Game where you build a CPU and assembly language from circuits | Hacker News Reader

Game where you build a CPU and assembly language from circuits

store.steampowered.com

201 pointsRAWR133742 comments

Reminds me of https://nandgame.com (free, web-based) where you build a CPU starting from NAND gates (building other gates, then registers, then clock, RAM, ALU, all the way to a processor).

Really neat idea. It hurts readability to distinguish logic gates with text instead of their traditional symbols. And it's not clear to me if the trace animations add information, the way that they do in the Falstad simulator, or if they're just aesthetic.

But for an early access game, I think it looks great and the idea is solid. I don't know of another game based on the computer hardware-software interface, so it seems to be filling a gap too.

Looks like MHRD[0] with a GUI.

[0] - https://store.steampowered.com/app/576030/MHRD/

If you like this game, you might also enjoy Ben Eater's breadboard computer! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2565d...

I highly second this. I found his videos so inspiring that I build my own adaption of his cpu.

Great learning tool

Still building mine. An incredible learning exercise. If you want to save some considerable hassle sourcing parts, you can buy the computer modules as kits: https://eater.net/8bit/kits

I build the Clock Module first to make sure I would enjoy it and stick with it. I ordered the rest as soon as that was complete.

There's also this toy puzzle game for mechanical computing

https://www.turingtumble.com/

I really like this idea. I remember working through the Nand2Tetris course [0] which essentially has the same idea of letting you build a computer from scratch. The course's chip fabrication sections had a limited number of simple solutions, so designing chips really did feel more akin to solving puzzles than writing code.

One thing I'm curious about is how level progression works. Do I get standard implementations for the circuits I've previously made? Or do I have to carry my implementations with me for the rest of the game, bugs included?

[0]: https://www.nand2tetris.org/

This looks pretty neat. I assume you only beat the game when you use the computer you create to create a game where you build a CPU and assembly language from circuits?

Like this Life in Life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP5-iIeKXE8

/off topic

I am learning to design PCBs, and while I have a basic understanding of the components (viz. resistors, diodes, transistors, etc) as the board gets populated with more components, (consider, for instance, an arduino dev board), it is just very challenging to build a model of how the entire board works - the logic etc.

Further, a good part of modern microcontroller boards is dedicated to (I think), power delivery and conditioning.

Getting a functional model / representation of the entire board in my head has been a huge, as yet insurmountable, challenge.

Are there any good games that can help me wrap my head around these concepts?

You should think in subsystems. Design a module, and then think of it as a basic component (like a resistor or a microcontroller is a component). Do not keep thinking about all the parts it is composed of. Use the power of abstraction.

Thats one of the really nice parts of shields. They make it very easy to think about the high level modules.

The hard part of designing PCB's was finding components. I tried to build one, but by the time I finally had a design one of the IC's would be out of stock, and I'd have to find a replacement. The downstream effects of that change would take time to deal with, and when I finally finished I'd run into the same issue again. I ended up just giving up.

I wish the PCB design software let me stay on this module level.

Engineers will deliberately break things up into subsystems on the board. Engineering is about making a safe and effective product in a timeframe (read: budget) suitable for the customer, it's not about perfection. You are allowed to approximate.

You can see this on some PCBs where a decision has clearly been made to separate (say) two different digital subsystems, which could be more efficient if mingled, but is only feasible for their resources if designed and verified separately.

Ooo, this looks interesting.

I'm a huge fan of the Zachtronics games which employ some sort of assembly programming.

The reminds me of Rocky's Boots(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky%27s_Boots) taken up a few levels.

Do you know about Robot Odyssey? Which was a same era sequel which took Rocky's boots up a level. Great game and even more the spiritual ancestor of this game it seems.

That kind of game is too much like work.

It's why I got into this industry.

Maybe, but it's like work but without although all those dogshit vendor toolchains and horrible hacky EDA languages.

Is this a simulation ??? Can i use the knowledge from game to build a real life CPU.

Yes, AFAICT you could build a (very basic) CPU that works with the skills you'll learn. Don't expect to challenge Intel and AMD anytime soon though.

I feel you might be a little bit too optimistic. Did almost much simpler thing when I was at university. It was much more involved than it looked like. There are so many gotchas you would never anticipate until you get started. The most common scenario would be the diagram looks alright, but when you put all part together, it just does not work.

Yes and yes (in theory). To actually design the circuitry and fabricate it is well beyond the scope of this game (I'm playing it right now).

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0N5baNlQWJCUrhCEo8WlA

You can also watch Ben Eater's videos.

Coursera has both NAND to Tetris parts up now.

Reminds me of https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/

Well, it's interesting but not "game interesting" - because doing this quickly becomes a full-time job.

On the other hand, people already prone to enjoying it as a job will probably love it.

Pure genius. Should be offered in every school

This looks fantastic. This generation needs a Robot Odyssey.

Hey, this is really cool. I've always wondered how this stuff works beneath the abstraction of high-level languages. Thanks for sharing!

Phew, still early access. I thought I was going lose my week there :p.

Not really a criticism of the developers choice but personally I find the prevalence of early access infuriating. I often play games for awhile and then move on. I also love that initial discovery side of a game. But of these facts are not overly compatible with early access.

Don’t buy it then? Buy it only when it is out of early access if it ever will be?

If you like chicken are you also infuriated by all the people who sell pork?

It is not like the developer had a choice between selling a ready version today vs a not-so-ready version today and they choose to release the not-so-ready version.

I'm not sure how I could have been any clearer.

I said I was not criticising the choice by the individual developer but rather voicing my frustration at the prevalence of that choice.

I don't eat pork so I don't actually care about that particular market.

And for the record I won't be, I generally don't buy EA.

I'd rather have a ton of Early Access games, where players can take part to the development of the game (by giving valuable feedback to the developers and funding the development), than AAA games that are released incomplete and full of bugs like the CyberPunk fiasco. Or have a third of the content, then the rest as DLC like Paradox or EA does.

EA does seem to be used as a crutch by AAA games. “Look, we missed the deadline, but we’re releasing it anyways as an ‘early access,’ so don’t be mad if it sucks.” Maybe I’m just biased, but “indie” games that go early access make much more sense than AAA because it’s one person versus dozens or hundreds.

Games should not be released in early access because of a missed deadline. It's part of the release cycle: alpha -> beta -> early access -> full release.

And you stay in early access as long as it's needed.

I've seen a lot of AAA games do the following "Look the game is not finished, but we need the money, don't worry you'll be able to pay the rest as DLC"

Why should or would this infuriate you?

Because he is tantalized by the idea and gets drawn in and hyped up only to find out it's early access and to him that's a huge disappointment.

Why are people infuriated by people being infuriated. I don't feel the same way as this person but I basically understand them.

Steam's Early Access is much preferable both for "enthusiast users" and the developer compared to the traditional opaque developer/publisher model. If you're not interested in Early Access, just ignore it and buy the game when it's out of Early Access.

Wishlist it and click in "follow", if you use Steam you will be reminded of it when it releases

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