k8 (Kate)

A multi-platform CHIP-8 emulator written in Kotlin. Supports Android, iOS, Desktop and Web.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Spec
• Getting Started
• Usage
• Features
• Controls
• Contributing
• License

Introduction

Chip8 is an interpreted programming language that was initially designed for the COSMAC VIP computer. Kate allows you to run and play games or applications originally created for the Chip8 platform on your modern system.

Tech Spec

Kate leverages Kotlin multiplatform to separate out the core emulation logic in the common module. All the target platforms then consume the common module to render the emulation output.

As of now, the frontend for android, desktop and web is written in Compose. ios frontend is written in SwiftUI. This is fully extensible though, and you can contribute to add more frontends.

Getting Started

To get started with Kate, follow these steps:

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ashishekka97/k8.git
   cd k8

2. Build Kate:

   Open the project in IntelliJ IDEA to trigger the build process through gradle. Once gradle build is successful, you should automatically get run configurations for andorid, desktop and web.

   In order to build for ios, you must have a Mac setup with XCode installed. Open the ios module in XCode to automatically trigger the build process.

   You must build the project through gradle in the Intellij IDEA first before jumping to XCode, as IntelliJ will run the corresponding gradle build files to produce pods and other dependencies for ios.

3. Download Chip8 ROMs:

   You'll need Chip8 ROMs to run with the emulator. These ROMs contain the programs and games you want to emulate. You can find a variety of Chip8 ROMs on the internet. Place them in a directory accessible to the emulator. android comes with a bunch of inbuilt rom files.

4. Run Kate:

   Select the run configuration from android, desktop and web in IntelliJ and click Run. For ios, just click run from XCode.

Usage

The usage of Kate is straightforward. You load a Chip8 ROM file using the inbuilt file picker, and the emulator provides a virtual environment in which the ROM can run. Use the controls mentioned below to interact with the emulator.

Features

• Chip8 Compatibility: The emulator is designed to be compatible with most Chip8 programs and games.
• Keyboard and Sound Support: It emulates the original Chip8 input and sound system.
• Themes: There are a couple of retro inspired monochrome color schemes to change the display color.

Controls

The original Chip8 had a 16-key keypad. K8 for desktop and web maps these keys to your computer keyboard. The mapping typically looks like this:

Original Chip8 Keypad       Your Keyboard
1 2 3 C                     1 2 3 4
4 5 6 D                     Q W E R
7 8 9 E                     A S D F
A 0 B F                     Z X C V

On android and ios, there's a virtual keyboard rendered in the app.

Contributing

Contributions from the open-source community are welcome. Feel free to submit bug reports, feature requests, or pull requests to help improve the emulator.

License

k8 (Kate) is licensed under the MIT License, which means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software as long as you provide the appropriate attribution and include the license file.