Very nice. Tips: You don't need the different design states (select, wire, delete) just have one and make it work contextually. Also remove the play button. Just have it always playing.
Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
21–30 of 76 posts
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#22Since I don't see it mentioned here, Turning Complete is also a game along the same lines and really fun. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1444480/Turing_Complete/
I have gotten my nephew into it with some success as well.
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#23Cool idea, but having to switch between select and wire makes this incredibly tedious to use. Just use wire mode from dragging from a connection and let people draw "away" a wire from a connection and let go to delete it? Would be much more intuitive imo.
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#24To the author of this; Are you able to make it save your progress so you can come back and continue playing?
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#25I wonder how people go through building such a project without ever hearing about NANDGame or Turing Complete.
This immediately made me think of nand2tetris.org, but as a game. Is that what NANDGame is?
Yes, pretty much, but stopping at the cpu level (about the first half of the course).
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#26Since I don't see it mentioned here, Turning Complete is also a game along the same lines and really fun. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1444480/Turing_Complete/ I have gotten my nephew into it with some success as well.
That links has an invalid or expired cert.
EDIT: Thanks for fixing the link!
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#27I wasn't able to wire the inputs to the gate, so my career at ChipCorp ended at level 1. Also it would ne nice to have a level zero where you create the gates from transistors.
Want transistor logic? Hard Chip on Steam. Starts you at NMOS and PMOS and lets you build up from there.
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#28This is cool! I like it! Let's see if I can get past the NAND level!
I got all the way to a Full Adder and got stuck, then lost my progress :/
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#29Got stuck at the NAND gate level.
Same, I built a correctly-working AND gate made only of NAND gates but the tests don't pass.
Re: Show HN: I made a game where you build a CPU from logic gates
#30I went through Turing Complete up to a working CPU and found it incredibly fun. I then went on to build my own RV32I (simplest RISC-V instruction set) core in Verilog - if you keep a simple single-cycle design, it doesn’t end up being super complicated and not a ton of code. I’d recommend the exercise for anyone wanting to learn about how CPUs work.
Also, for people interested in this type of thing, look up Ben Eater’s 6502 videos. Wiring up a 6502 (old microprocessor) to ROM and RAM on a breadboard; later he builds a “world’s worst video card” - more like a VGA display output card, still pretty cool.