A game from scratch

One way to really understand how something works is build it from scratch. Especially if it is difficult and lot of things go wrong along the way.

So as a way to really understand computers I am going to build a computer game from scratch. But really from scratch, that is, staring from the hardware all the way to a finished game. This is something I have been thinking about for a while. A large project but it should be a lot of fun.

The game will be written in Forth running on a Forth System running on a purpose build CPU implemented on an FPGA. It will have a separate graphics processor and sound processor. Much like early game consoles.

Forth is chosen because a full Forth System, that is the language and compiler fits in a few kbytes. This makes it possible to debug and compile the game on the console itself.

The processor will be 16 bits which, as the systems from the 80ties have shown, should be more than enough for many interesting games. It will have VGA output, two channels of sound, USB connects for two game pads and a serial connection for programming and debugging.