Greetings, Hard Chip players!

The last time we talked about making a 4Bits ALU, I lied. This update was mainly made this way: What UI/UX features would be needed to "comfortably" build something like an ALU? and then, I use that approach to work on a program counter instead! Here's what been done:

1. Blueprint v0.1: Reusing structures that have been build before is an absolute must. You could use premade gates for you, now you can make your own circuits and then save them as a blueprint to reuse them across larger circuit! here a quick demo:

Not only that but you can manage blueprints in the Blueprints Library. Use, Edit, Duplicate, Rename or Delete at will:

A few blueprint examples were left in this release like. Feel free to reuse them or create new ones. Don't hesitate to show your component on our Discord server!

2. Revisited Die Operations: a new mode have been introduced allowing to rapidly edit the size of the die. There is limits indicators as well:

3. New Challenges! Tri-state buffer and GatedSRLatch challenges has been added with their schematics. Have fun! A new regrouping was made in the challenges menu. More challenges coming very soon!

4. Revised Transistor behavior: The simulation assumed transistors were closed when the input (gate) was neutral (aka floating, aka not down nor up). Now transistors stay in the same state (opened or closed) when the input goes neutral. This allows the game to mimic a real circuit that uses a feedback loop like the JK Flip Flop. Very useful in a Program Counter! For fun here's a result:

If you were to build a physical circuit with off the shelve transistors using that exact same wiring: you would get a working program counter as well!!!

5. Revisited savegames screen: you can now rename, duplicate, delete savefile!

6. QOL, Bug and Crash fixes: Challenge validators now waits the circuit to "settle" in a final state before validating; New 4 bits counters demo in the main title menu; Fix crash on duplicate file when in FPS camera mode; Deactivate camera movement when mouse is over a UI element; Raymarching rendering use when adding a set of blocks (allows large blueprints);

That's pretty much it. The next steps are challenges to bring the player to build a fully functional 4 bits program counter!

Thank you for playing Hard Chip, and stay tuned for more updates and new features!