Electromagnetic Field 2024 · United Kingdom · 2024

Tildagon

EMF 2024+ reusable hexpansion platform

A reusable hexagonal badge platform with six expansion slots, MicroPython apps, and community hexpansions.

ESP32-S3 MicroPython Hexpansion BLE WiFi EMF

EventElectromagnetic Field 2024

SeriesElectromagnetic Field

LocationEastnor Castle Deer Park

CountryUnited Kingdom

Image Provenance

Asset: optimized WebP from transparent cutout
Status: licensed original photo
Source: EMFCamp 2024 Tildagon badge.jpg
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Attribution: Aveaoz, Wikimedia Commons
Notes: Original 4624x3472 Wikimedia Commons field photo downloaded from File:EMFCamp 2024 Tildagon badge.jpg, auto-oriented, conservatively polygon-masked around the visible badge and attached hexpansion, scaled to the site badge canvas, and preserved as a transparent source cutout before WebP delivery conversion. This is a documentary camp photo with an add-on attached, not a studio packshot; partial hand and field background remain where they are visible behind the hardware. The published badge.gallery delivery file is an optimized WebP generated from the rights-cleared local derivative/source with metadata stripped, WebP quality 82, and a maximum side cap of 1600 pixels when the source is larger; upstream source URL, license, and attribution remain unchanged.

People

Authors & Credits

7-Segment display model author

Iain Yarnall

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the printable 7-Segment display.

Source

ArtNet Receiver app author

mich181189

Listed as the ArtNet Receiver owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

BadgeBot app author

Team Robotmad

Listed as the BadgeBot owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Breadboard Tester app author

naomi

Listed as the Breadboard Tester owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Caffeine Jitters app author

walkerdanny

Listed as the Caffeine Jitters owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

DECTspansion designer

jasonalexander-ja

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for DECTspansion.

Source

Ducks hexpansion creator

Tiff

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the Ducks hexpansion.

Source

EEH Logo hexpansion app author

Matt Emerick-Law

Listed as the EEH Logo owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

EMF 2026 Countdown app author

pikesley

Listed as the EMF 2026 Countdown owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

EMFight app author

JonTheNiceGuy

Listed as the EMFight owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Flopagon, Omni wheel, and blank hexpansion designer

Nathan Dumont

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for Flopagon, Omni wheel, and Blank Hexpansion entries.

Source

Fluroclock app co-author

Ben Eriksson

Listed with John Rogers as the Fluroclock owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Fluroclock app co-author

John Rogers

Listed with Ben Eriksson as the Fluroclock owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

GPS Hexpansion designer

The Machine Shop

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the GPS Hexpansion.

Source

Goosespansion designer

Skyler Mansfield

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase with published Goosespansion files.

Source

HAB Flash app author

Tom Dalby

Listed as the HAB Flash owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

HUB75 and legacy adapter hexpansion designer

dratini0

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for HUB75 and legacy adapter hardware.

Source

Hat Village app author

pikesley

Listed as the Hat Village owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

HexManager app author

Team Robotmad

Listed as the HexManager owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Interlocking Brick Hexpansions model author

Floppy

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for stud-compatible printable plates.

Source

Interposer and themed hexpansion creator

The Untitled Goose

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for Interposer, Pacman, Simple Honk, Doom Keycard, Hexnotoad, and Hack the Planet entries.

Source

LED Filament and Emergency Hot Sauce hexpansion creator

John Thurmond

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for LED Filament and Emergency Hot Sauce examples.

Source

MD Updater app author

Matthew Wilkes

Listed as the MD Updater owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Microphone hexpansion designer

Lix

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the EEPROM-backed Microphone prototype.

Source

Now & Next app author

JonTheNiceGuy

Listed as the Now & Next owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

OG Hexpansion and Flipspansion designer

kliment

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the OG Hexpansion and Flipspansion.

Source

Pacman LED app author

Matt Emerick-Law

Listed as the Pacman LED owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Petals hexpansion creator

lornajane

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for Petals.

Source

Protoboard Hexpansion designer

Jake Walker

Named in the official Tildagon hexpansion showcase for the Protoboard Hexpansion.

Source

Seismograph app author

webboggles

Listed as the Seismograph owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Social Battery app author

Yale32

Listed as the Social Battery owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

TGSTL app author

Tony Goacher

Listed as the TGSTL owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

TILDENSTEIN 3D and Tildagon WiFi Radar app author

webboggles

Listed as author for TILDENSTEIN 3D and Tildagon WiFi Radar in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

WiFi Scanner app author

JonTheNiceGuy

Listed as the WiFi Scanner owner in the Tildagon App Directory.

Source

Why It Mattered

Tildagon directly addressed badge e-waste and yearly reinvention by making the badge a platform intended to return in future EMF years.

Hardware

ESP32-S3, USB-C, WiFi, BLE, round screen, buttons, LEDs, power management, IMU, and six hexpansion connectors.

Software & Apps

Tildagon OS is MicroPython-based, with simulator-based app development and app store publishing.

Lore

Hexpansions turned the badge edge into a playful hardware culture: protoboards, ducks, plotters, GPS, DECT experiments, and decorative add-ons.

Lifecycle

Add-ons & Upgrades

BLE/social-state app ongoing

Social Battery

Yale32's Social Battery renders configurable social energy as a fuel gauge and adds BLE remote support, another example of post-event badge apps using the platform's radio and display surface.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with BLE remote support

Source

GNSS hexpansion community example

GPS Hexpansion

The Machine Shop's GPS Hexpansion and its published files document a location-sensing hardware path for Tildagon owners.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

LED decorative hexpansion community example

LED Filament hexpansion

John Thurmond's LED Filament hexpansion appears in the official showcase as a rainbow LED-filament add-on, extending Tildagon's visual display culture beyond the onboard LEDs.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

LED hexpansion app current EMF 2026 lifecycle

EEH Logo Hexpansion app

Matt Emerick-Law's EEH Logo app controls NeoPixels on the East Essex Hackspace LED Logo Hexpansion and advertises that the hexpansion is expected to be available at EMF 2026.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with EEH LED Logo Hexpansion

Source

LED hexpansion app ongoing

Pacman LED

Matt Emerick-Law's Pacman LED app controls LEDs on the Pacman hexpansion created by The Untitled Goose, capturing another app-store entry tied to a named physical add-on.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with Pacman hexpansion

Source

adapter hexpansion community example

Legacy adapter hexpansion

dratini0's legacy adapter connects Tildagon to SAO, TiDAL, and QW/ST-style expansion traditions, showing that add-ons also serve compatibility and reuse.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

app-store ecosystem ongoing

The live app directory makes Tildagon a post-event software platform, with badge, background, game, media, music, pattern, hexpansion utility, schedule, WiFi, and sensor apps published by community authors.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

audio sensor hexpansion community example

Microphone hexpansion

Lix's Microphone hexpansion prototype stores visualisation code on EEPROM and samples audio on the badge, a concrete example of self-describing add-on behavior.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector with EEPROM-backed app behavior

Source

audio/light hexpansion community example

TGSTL sound-to-light hexpansion

The named TGSTL sound-to-light module records the performative side of Tildagon expansion culture: audio-reactive light hardware built for the badge edge.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

badge-to-badge game app ongoing

EMFight

JonTheNiceGuy's EMFight lets EMF Camp badge holders challenge each other, keeping inter-attendee play in the app-store layer rather than only in built-in firmware.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

breadboard hexpansion utility ongoing

Breadboard Tester

naomi's Breadboard Tester is scoped to breadboard hexpansions and toggles eGPIO and GPIO pins, making hardware bring-up and pin probing part of the app-store lifecycle.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with breadboard hexpansions

Source

decorative PCB hexpansion community example

Goosespansion

Skyler Mansfield's Goosespansion is a named PCB hexpansion with published files, showing how the Tildagon gallery tracks both creator attribution and reusable fabrication data.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

decorative hexpansion community example

Ducks hexpansion

Tiff's Ducks hexpansion records the purely expressive side of the ecosystem: camp-lore ornamentation using the same connector format as active electronics.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

decorative hexpansion set community example

Petals

lornajane's Petals use multiple decorative hexpansions around a badge, illustrating how the connector can turn the badge silhouette into a larger wearable object.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

diagnostic app ongoing

WiFi Scanner

JonTheNiceGuy's WiFi Scanner app scans nearby access points and includes a connection doctor that decodes STAT_* failures, a practical post-event network-debugging upgrade.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

diagnostic/radio app ongoing

Tildagon WiFi Radar

webboggles' Tildagon WiFi Radar turns a single badge into a directional WiFi radar: rotate the badge to sweep and nearby APs appear as blips on a polar display.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and WiFi scan hardware

Source

display hexpansion community example

HUB75 hexpansion

dratini0's HUB75 hexpansion ties the badge platform to large LED-matrix display experiments through published hardware files.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

display/mechanical hexpansion community example

Flipspansion

kliment's Flipspansion is an adapter for mounting a hexpansion upside down, with caveats around USB-port-adjacent slots preserved in its project notes.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

event navigation app historical EMF 2024 app

HAB Flash

Tom Dalby's HAB Flash app used Tildagon as a HABVille navigation and tracking tool, sending location to a physical receipt printer during EMF 2024.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and EMF 2024 HABVille infrastructure

Source

firmware recovery tool ongoing

WebUSB flashing workflow

The WebUSB flasher gives owners an official browser-based recovery and update path, with caveats around USB serial access and supported browsers.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

firmware updater hexpansion app ongoing

MD Updater

Matthew Wilkes's MD Updater updates firmware on the Megadrive interface hexpansion, evidence that Tildagon add-ons can have their own firmware-maintenance lifecycle.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with Megadrive interface hexpansion

Source

future-event lifecycle app current EMF 2026 lifecycle

EMF 2026 Countdown

pikesley's EMF 2026 Countdown keeps Tildagon active between camp editions, using the badge as a countdown surface for the next EMF cycle.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

haptics hexpansion app ongoing

Caffeine Jitters

walkerdanny's Caffeine Jitters is a companion app for the Club Mate haptics hexpansion, where badge buttons adjust jitter frequency.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with Club Mate haptics hexpansion

Source

hardware add-on ecosystem ongoing

Hexpansions

Six edge connectors allow community hardware modules such as prototyping boards, decorative boards, sensors, GPS, communications, plotter experiments, and other hexpansions.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

hardware/software expansion ongoing

EEPROM-backed hexpansion apps

EEPROM-equipped hexpansions can carry metadata plus a LittleFS filesystem containing an app.py, allowing hardware add-ons to ship their own badge-side behavior.

Compatibility: Tildagon hexpansions with supported EEPROMs

Source

hexpansion companion app ongoing

BadgeBot

Team Robotmad's BadgeBot is published as a Tildagon App Directory app for the Hex Drive hexpansion, extending the same hardware ecosystem already visible through HexManager.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with Hex Drive hexpansion

Source

hexpansion utility app ongoing

HexManager

Team Robotmad's HexManager app is a 2026 app-store release for managing hexpansion EEPROMs, making Tildagon's hardware add-on lifecycle visible as badge-side software.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and EEPROM-backed hexpansions

Source

installation control app ongoing

Fluroclock

John Rogers and Ben Eriksson's Fluroclock app controls an EMF installation from the badge, showing Tildagon as a controller for camp-side media hardware.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and Fluroclock installation

Source

lighting/network app ongoing

ArtNet Receiver

mich181189's ArtNet Receiver turns Tildagon into a networked lighting-control receiver, with the app-directory description explicitly warning that the first release is janky and hard-coded.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with networked ArtNet lighting workflows

Source

maintenance workflow ongoing

Forced hexpansion detection and recovery

Official docs preserve post-event recovery behavior: firmware v1.6.0+ can force hexpansion detection with button chords, and failed updates may require better WiFi or flashing.

Compatibility: Tildagon firmware v1.6.0 and later

Source

mechanical hexpansion community example

Omni wheel

Nathan Dumont's Omni wheel appears in the official showcase with published files, another example of Tildagon add-ons using mechanical play rather than only electronics.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

mechanical/media hexpansion community example

Flopagon

Nathan Dumont's Flopagon uses a floppy-disk form factor, documenting that Tildagon add-ons range beyond simple sensors into playful media and mechanical experiments.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

multiplayer game app ongoing

TILDENSTEIN 3D

webboggles' TILDENSTEIN 3D is a 2026 Tildagon App Directory release: a Wolfenstein-style raycasting FPS with ESP-NOW multiplayer set around the EMF Camp grounds.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with ESP-NOW peer play

Source

post-event setup ongoing

Post-EMF WiFi setup

The post-event WiFi guide documents how owners can attach the badge to a home or workshop network after the camp infrastructure is gone.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

printable display hexpansion community example

7-Segment display

Iain Yarnall's 7-Segment display model is a printable visual add-on in the official showcase, showing the hardware record also needs printables and non-PCB artifact links.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

printable mechanical hexpansion community example

Interlocking Brick Hexpansions

Floppy's Interlocking Brick Hexpansions provide stud-compatible plates in multiple sizes, including versions that account for USB-C clearance.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

prototyping hexpansion community example

Protoboard Hexpansion

Jake Walker's Protoboard Hexpansion gives badge owners a small general-purpose prototyping surface in the official connector shape.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

radio hexpansion community example

DECTspansion

The official Tildagon hexpansion guide preserves jasonalexander-ja's DECTspansion as a community-made radio expansion example for the reusable EMF 2024 badge platform.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

reference PCB hexpansion community example

OG Hexpansion

kliment's OG Hexpansion is the official gallery's reference-style PCB example exposing badge-edge pins and linking back to the EMF 2024 hardware repository.

Compatibility: Tildagon / EMF 2024+ hexpansion connector

Source

repair workflow ongoing

Replacement components path

The official docs now preserve concrete repair paths for damaged screens, FPC cables, LEDs, and battery connectors, treating Tildagon as maintainable camp hardware rather than a disposable novelty.

Compatibility: Tildagon hardware

Source

schedule app ongoing

Now & Next

JonTheNiceGuy's Now & Next app shows current and upcoming EMFCamp stage items, carrying the badge from novelty hardware into a live event companion.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and EMFCamp schedule data

Source

sensor app ongoing

Seismograph

webboggles' Seismograph app turns the onboard IMU into a live waveform and Richter-readout instrument with auto-scaling and axis cycling.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and onboard IMU

Source

software upgrade path ongoing

Tildagon OS app updates

MicroPython apps and OS work continue after the event through the documented app publishing and simulator workflow.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS

Source

sound-to-light app ongoing

TGSTL

Tony Goacher's TGSTL app turns a SparkFun sound detector into a Tildagon sound-to-light path, tying the app store to a physical sensor hexpansion.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS with SparkFun sound-detector hardware

Source

village app current EMF 2026 lifecycle

Hat Village

pikesley's Hat Village app is listed as the official app of Hat Village at EMF 2026, showing that Tildagon app distribution is already carrying future village-specific software.

Compatibility: Tildagon OS and EMF 2026 village context

Source

Operational history

Issues & Camp Impact

firmware/hardware caveat moderate

The hardware overview warns that eGPIO does not work in firmware v1.6.0, a concrete compatibility caveat for hexpansion or GPIO-dependent work.

Hardware add-ons and examples may depend on firmware version, so the badge needs lifecycle tracking rather than one-time hardware notes.

Confidence: primary docs
Status: documented caveat
Timeframe: firmware v1.6.0 era
Source note: Tildagon Badge Hardware documentation.

app metadata caveat note

The MD Updater app-store entry describes a real Megadrive-interface firmware updater but currently lists a placeholder source repository URL.

The compendium keeps the app and author record while flagging that source-code provenance is weaker than other Tildagon app entries.

Confidence: live app directory
Status: documented caveat
Timeframe: 2025 app-directory release
Source note: Tildagon App Directory MD Updater entry.

living platform note

Tildagon is not a fixed one-camp artifact: EMF says the badge is intended to return across events, while the live app directory and hexpansion docs continue to accumulate apps, add-ons, and recovery notes.

badge.gallery needs to treat Tildagon as a lifecycle record with recurring app, firmware, and hexpansion updates instead of a static EMF 2024 page.

Confidence: primary docs and live app directory
Status: ongoing
Timeframe: post-EMF 2024 and future EMF cycles
Source note: EMF blog announcement, Tildagon app docs, app directory, hexpansion docs, and common-problems page.

repairability note

Official docs document replacement paths for multiple fragile or field-repairable components, including display-related parts, LEDs, and battery connectors.

The maintenance record matters because reusable camp badges only stay useful if spare-part and repair workflows survive after the event.

Confidence: primary docs
Status: ongoing
Timeframe: post-EMF 2024
Source note: Tildagon Replacing Components documentation.

Resources

Sources