Figment is another E Ink handheld game console made for text adventures (and maybe more)

E Ink displays offer a paper-like viewing experience that makes them a good fit for eBook readers and digital signage. They consume less power than LCD or AMOLED screens, emit no light, and can be viewed using ambient light only. But they also tend to have much lower screen refresh rates than other display technologies which is why, with a few exceptions, you don't often see them used as laptop, tablet, or game console displays.

A handful of folks have decided to use E Ink displays for a different kind of handheld game console though. Earlier this year a developer previewed a crowdfunding campaign for Ink Console, which was designed for playing interactive adventure books. That campaign was cancelled after "another team" took over the project to develop Ink Console. But now an independent developer has unveiled a work-in-progress E Ink game console called Figment.

While Ink Console had a sort of book-like design with two buttons at the bottom, Figment is designed to look and feel more like a game console. It has a horizontal 7.5 inch E Ink display from Waveshare in the center, three action buttons on the right, and four buttons arranged like a D-Pad on the left.

According to a recent reddit post from the developer, a working prototype features an ESP32 microprocessor and a body made from 3D printed and laser-cut parts.

For software there's a game engine that "uses a mix of pre-written 'books/games' and AI to fill out game paths that the author did not define," by generating text and images for stories that weren't already prepared by the authors of existing choose-your-own adventure books.

The AI features require an internet connection since the AI models cannot run on the device itself. But once generated, new content is stored locally so that it can be accessed even when you're offline.

There's a chance that the hardware or software could be open sourced in the future and the developer plans to post updates on the Figment website, so you can sign up to find out if this ever becomes real hardware that you can buy or if the designs or software are released for you to download.

via TECHEBLOG

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