screenshot.

Game	Author	MCU	License	Save	Source
2048	Obono	ATtiny85	MIT	—	TinyJoypadWorks
Aerial	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_aerial
Antiair	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_antiair
Ardumania	Daniel C	ESP8285	GPLv3	✅	Tinyjoypad
Ascend	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_ascend
Asteroid	Tony M (tonym128)	ESP8266	GPLv3	—	ESP8266GameOn
Astro Barrier	Sean Price	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	attiny astro barrier
ATtiny Snake	Sean Price	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	attiny snake
ATtiny Tetromino	Sunpazed	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	attiny tetromino
Awass	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_awass
Bat Bonanza	Andy Jackson	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	—	Attiny Arduino Games
Battlot	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_battlot
Blocks Gold	Andy Jackson / Jarosław Mazurkiewicz	ATtiny85	Non-commercial	✅	ATtiny Tetris Gold
Bootskell	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_bootskell
Breakout	Ilya Titov	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	AttinyArcade
Cacorm	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_cacorm
Car Race	hoangminh5210119	ESP8266	None specified	✅	Esp8266OledGame
Cavit	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_cavit
Cracky	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_cracky
DFlight	Tony M (tonym128)	ESP8266	GPLv3	—	BFlight
Dino Game	tiny-handheld project (original)	ATtiny85	None specified	—	tiny handheld
Falling Blocks	Andy Jackson	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	Attiny Arduino Games
Flappy Bird	Alex Wulff	ATtiny85	None specified	—	Instructables
Four in a Row	Unknown	ATtiny85	None specified	—	tiny handheld
Frogger	Andy Jackson (art: @senkunmusashi)	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	Attiny Arduino Games
Gilbert in the Downland	Daniel C	ESP8285	GPLv3	✅	Tinyjoypad
Guntus	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_guntus
Helicopter	Finn Harms (innif)	ESP8266	GPLv3	✅	Arduino Game System
HollowSeeker	Obono	ATtiny85	MIT	—	TinyJoypadWorks
Hopman	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_hopman
Impetus	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_impetus
Jump Slime	Kondolab (近藤さんちの研究室)	ATtiny85	None specified	—	kondolab
Laser Pong	Winston Lu	ATtiny85	MIT	—	ATTiny85 Pong
Lift	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_lift
Mazy	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_mazy
Mazy2	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_mazy2
Meteor Storm	Albert Gonzalez	ATtiny85	Unlicense (public domain)	—	attiny85 microgame meteor storm
Mieyen	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_mieyen
MRunnr	Tony M (tonym128)	ESP8266	GPLv3	—	BFlight
Neuras	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_neuras
Nohzdyve	Daniel C	ESP8285	GPLv3	✅	Tinyjoypad
NumberPlace	Obono	ATtiny85	MIT	—	TinyJoypadWorks
Oroboros	Ilya Titov	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	AttinyArcade
Osotos	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_osotos
Pipe Bird	Ioannis Lampropoulos	ATtiny85	None specified	✅	attiny85 flappy bird
Road Rush	Tony M (tonym128)	ESP8266	GPLv3	—	BFlight
Run Dude Run	Ilya Titov	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	AttinyArcade
Ruptus	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_ruptus
SnakeGame85	terezaza	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	SnakeGame85
Space Attack	Andy Jackson	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	Attiny Arduino Games
Stacker	Andy Jackson	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	Attiny Arduino Games
Svellas	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_svellas
Sword	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_sword
Tiny Arena	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Arkanoid	Daniel Champagne	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Bert	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Bike	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Blocks	RobotMasterC	ATtiny85	None specified	—	TinyTetris
Tiny Bomber	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Bulls And Cows	Datacute	ATtiny85	MIT	—	TinyBullsAndCows
Tiny DDug	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Doc	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Dungeon	Sven B / Lorandil	ATtiny85	MIT	—	TinyDungeon
TinY Fi	Kondolab (近藤さんちの研究室)	ATtiny85	None specified	—	kondolab
Tiny Gilbert	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Invaders	Daniel C / Sven B	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	Tiny invaders v4.2
Tiny Lander	Roger Buehler (tscha70)	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	TinyLanderV1.0
Tiny Mania	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Minez	Sven B / Lorandil	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	TinyMinez
Tiny Missile	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Morpion	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Pacman	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Pinball	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Pipe	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Plaque	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny SQuest	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Trick	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	—	tinyjoypad.com
Tiny Tris	Daniel C	ATtiny85	GPLv3	✅	tinyjoypad.com
TinyRoG	Kondolab (近藤さんちの研究室)	ATtiny85	None specified	—	kondolab
UFO	Ilya Titov	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	AttinyArcade
Wren Rollercoaster	Andy Jackson	ATtiny85	Non-commercial, with attribution	✅	Attiny Arduino Games
Yewdow	Inufuto	CH32V003	None specified	—	UIAPduino_yewdow

Credits

tinyjoypad_vircon32 - the original Vircon32 port this project is itself ported from: every game’s own C logic (src/gameworld/games/), already ported once from the original ATtiny85 sources and already bug-fixed through its own extensive play-testing history, was carried over here essentially unchanged - only a mechanical dialect conversion (see CLAUDE.md) touched it to make it build as standard C instead of Vircon32’s own restricted dialect. This project’s own platform layer (SDL3/SDL2/ Playdate) is new; the game code underneath it is not.
Vircon32 - the fantasy console the game logic here was originally ported through. This project’s own menu/ dialog text is drawn with a faithful reproduction of Vircon32’s real BIOS font (src/gameworld/biosFont.h - 10x20px, codepage 1252, all 256 glyphs extracted directly from the actual BIOS font asset, not hand- transcribed), authored by Carra (Vircon32’s own author) and published on OpenGameArt.org as “Pixel Art Outlined Text Fonts” under CC-BY 4.0 - a separate license from this project’s own GPLv3 below; this credit is that license’s own attribution requirement.
crisp-game-lib-portable-sdl (same author, a different game collection) - the source of the CInput keyboard/gamepad abstraction, the single- voice audio oscillator shape, the original inspiration for the glow/ CRT/pixel-grid presentation effects, and (for the SDL2 and Playdate ports) the direct API-porting reference - see CLAUDE.md for exactly where each was reused versus redesigned.
Every individual game’s own original author/license is preserved unmodified in its own header comment under src/gameworld/games/ and listed per-game in the “Games” table above.

License

This project is GPLv3 (LICENSE.txt), for the same reason: at least one ported game (Tiny Invaders v4.2) is itself GPLv3, and combining GPLv3 code into one executable makes the whole executable a GPLv3 combined work. This covers this project’s own new code (both the SDL3 and SDL2 platform layers, the shared menu, the presentation effects) - each individual game’s own original license/attribution is preserved unmodified in its own header comment in src/gameworld/games/.