THOTCON 0xD Badge — Connected Game Hardware

Lead on the THOTCON 0xD electronic badge: custom game hardware with a capacitive touch wheel, LCD, and real-time networking—designed, built, and shipped.

Role Stack Outcome
Lead designer/producer: hardware feature definition, enclosure design, vendor coordination, firmware/game integration, on-site assembly workflows, and QC. Wrote a multi-part production series covering enclosures, tariffs, vendor logistics, and unit costs. Custom PCB + display; capacitive input; RT networking; laser-cut acrylic enclosure; turnkey assembly coordination; logistics & tariff mitigation. Shipped a robust, playful platform that doubled as a shared, networked game experience for attendees. Documented a transparent hardware pipeline (design → sourcing → tariffs → assembly), including lessons learned…
Category
Objects
Links
Live → Repo →

Project Overview

Commissioned by THOTCON NFP ($60,000), I led the design and production of the 0xD conference badge: a bespoke, networked game device with a responsive capacitive scroll wheel and TFT display, built to withstand two days of hacker-level wear-and-tear and to enable live, social play at scale.

Areas Investigated

Embedded UX; manufacturing constraints; live ops; cost engineering; community game design.

Build Log

Constraints

Design/technical constraints

What Broke

Failures and learnings

Next Rev

Future improvements

Materials / Tools

Materials and tools list