DoubleTalk

Doubletalk is a game of audio manipulation which I wrote in Z80 assembler for the Gameboy. It synthesizes three loves of mine: audio, cheap hackable hardware, and Z80 assembler.

Doubletalk Screenshot: Nintendo Gameboy Color
Doubletalk Screenshot: Nintendo Gameboy Color

Cheap hackable hardware such as the Gameboy has enormous potential: it would cost considerably more to interface a microcontroller to buttons and a color screen than to buy any Gameboy selling on eBay.

Now more than 20 years old, the Z80 has long since been abandoned for use in microcomputers. However, it has found its way more recently in less expensive digital organizers and game machines.

Doubletalk, a two player audio-manipulation game was my first serious endeaver with the Gameboy. The game used the Pocketvoice, a Gameboy cartridge with a built-in amplified speaker and microphone. In Doubletalk, players record themselves, reverse their recordings, then try to guess what each other is saying.

My work on Doubletalk and my other hacking projects with the Gameboy such as Gameboy Hardware Interfacing eventually led me to use the Gameboy as the platform for an assembly language programming course I taught at Wichita State University in 2008.

Similar Posts

  • Minigolf at Figment in New York

    As a faculty member Wichita State University’s College of Engineering (WSU), I worked with students to create and install a mini-golf hole as part of FIGMENT at Governor’s Island, NY in 2010. I also gave the keynote address that year for FIGMENT’s public art opening. WSU’s mini-golf hole was chosen from a juried selection. Our…

  • Digital Puppetry

    I worked with a team of colleagues, community members, and urban youth. Our intention was to help the youth learn in a playful environment, find personal self-expression, and have their voices heard by communities in Boston. To do this, we adapted commercially available technology to provide a unique medium: digital puppetry.

  • TechArtICT: Whispering Woodlands

    Whispering Woodlands was an outdoor installation created by TechArtICT. It was installed at Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas from November 2023 through January 2024. The work featured 24 independently controlled sets of speakers and LEDs, all synchronized to create an immersive sound and lightscape. Using eclectic audio ranging from thunder and rain to spaceships and…

  • TV Mountain

    TV Mountain is an art piece which was initially installed as part of TechArtICT’s Dreamgrass installation at Exploration Place Fall 2022. It consisted of 12 TVs at various angles and orientations, together forming a jumbotron. As part of Dreamgrass, it subjected faceless child-like objects to a litany of 80s commercials. The working remote enjoyed a…

  • Touch #1

    In 2012 I created my first interactive touch wall: Touch #1. The work built on my experience creating the visuals for Still Life and was largely inspired by seeing autistic children experiencing pure joy while interacting in an immersive environment. Touch #1 received a great response and was later installed at Exploration Place and at…