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Two physical buttons are enough to play a native Tetris clone and a roguelite vertical shooter on an ESP32-S3 digital multi-tool—but only if the controls and memory use are designed around the device’s limits. In his September 30, 2026 article, Donato Maglie describes mapping clicks, holds, and double-clicks to game actions, while using the projects to explore embedded UI and RTOS concerns. The article identifies the ESP32-S3 platform but does not establish the exact board model used.
What games did Maglie build?
Maglie’s C project adds two games to a digital multi-tool with an LCD and two physical buttons: a native Tetris clone and a vertical space shooter with roguelite progression. The shooter is described as having 30 enemy waves, three boss fights, an in-game shop, and upgrades for health, damage, multi-shot, and bullet bounce. These are features of this project as reported in Maglie’s article, not independently verified counts or performance results.
The article’s setting is an ESP32-S3 device, but it does not confirm the specific development board. The author profile’s references to M5Stick S3 work are not evidence that this particular build used that model.
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How do two buttons control Tetris?
Rather than reproduce a conventional multi-button layout, Maglie assigns actions to short and long button gestures. The mapping described in the article is:
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- 🔧【Easy Programming & Debugging】 Equipped with dual USB Type-C ports, this ESP32-S3 board supports both USB and UART modes for effortless programming, firmware flashing, and debugging.
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- 🚀【Flexible Download Options】 Supports dual download methods — USB direct download or USB-to-serial download — offering flexibility and convenience for different development needs.Ideal for beginners and developers working with ESP32-S3.
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| Input | Tetris action |
|---|---|
| Side-button click | Rotate the piece |
| Side-button double-click | Pause |
| Front-button hold | Soft-drop |
| Front-button double-click | Hard-drop |
This makes a small control surface do more, but it depends on timing and gesture recognition. A click must be distinguished from a double-click, and a hold must not be mistaken for repeated clicks. The article’s mapping is a design choice for this particular interface, not a universal two-button standard.
Why debounce the buttons?
A physical switch can produce brief state changes around a press or release. If software treats each change as a separate button action, one press may trigger unintended repeats. Maglie says the implementation checks for a stable button state over 30 milliseconds before accepting it, reducing accidental inputs.
Rank #2
- ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8 SPI voltage: 3.3v, ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 is an entry-level development board equipped with Wi-Fi + Bluetooth module ESP32-S3
- Most of the I/O pins on the module are broken out to the pin headers on both sides of this board for easy interfacing. Developers can either connect peripherals with jumper wires or mount ESP32-S3-DevKitC on a breadboard.
- The ESP32-S3-DevKitC development board equipped with ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1-N16R8, a general-purpose Wi-Fi + Bluetooth LE MCU module that integrates complete Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE functions.
- ESP32-S3-N16R8 cable can be used: USB Type A to Type-C cable or CC cable Note the distinction between the commonly used USB A port to Type-C cable that can only be charged, which cannot be used for communication between YD-ESP32-S3 and the host.
- USB-to-UART Port and ESP32-S3 USB Port (either one or both), default power supply (recommended)
That delay is the author’s reported software setting; the article does not provide an independent test of its effectiveness across different switches or boards. In a two-button game, debouncing matters especially because a false press can become a rotation, pause, or drop depending on the gesture being interpreted.
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Why does memory management matter for the shooter?
Bullets and enemies are temporary objects, but repeatedly allocating and freeing them can make heap use unpredictable on a microcontroller. Over time, many changing allocations can fragment the available heap even when the total amount of requested memory seems manageable.
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- 【Simple programming and debugging】: The ESP32-S3 module makes it easy to program and burn in your ESP32-S3 board via dual USB Type-C ports, with a choice of USB or UART modes.
- 【Multiple Power Saving Modes】: The ESP S3 development board supports multiple low-power modes, which can be configured according to different application scenarios to provide longer battery life.
- 【Dual download modes】: The ESP S3-1 module supports both USB direct connection download and USB to serial port download, providing more flexibility and convenience.
- 【Diverse connectivity options】: The ESP32-S3-1 supports dual-mode Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 (LE) connectivity for a wide range of smart devices, making it ideal for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Maglie describes using object pooling to manage bullets and enemies instead of relying on repeated dynamic allocation and freeing. A pool keeps reusable objects available, which can make allocation behavior more predictable; it also requires the program to track which objects are active and return them to the pool correctly. The article reports this as an implementation approach, not as a measured memory benchmark.
What do the games demonstrate beyond gameplay?
Maglie presents the games as a way to exercise RTOS task management and UI rendering on the device. A game combines recurring updates, input interpretation, drawing, and short-lived entities, so it offers a practical workload for examining how those parts interact. The article does not publish independent timing, frame-rate, or stress-test measurements, so its value here is the author’s engineering rationale rather than proof of a performance threshold.
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- 【MULTI-PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY】Works with C++, MicroPython, ESP-IDF, Raspberry Pi, and STM32 — with online tutorials for quick start. Power via USB-C (5V) or VIN pin (5–12V); do not exceed 5V on the USB-C ports.
The author also connects bullet-object management to packet-sniffer queues. The shared idea is to manage recurring items in a constrained system without creating unnecessary allocation churn. That is a potential application of the same technique, not a claim that the article reports a packet-sniffer implementation.
What the article establishes—and what it does not
For readers interested in embedded game design, the article gives a concrete example of squeezing multiple actions onto two buttons and treating memory behavior as part of gameplay implementation. It establishes the ESP32-S3 platform and describes the games and design choices, but not a confirmed board model or independent hardware testing. Read the project account by Donato Maglie on DEV Community.
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