ESP32 Spooky Maze Game is a technical demo game built using Bevy ECS with no_std support via esp-hal. The game demonstrates how to build cross-platform applications that run on both embedded hardware and desktop environments using a shared core.
In this game, a ghost navigates through a maze collecting coins while avoiding obstacles. Special artifacts such as dynamite and the "walker" power-up introduce additional gameplay mechanics. On collision with various objects, events are dispatched to decouple hardware-specific logic from game rules.
spooky-maze-esp32-s3-box-3.mp4
For now, the project supports two primary targets:
-
Desktop Rust Standard Version Use keyboard controls to move the ghost and trigger actions.
-
ESP32-S3-BOX-3 Embedded Version Uses an ICM42670 accelerometer for input (tilt the board to move the ghost).
-
M5Stack-Atom-S3 Embedded Version Uses an MPU6886 accelerometer for input (tilt the board to move the ghost).
Note: For older targets (e.g., ESP32-C3, ESP32-S2, etc.), please refer to the v0.10.0 tag.
- Bevy ECS & no_std: The core game logic is implemented in spooky-core using Bevy ECS. For the embedded version, we use a no_std configuration along with esp-hal.
- Renderer & HUD on Embedded: Since Bevy’s built-in rendering and UI systems aren’t available in no_std mode, we’ve implemented our own renderer using the Embedded Graphics crate. This renderer also handles HUD text output using Embedded Graphics primitives.
- Event-based Architecture: Input events (whether from keyboard on desktop or accelerometer on embedded) are dispatched and processed by separate systems, allowing for a clean decoupling between hardware input and game logic.
- Hardware Peripheral Integration: Peripherals like the ICM42670 accelerometer are injected as Bevy resources (using NonSend where required), enabling seamless access to hardware data within ECS systems.
- Random Maze Generation: The maze is generated dynamically, with a seed provided as a resource to ensure variability across game sessions. For the embedded version, the seed is generated using the hardware RNG and passed into the maze generation logic.
Prerequisites:
- Rust
Build:
cd spooky-maze-desktop
cargo runControls:
Movement: Arrow keys
These instructions are valid for boards based on ESP32-S3:
- ESP32-S3-BOX-3
- M5Stack-Atom-S3
Prerequisites:
espflash installed:
cargo install espflash
Rust Xtensa toolchain installed:
cargo install rustup
rustup install -v 1.85.0.0Compiler toolchain from ESP-IDF v5.5 (required only for Xtensa targets):
git clone [email protected]:espressif/esp-idf.git --depth 10 --recursive --shallow-submodules
source esp-idf/export.shProperly configured ESP32-S3-BOX-3 hardware
Build and run:
- ESP32-S3-BOX-3
cd spooky-maze-esp32-s3-box-3
cargo run --release- M5Stack-Atom-S3
cd spooky-maze-m5stack-atom-s3
cargo run --releaseControls:
Movement: Tilt the board accelerometer
- Embedded Renderer: The embedded version uses a custom renderer built with Embedded Graphics. This renderer handles both drawing the maze and HUD, filtering out a specific “magic pink” color used to represent transparent pixels in sprites.
- Peripheral Resources: Hardware peripherals like the accelerometer are injected as Bevy resources (using NonSend), enabling the decoupling of hardware interactions from game logic.
- Event-driven Input: Input events are dispatched and processed by ECS systems, allowing for a unified event-driven architecture across both desktop and embedded platforms.
Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to help improve the game, add new features, or adapt the project to additional hardware targets, please feel free to submit a pull request. We especially welcome contributions that help improve the no_std integration with Bevy ECS or enhance the embedded graphics rendering.
For more information on embedded development with ESP32, visit the Espressif Developer Portal.
Recommendation: Open whole project and attach to particular Cargo.toml for specific target.
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.