gochip

CHIP-8 Virtual Machine in Go

This project is a CHIP-8 virtual machine (interpreter) written in Go. The CHIP-8 is a simple, interpreted programming language from the 1970s, designed for easy game development on early computers. This virtual machine reads CHIP-8 ROMs and executes them, allowing you to play classic CHIP-8 games.

Features

• Full CHIP-8 instruction set implementation
• Basic input support via keyboard
• Timers (delay and sound)
• Simple, extensible codebase

Getting Started

Prerequisites

To run or modify this project, you need:

• Go (version 1.18 or later)
• Docker (optional: if you want to run the web assembly version)

Installing

1. Clone this repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/oliveira-a/gochip.git
   cd gochip
   

2. Install the necessary Go dependencies:

   go get .
   

3. Run the project

   go run .
   

Web

1. Build the image

   docker build -t gochip -f server/Dockerfile .
   

2. Run the container

   docker run -p 8080:8080 gochip
   

Controls

• The CHIP-8 uses a 16-key hexadecimal keypad. The corresponding keys on your keyboard are:

1 2 3 4   -->  1 2 3 C
Q W E R   -->  4 5 6 D
A S D F   -->  7 8 9 E
Z X C V   -->  A 0 B F

• Use these keys to control games. Each game may have different key mappings.