# zhouxiyu1997/friendmaker

Friend Maker is a macOS/Windows toolkit for turning images into pixel grids and ESP32 controller scripts, enabling automatic drawing on Nintendo Switch in Tomodachi Life and related workflows.

Repository: https://github.com/zhouxiyu1997/friendmaker
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/friendmaker
Homepage: https://zhouxiyu1997.github.io/friendmaker/
Language: TypeScript
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: esp32, nintendo-switch, tomodachi-life, pro-controller-emulator
Last push: 2026-08-19T08:55:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 79/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 95, longevity 9
- inputs: {"age_days": 128, "days_push": 14, "days_rel": 37, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 18}
- flags: young
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1262, forks 39 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:10.308861+00:00)

## What it is
Friend Maker is a desktop application (macOS/Windows) that converts images into pixel grids and controller action scripts, then drives an ESP32 emulating a Switch Pro Controller to automatically draw in Tomodachi Life on Nintendo Switch. It bundles firmware flashing, controller testing, timing tuning, and image-to-script generation into a single four-page workflow, with a companion web flasher for zero-setup firmware installation.

## Use cases
- automatically draw pixel art in Tomodachi Life on Nintendo Switch
- convert PNG/JPG/SVG images into pixel drawing scripts
- flash ESP32 firmware from the browser without installing toolchains
- emulate a Switch Pro Controller with an ESP32 board
- test and tune controller input timing for Switch automation
- resume interrupted drawing tasks from saved restore points

## When to choose
- you own a Nintendo Switch and an ESP32-WROOM-32/ESP-32S board and want a GUI-driven end-to-end drawing workflow
- you want image import, pixel preview, and multi-color drawing scripts in one tool
- you prefer a desktop installer or web flasher over hand-maintained serial scripts

## When to avoid
- you need a zero-setup consumer tool - initial ESP32 flashing, driver setup, pairing, and timing calibration are still required
- you need maximum drawing speed rather than input stability
- you don't have an ESP32 board or a Switch console

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: experimental
- function: image-processing, developer-tools, gui, workflow-automation, embedded
- domain: gaming-tools, hardware, image-processing, cross-platform
- platform: windows, browser, iot
- tags: nintendo-switch, esp32, tomodachi-life, pro-controller-emulator, pixel-art, firmware-flashing, platformio, web-serial, typescript, electron, automation, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- zhouxiyu1997/friendmaker (main) score 79

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:10.308861+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:04:15.726133+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/zhouxiyu1997/friendmaker (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:10.308861+00:00, sha 6ac8a285fa13)
  - homepage: https://zhouxiyu1997.github.io/friendmaker/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:16:30.734865+00:00, sha f823cdd483f5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.