Boardwalk
Boardwalk turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a seaside arcade of music games.
- Custom firmware
- Stable
- Medium brick risk
- Reversible
Source codeWebsite: charlesvestal.github.io
This project hasn't been claimed by its maintainer yet, so its details come from the community. Is it yours? Claim it
The first release of Boardwalk: a seaside arcade of music games for the M-VAVE FM-1.
Walk along the boardwalk at golden hour (OCT− / OCT+), each cabinet playing its own tune over the sea, and step up to one with PLAY:
- Striker: ring the bell; strike as the pointer passes the mark asked
- Moles: whack-a-mole on the keys; a good run of whacks is a tune
- Balloons: hold to pump, let go on the ring, before the pop you can't see
- Tiles: songs on falling tiles (Ode to Joy, Für Elise, Greensleeves, Frère Jacques, Twinkle, Twinkle)
- Gull: through the pier's posts: flap, hold to climb, or sing your height
- Ducks: a shooting gallery by ear
- Teacups: tap on the waltz's beat; it never stops speeding up
- Fortune: Barnaby Brass answers a question asked in notes
- Parrot: play back the parrot's tune, a note longer each time
- Bumpers: dodgems; bump the cars low note to high
- Echo: call and response rhythms
- Claw: steer the claw to the toy the machine wishes for
- Pitch: perfect pitch, and a tuning duel
- Fishing: hook each fish on its note, reel with the tug
- Chord Code: find the chord's notes
- Coaster: the track is the melody
- Bells: change ringing: one bell of six or eight, handbells, or conducting
Every game pays tickets for a finished round; leaving, the cabinet feeds them out of its slot. The Prizes counter at the start of the row trades them for sixteen prizes, from a sticker (10) to a giant teddy (5000); the ones you own sit on the boardwalk's rail, and two of them, Night Sky and Fireworks, change the boardwalk itself.
Boardwalk speaks every screen to the FM-1 Screen Reader, and its screen can be mirrored on a computer.
- Try it in the browser: https://charlesvestal.github.io/fm1-boardwalk/emu/
- Install it (Chrome or Edge, FM-1 on USB): https://charlesvestal.github.io/fm1-boardwalk/install/
- Or with the command-line installer:
python3 base/tools/fm1_install.py boardwalk-0.9.fwsc
Installing is at your own risk; the installer can put M-VAVE's own firmware back. MPL-2.0, built on fm1-base and felucca-bsp, from Felucca by Leo Kuroshita (Hügelton Instruments).
Before you start
- How hard is it?
- EasyCopy a file or use a web page. No extra software.
- What you need
- A USB or MIDI cable
- Comfort with the command line
- A computer
- Can it break my device?
- Small chance of trouble, with a way to recover.
- Can I undo it?
- Yes. You can go back to the official software.
Did it work for you?
Did Boardwalk v0.9 work on your M-VAVE FM-1?
No reports yet for v0.9.
One-tap reports from owners. Bricked reports are checked before they count.
Compatibility
Devices: M-VAVE FM-1.
No compatibility information yet.
Getting started
From the project's README ("Building and testing"):
Boardwalk is an app on fm1-base (base/, a git submodule); clone with --recursive. The toolchain and prerequisites are in BUILDING.md:
sh tests/runtests.sh # every cabinet in a simulator, the web build ./build.sh # app/build/boardwalk.fwsc python3 base/tools/fm1install.py app/build/boardwalk.fwsc # install it over USB
The design notes and decisions are in NOTES.md, the first mockups in mockups/.
Risk and recovery
- Brick risk
- Medium
- Reversible
- Yes
- Requires opening the device
- No
From the project's README ("Boardwalk for the M-VAVE FM-1"):
Boardwalk turns the M-VAVE FM-1 into a seaside arcade of music games. Walk along the boardwalk at golden hour, the sea and the gulls behind you, each cabinet playing its own little tune, and step up to one: ring the changes on a tower's bells, name a note by ear, play a song on falling tiles, fly a gull through a pier's posts, ride a roller coaster whose track is the melody. Every game pays out tickets, and the prize counter at the start of the row trades them for prizes, from a sticker to a giant teddy.
- Try it in your browser (no FM-1 needed):
- Install it (Chrome or Edge, with the FM-1 plugged in):
- Download the firmware file: releases
Installing it is at your own risk, though it's hard to get stuck: the web installer can put M-VAVE's own firmware back, and an FM-1 that fails to start twice comes up in a safe mode the installer can reach.
Playing
On the boardwalk, OCT− / OCT+ (or SELECT) walk along the cabinets and PLAY steps up to the one in front. In a game, PLAY starts and stops a round, the keys play it, KNOB 1 picks its level or mode, and HOME steps back to the boardwalk. On the boardwalk, KNOB 1 sets the sea and KNOB 2 the cabinets' tunes.
Cabinet What it is Prizes Trade your tickets: sixteen prizes on the white keys, PLAY trades Striker Ring the bell: strike as the swinging pointer passes the mark asked Moles Whack the moles as they pop up from the keys; a good run of whacks is a tune …
Releases
| Version | Name | Released |
|---|---|---|
| v0.9 | Boardwalk 0.9Latest | 28 October 2026 |
Credits, license and support
- License
- MPL-2.0