The lasertag MCU board, in its curent state, is powered by an AVR microcontroller, which is in control of all vital functions. It blinks the LEDs, creates the sounds and vibration patterns, and much more. To add Wi-Fi, an ESP-01 was added in the later versions, communicating via UART.

Both are simple chips to use and program, and have always been my go-to device for projects that need a small but powerful processor, or need a little bit of Wi-Fi capability.
Slowly though I am starting to feel like a device with more "juice" to it would provide more flexibility and more interesting features, as well as reduce some of the problems I am getting with for example the ESP<->AVR communication, the fairly slow Wi-Fi speed of the ESP-01, and the hardware limitations of the AVR.

For this reason, over the next few weeks I will be working my way into the ESP32, programmed in C++
If all goes well it will have enough power as well as hardware features to take over the job of both the ESP-01 AND the AVR, reducing the complexity of the main board and code!
Additionally, it'll bring in juicy new features like Bluetooth, capacitive touch support, high-speed 16bit LED PWM, faster WiFi, and potentially even proper sound playback.

Let's see how this goes, shall we!