CHIP-8 is an interpreted programming language, developed by Joseph Weisbecker. It was initially used on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers in the mid-1970s. CHIP-8 programs are run on a CHIP-8 virtual machine. It was made to allow video games to be more easily programmed for said computers.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIP-8
In a time of Virtual Machines and Mobile Phone Emulators, I really wondered what it would be like to develop an emulator. Since I needed something simple to start with, I found CHIP-8 had the simplest intruction set totally only 35 Opcodes.
The purpose of this project was for me to learn a little bit about CHIP-8 and how to implement an interpreter to run CHIP-8 ROM's. It was a great experience which brought me back to basic with regards to better understanding a machines Memory and CPU (in its simplest form).
- Load a CHIP-8 ROM.
- Implement Pseudo-Assembly to understand intruction set
- Understand and display the Font.
- Emulator the game loop at the correct speed
- Implement Keyboard handling
- Implement a Keyboard mapping view
- Implement Sound beeps
- Be able to pause the game.
Working ROM's:
- Pong
- Tetris
- Breakout
| Screen | Captures |
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- The game loop timing I think needs a little more attention.
- The mapping of the keyboard keys has a bug. Sometimes a key is not registered and therefore you're not able to move in that direction.