This book attempts to capture the spirit of the ''Bronze Age'' of video games, when video games were designed as circuits, not as software. We'll delve into these circuits as they morph from Pong into programmable personal computers and game consoles. Instead of wire-wrap and breadboards, we'll use modern tools to approximate these old designs in a simulated environment from the comfort of our keyboards. At the end of this adventure, you should be well-equipped to begin exploring the world of FPGAs, and maybe even design your own game console. You'll use the 8bitworkshop.com IDE to write Verilog programs that represent digital circuits, and see your code run instantly in the browser.List of Chapters: Boolean LogicDiscrete HardwareClocks and Flip-FlopsHDL (Hardware Description Language)Intro to VerilogThe 8bitworkshop IDEA Simple Clock DividerA Binary CounterVideo Signal GeneratorA Test PatternDigitsScoreboardA Moving BallSlipping CounterRAMTile GraphicsSwitches and PaddlesSpritesBetter SpritesRacing GameSprite RotationMotion VectorsTank GameShift RegistersSound EffectsTilemap RenderingScanline Sprite RenderingThe ALU: Arithmetic Logic UnitA Simple CPUA Configurable AssemblerRacing Game With CPUA 16-bit CPUFramebuffer GraphicsA Programmable Game SystemA Demo ProgramPractical Considerations for Real HardwareFPGA ExamplesAppendix A: Verilog ReferenceAppendix B: Troubleshooting
This book attempts to capture the spirit of the ''Bronze Age'' of video games, when video games were designed as circuits, not as software. We'll delve into these circuits as they morph from Pong into programmable personal computers and game consoles. Instead of wire-wrap and breadboards, we'll use modern tools to approximate these old designs in a simulated environment from the comfort of our keyboards. At the end of this adventure, you should be well-equipped to begin exploring the world of FPGAs, and maybe even design your own game console. You'll use the 8bitworkshop.com IDE to write Verilog programs that represent digital circuits, and see your code run instantly in the browser.List of Chapters: Boolean LogicDiscrete HardwareClocks and Flip-FlopsHDL (Hardware Description Language)Intro to VerilogThe 8bitworkshop IDEA Simple Clock DividerA Binary CounterVideo Signal GeneratorA Test PatternDigitsScoreboardA Moving BallSlipping CounterRAMTile GraphicsSwitches and PaddlesSpritesBetter SpritesRacing GameSprite RotationMotion VectorsTank GameShift RegistersSound EffectsTilemap RenderingScanline Sprite RenderingThe ALU: Arithmetic Logic UnitA Simple CPUA Configurable AssemblerRacing Game With CPUA 16-bit CPUFramebuffer GraphicsA Programmable Game SystemA Demo ProgramPractical Considerations for Real HardwareFPGA ExamplesAppendix A: Verilog ReferenceAppendix B: Troubleshooting
