LittleZone Is a Battlezone-Themed Clock

Battlezone was released by Atari in 1980, an approximation of tank combat rendered in a glorious vector graphics format. While simple by today’s standards, this type of vector display was an interesting use of technology, and quite beautiful in its own right. After seeing an article about the game, Mark Wilson (who may or may not have ever played the game himself) decided to recreate the demo “attract” mode of Battlezone as an Arduino-based clock.

Part of the inspiration for this clock was that the radar display looks a lot like an analog clock. Naturally, time is shown here. Time is also be displayed as the score, and as an on-screen enemy. Another source of inspiration for this demo clock was that handling the on-screen lines was similar to his previous ElitePetite project, giving it a nice starting point.

Code for this device runs on an Arduino Uno, and display is via a 320x240 pixel touch screen shield. Given the limited hardware used, a few compromises had to be made. Instead of a red and green vector playfield, intensity is represented by either solid lines or two different dash patterns. The top area, including the analog clock and score clock are drawn in red.

Wilson is quick to note that this is not Battlezone ported to Arduino, however, you can paused the demo with the touchscreen and rotate the tank around if you so choose. Code is available here, and given its minimal hardware requirements, it could be a fun and quick project!