Greetings!
Myself and a friend of mine provide our free time at for PC game setup at a local game convention. to make things more immersive, I’d like to try and change things up a bit and remove the keyboards and mice from an Artemis starship bridge sim build and look at making some consoles for each station.
What I’m trying to figure out is if an Arduino can take input from a standard button (with LED), send that button press to the PC as a keyboard stroke, and then activate the LED light. And also, using a joystick, control the flight station.
My vision is to have all the LEDs dimly lit, until a button is pressed where it will either flash briefly to confirm the press, or maintain said brightness for an option that needs to stay active until that button is pressed again.
I’m looking, at just one station now, that would require 25 LEDs and I know up to, I think 32, on another as the largest of the two builds.
Can the Arduino line do this for me?
I’ve played a bit with the Leonardo, and with the help of an Arduino guide, have managed to make the basic LED light up via a button press but at my current age (50), I’m not retaining things like I used to. I’m at a loss on how to work on a project so big, so I am graciously seeking your help.
The bigger issue is budget. I can’t break the bank on this project. I have sourced a place for the buttons and LEDs that I would need and I’m handy enough with a saw and tools to build my stations. I can solder and fix things and wire a house, but can’t for the life of me figure out this thing you all call coding. 
I would appreciate any information anyone has to offer.
Thank you,
Ray
aka Dracarius
