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Move over Redstone computers in Minecraft, hello 32-bit computers in Terraria.
An engineering student has developed a functional “fully compliant RISC-v computer” in the 2D sandbox game. Computerraria, as developer Xander Naumenko calls it, took over 600 hours in the space of five months to develop, and stands as an incredibly impressive feat of technical achievement.
The virtual computer has the following specs:
- Clock Speed: ~5kHz
- RAM: 96kb
- Instruction set: rv32i
While it’s pretty cool that the virtual computer runs Pong, what’s really impressive is that it runs Linux and even some parts of Windows (with some tinkering). However, the project isn’t merely an example of programming ability or simply showing off a cool gimmick – it’s got an incredibly driven goal to strip a computer system down from the “growth of software bloat that runs on top of increasingly modern processors” and place power back in the hands of the “programmer“, according to Xander’s github.
It’s developed in a blend of Rust and Python, while there’s also a physical chunk of the computer which needs Terraria’s blocks and NPCs to run. The Pong game itself runs using the game’s Pixel Blocks as a visual interface, while there’s a whole array of virtual transistors powering the Computerraria.
While it’s been pretty commonplace to see computers developed in Minecraft, seeing a RISC-V computer is nothing short of incredible. Generally, they’re built as fairly simple arithmetic logic units and nothing more, however Computerraria extends far beyond that.
RISC-V is a form of open-source computer instruction set that makes it easier for developers to understand and implement CPU architecture. Seeing it remapped into Terraria with math logic gates represented through levers and lights blows us away.
You can even try out Computerraria yourself, though there’s no chance we’d be able to walk you through getting it running. It might be more of a question for the original developer themselves.
