In this video I finish creating Pong on an LCD Panel with an Arduino. I combine the code for making the Paddles work, with the code for making the ball bounce.

We mainly have to consolidate printing to the LCD panel, while making sure we don’t have any character number conflicts. If you made this project along with me please tell me. The code follows below.

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Code from the Video

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);

byte gameBoard[16][80] = {};
int ballUpdateTime = 200;
byte ballXDir = 0;
byte ballYDir = -1;
byte ballX = 7;
byte ballY = 35;
byte ballCharArray[8] = {};
byte playerScore = 0;
byte aiScore = 0;
byte aiPaddlePos = 6;
byte myPaddlePos = 6;

byte aiPaddleArray[2][8] = {0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1};
byte myPaddleArray[2][8] = {0,0,0,0,0,16,16,16};
byte aiPaddleColArray[16] = {0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};
byte myPaddleColArray[16] = {0,0,0,0,0,16,16,16,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};
const int moveRightButton = 8;
const int moveLeftButton = 7;
int rightButState = 0;
int leftButState = 0;
int rightLastButState = 0;
int leftLastButState = 0;

void ClearPaddles(){
  for(int i = 0; i < 2; i++){
    for(int j = 0; j < 8; j++){
      aiPaddleArray[i][j] = 0;
      myPaddleArray[i][j] = 0;
    }
  }
}

void PrintStuff(){
  lcd.clear();

  byte* mPTemp1 = myPaddleArray[0];
  byte* mPTemp2 = myPaddleArray[1];
  byte* aiPTemp1 = aiPaddleArray[0];
  byte* aiPTemp2 = aiPaddleArray[1];
  lcd.createChar(0, mPTemp1);
  lcd.createChar(1, mPTemp2);
  lcd.createChar(14, aiPTemp1);
  lcd.createChar(15, aiPTemp2);
  lcd.setCursor(14, 0);
  lcd.write(byte(0));
  lcd.setCursor(14, 1);
  lcd.write(byte(1));
  lcd.setCursor(1, 0);
  lcd.write(byte(14));
  lcd.setCursor(1, 1);
  lcd.write(byte(15));

  byte charNum = 0;

  if((ballY > 9) && (ballY < 70)){
    byte LCDCol = ballY / 5;
    byte LCDRow = (ballX <= 7) ? 0 : 1;
    charNum = ballY / 5;
    lcd.createChar(charNum, ballCharArray);
    lcd.setCursor(LCDCol,LCDRow);
    lcd.write(byte(charNum));
  }
}

void PrintPaddles(){
  byte* mPTemp1 = myPaddleArray[0];
  byte* mPTemp2 = myPaddleArray[1];
  byte* aiPTemp1 = aiPaddleArray[0];
  byte* aiPTemp2 = aiPaddleArray[1];
  lcd.createChar(0, mPTemp1);
  lcd.createChar(1, mPTemp2);
  lcd.createChar(14, aiPTemp1);
  lcd.createChar(15, aiPTemp2);
  lcd.setCursor(14, 0);
  lcd.write(byte(0));
  lcd.setCursor(14, 1);
  lcd.write(byte(1));
  lcd.setCursor(1, 0);
  lcd.write(byte(14));
  lcd.setCursor(1, 1);
  lcd.write(byte(15));
}

void SetupPaddles(){
  ClearPaddles();
  myPaddleArray[0][5] = 16;
  myPaddleArray[0][6] = 16;
  myPaddleArray[0][7] = 16;
  aiPaddleArray[0][5] = 1;
  aiPaddleArray[0][6] = 1;
  aiPaddleArray[0][7] = 1;
  PrintPaddles();
}

void MovePaddleUp(){
  if(myPaddlePos != 1){
    myPaddlePos--;
    aiPaddlePos--;
    UpdatePaddlesAfterMove();
  }
}

void MovePaddleDown(){
  if(myPaddlePos != 14){
    myPaddlePos++;
    aiPaddlePos++;
    UpdatePaddlesAfterMove();
  }
}

void UpdatePaddlesAfterMove(){
    for(int i = 0; i < 16; i++){
      if((i == (myPaddlePos-1)) || (i == myPaddlePos) || (i == (myPaddlePos+1))){
        myPaddleColArray[i] = 16;
        aiPaddleColArray[i] = 1;
      } else {
        myPaddleColArray[i] = 0;
        aiPaddleColArray[i] = 0;
      }
    }
    for(int j = 0; j < 8; j++){
      myPaddleArray[0][j] = myPaddleColArray[j];
      aiPaddleArray[0][j] = aiPaddleColArray[j];
    }
    for(int k = 8; k < 16; k++){
      myPaddleArray[1][k-8] = myPaddleColArray[k];
      aiPaddleArray[1][k-8] = aiPaddleColArray[k];
    }
}

int GetLEDRowValue(byte ledRow, byte maxColumn){ 
  int minColumn = maxColumn - 4;
  int ledValue = 0; 
  int multiplier = 1;
  for(int i = maxColumn; i >= minColumn; i--){
    ledValue += (gameBoard[ledRow][i] * multiplier);
    multiplier *= 2; 
  }
  return ledValue;
}

void GenerateBallArray(){

  byte maxCol = ((ballY / 5) * 5) + 4;
  byte minCol = maxCol - 4;
  byte startRow = (ballX <= 7) ? 0 : 8;
  byte endRow = startRow + 8;
  if(startRow == 0){
    for(int i = startRow; i < endRow; i++){
      ballCharArray[i] = GetLEDRowValue(i, maxCol);
    }
  } else {
    for(int i = startRow; i < endRow; i++){
      ballCharArray[i-8] = GetLEDRowValue(i, maxCol);
    }
  }
}

void SetupBall(){
  ballYDir *= -1;
  gameBoard[7][35] = true;
}

void AwardAPoint(){
  if(ballY <= 8){
    playerScore++;
  } else {
    aiScore++;
  }
  delay(100);
  ballYDir *= -1;
}

void UpdateBall(){
  delay(ballUpdateTime);
  if((ballY <= 8) || (ballY >= 71)){
    AwardAPoint();
  } else if((ballX == 0) || (ballX == 15)){
    ballXDir *= -1;
  } else if((ballY == 69) && (ballX == myPaddlePos)){
    ballYDir *= -1;
  } else if((ballY == 69) && (ballX == (myPaddlePos + 1))){
    ballYDir *= -1;
    ballXDir = 1;
  } else if((ballY == 69) && (ballX == (myPaddlePos - 1))){
    ballYDir *= -1;
    ballXDir = -1;
  }
  gameBoard[ballX][ballY] = false;
  ballX += ballXDir;
  ballY += ballYDir;
  gameBoard[ballX][ballY] = true;
  GenerateBallArray();
  PrintStuff();
}

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  lcd.begin(16, 2);
  pinMode(moveRightButton, INPUT);
  pinMode(moveLeftButton, INPUT);
  SetupBall();
  GenerateBallArray();
  SetupPaddles();
  PrintStuff();
}

void loop() {
  UpdateBall();
  
  rightButState = digitalRead(moveRightButton);
  leftButState = digitalRead(moveLeftButton);
  if(rightButState != rightLastButState){
    if(rightButState == HIGH){
      MovePaddleUp();
      PrintStuff();
    }
    delay(50);
    rightLastButState = rightButState;
  }
  if(leftButState != leftLastButState){
    if(leftButState == HIGH){
      MovePaddleDown();
      PrintStuff();
    }
    delay(50);
    leftLastButState = leftButState;
  }
}