Hard Chip News

Greetings, Hard Chip players!

I hope you're all snug in your chairs (or lab benches!) and enjoying well-deserved holiday cheer. Spread joy, fun, and a little bit of techy mischief too! I've had an incredible year building and refining Hard Chip, and I couldn't have done it without your relentless enthusiasm and feedback. Thank you so much for that!
So take a break, recharge your batteries, and enjoy the festivities with friends and family. See you around the server, and may your circuits stay cool and your yield always be 100%!

Stay warm and game on!

Let's cover what changed from 0.1.6.61 to 0.1.6.65:

[h2]1. NEW Delayed FET Deactivation[/h2]

Totally floating FETs (both channel and gate here)

Though HC reduces reality, problems and ways to solve them in HC and reality are close. One reduction was HC's CMOS (or FET) keeps its last ON/OFF state when the gate floats.
This wasn't an issue for puzzles and ways to solve them, but it was a neat trick you could exploit in some specific use cases. And it was somehow confusing.
Now FETs with a floating gate will switch OFF after 100 ticks to simulate a slowly discharging gate. Note: HC won't follow real-world use cases for CMOS with floating gate as those react to the surrounding charges and switch erratically.

Changelog:

• NEW Mos delayed deactivation on floating gate;
  

[h2]2. UPDATED Invisible code cleaning and admin tools[/h2]

Online scores are used here!

Obviously, not all changes relate to something that is immediately visible. But still needs to be done, mainly because it translates to free time for working on something else. Two time-consumers were
Building, packaging, and releasing all 3 builds (demo, main and playtest).
Online score validation
I'm not sure those are interesting, so I won't enter too much into the details. However, the result is a faster release process and a quicker verification and revalidation process of the online score.

Scores are crucial for the player's trust; players must know that the scores they see are legit and feel they are in control to achieve (or not) those scores too. So work will continue to be spent on that front.

The score can now be recalculated in under 2 hours before it was 8 hours. The process is less error-prone, too, as more parts were automatized.
I still have work to do on that front, but hey, that's cool (at least for me!)

Changelog:

• MI Admin tool faster validation;
  
• MI Splitting into projects, main/demo/admin, tests are back, and server too. Mainly files moving around;
  
• MI Depot files updated for splitted release process;
  
• MI Admin tools ++ (revalidation, orphan score/submission, sync scores/submissions, statistics, comparers and bests);
  

[h2]Quality Of Life, Bug, and Crash fixes list[/h2]

Release is still recent, naturally, those past weeks were focused on fixes and improvements.

Changelog:

• GRD 16-64bit Adder, hard grades;
  
• PERF Ctrl A Large optim;
  
• PERF sub 1s on large block selection;
  
• NEW Experiment 200% ui scale (not very useable atm);
  
• UX Focus text input on add readout menu showing up;
  
• UX no slots switch action from the library and a limited set of tutos have slots enable;
  
• UX Replacing historic Shift to Ctrl to build AND select/delete/ up;
  
• MI wrong key binding in help;
  
• FIX Moving input/outputs in between steps take 2;
  
• FIX crash on selected block indicator;
  
• FIX shifting channel pad exploit;
  
• FIX Moving input on pause exploit;
  
• FIX overlapping Helper in Tuto;
  
• FIX Correct interact binding for terminals;
  
• FIX Terminals texture getting truncated;
  

Looking Ahead
I intend to return to a creative place now. There is still the random validation and other improvements to be made, but it's time to do new stuff!

Your feedback, suggestions, and comments are not just important; they're the lifeblood of this game. We value your input and encourage you to join our Discord server to share your thoughts and ideas!

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

FIX Moving input on pause exploit;
PERF Ctrl A large optim;
MI wrong key binding in help;

Greetings, Hard Chip players!

Hard Chip has been released for a little over 2 weeks now. How did it go? Was it an absolute catastrophe or an explosive success? The response is simple: neither, and it is excellent.


Why not explosive? Hard Chip is a unique early-access niche game; that's a given. Not all players can be reached as widely as other high-profile games. Not only that, but you must earn your reputation in this genre by showing something great for a long time. So, Hard Chip is relatively unknown today, and only a curious set of players know about it.


Why not a catastrophe? Even though I get a challenging quantity of positive and constructive feedback, it is still manageable. This feedback citing HC's good points enthusiastically and addressing HC's weaknesses with care is crucial. Feedback is still, to this day, the most efficient way of improving the game!


So many thanks to the thousands of new players who got interested in Hard Chip and have taken up the challenge of building incredible chips! 🙏

Now, let's cover what changed from one week before the release to this Friday. From 0.1.6.50 to 0.1.6.61. Once more, many things happened, and that would make for a long post. Let's focus on three points:



[h2]1. UPDATED Grades & Graphs[/h2]

"BVTM" (Block/Volume/Tick/Mos) graphs and grades are central. They aim to "make sure the provided solution will be highly reusable throughout Hard Chip". After all, each stage relies heavily on previous stages, so the shape of your first NAND gate will increasingly impact each passing stage.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Introducing, at the bottom, "Bests BVTM buttons"! Bests are personal records on a specific BVTM metric. BVTM buttons will get the grade color in that metric. Hover a specific BVTM button to show the full report when you scored that record. Finally, click on it to see and compare the best solution and your current solution.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
In the Blueprints mode, you can now get "Bests" back as a blueprint, so four blueprints per stage. Never been easier to reuse your best NANDs.

Graphs now discard solutions that aren't in the 50% percentile in at least one metric. Only showing the most valuable data to players!

Graphs and grades will continue to evolve. One of the most prominent issues is insufficient steps past the Streamlined grade. If you got your gates stages Advanced grade, you can easily get your Advanced in later stages. But the next grade, "Masterpiece," is almost unobtainable.

Changelog:

• GRD Graphs take only 50% of best submissions in at least one metric;
  
• NEW Bests can be reused from the Blueprints mode;
  
• NEW Copy ghost;
  
• NEW Show BVTM buttons to emphasize compare feature in the perf report;
  
• NEW Photomode accessible from the Toolbox;
  
• UI Performance report UI tweaking;
  
• MI Photomode read grades from previous or current depending on the context;
  
• MI Perf report accessible without resubmitting the solution;
  

[h2]2. UPDATED Input/Output picking location improved[/h2]

If you played past the gate stages, you know that Input/Output picking a location was a pain. Popping in and out of existence while switching slots, reloading, and at other inconvenient moments. It was even possible to make them misbehave and place them in interesting positions (it was almost a game in itself). All this is a thing of the past; this part of the game has been rewritten! Be gone, nasty bugs!



Changelog:

• FIX Auto input picking improved (starting and reset conditions);
  
• UX Readout follows the newly picked position;
  
• MI Binding for increase/decrease input/output bits placement;
  
• FIX Fast input placement exploit;
  
• FIX Auto input picking behavior improved;
  
• FIX moving inputs/outputs didn't reset validation;
  

[h2]3. NEW Keybindings and FOV settings[/h2]

You'd think Keybindings are a must, but they were added only 2 weeks ago! Before that, they were static.



A new highly requested feature: the FOV (field of view) setting. I was wondering about the need for this. But after adding it, I must admit this isn't trivial for quite some people. Feedback is crucial; this is an example of how Hard Chip follows it and gets better thanks to it.

Example of fov 65 and 80

Changelog:

• NEW Key bindings are used everywhere with some exceptions;
  
• NEW FOV settings for first-person and editor cam;
  
• MI Default FP FOV to 65;
  
• MI Assert valid settings from settings.txt and fallbacks settings;
  
• FIX Banning permanent keys for IME with Japanese input.
  
• FIX OemAuto, OemEnlW, Attn, and Zoom key are permanently banned;
  
• MI Indicating banned keys in settings (for ref);
  
• FIX Assignable twice a keybinding in some cases;
  
• FIX Reset UI Scale without restart on reset;
  
• MI Interact bindable;
  
• UX New Next/Previous Slots keybindings;
  

[h2]Quality Of Life, Bug, and Crash fixes list[/h2]

Release means many more players play, and so many more bugs are found. Naturally, those past 2 weeks were focused on fixes and improvements.
Changelog:

• GRD AOI21 initial grades;
  
• FIX Repair bank2 when already repaired!;
  
• FIX Edit save exploit for volume-related Stages;
  
• FIX Crossed shaped mos;
  
• FIX Hide validator summary when editing a blueprint;
  
• FIX duplication of UI when editing multiple blueprints in a row;
  
• UX Delete blueprint button from the editor directly (no need to go back to the main menu);
  
• FIX Crash when spamming delete then add;
  
• FIX Crash when placing block into infinity;
  
• FIX Compacting the inverted showing the BVTM buttons;
  
• GRD Arc trick is cool but not in NAND/NOR;
  
• GRD AND Cheese workaround;
  
• GRD Potential cheese fix on byte adder;
  
• FIX wrong dissipation value impacting ticks score;
  
• FIX Next slot going from s3 to s0 instead of s4;
  
• FIX Voxel rebuild crash;
  
• FIX Black screen on 100 mouse sensitivity;
  
• UX Indicating Byte Adder Chip to unlock Bonus levels;
  
• FIX Crash at the end of chapter one when leaving the terminal before the end;
  
• FIX Crash handling when save fails;
  
• FIX Gimbal anti-lock wrong settings when out the editor looking down;
  
• GRD NOR Gate truth table order to favor the same layout as NAND;
  
• GRD NOR 4mos gets Reduced++;
  
• HX Help section for optimizing metrics;
  
• FIX Loaded state wasn't propagated!
  
• FIX Not registering ESC characters on terminals;
  
• FIX Stackable mos bug;
  
• FIX Drag place mos blocks;
  
• NEW Welcome modal;
  
• NEW Tip during tutos: How do you build up, rotate, and cuboid select/delete
  
• SX "modelchip" instead of "start";
  
• CX Signed tuto with unremovable input;
  
• MI Help grading system;
  
• UX Helpers move between spots;
  
• UX Helpers doesn't point to a UI element anymore;
  
• SX End of chapter modal;
  
• CX Help on Signed number tuto;
  
• UX Alignment issues on Signed number tuto;
  
• UX Checkmark takes the color of the grade in the perf report;
  
• UX Background in Bonus screen when coming back from a level;
  
• UX Bonus levels sequence revised unlockable in order;
  
• FIX Align helpers z depth issue;
  
• Inputs/Outputs are closer to avoid being cropped by the screen for all tutos;
  
• FIX Renderer random crash on expected values;
  
• MI Crash handling improvements;
  
• FIX Lonely channel exploit;
  
• FIX Translation speed regression in the editor;
  

Looking Ahead
I intend to return to a creative place after fixing the last few bad things in the main branch. Those are last state floating gate, random validation, and faster submission revalidation! Join the Discord server to know more!

Your feedback, suggestions, and comments are not just important; they're the lifeblood of this game. We value your input and encourage you to join our Discord server to share your thoughts and ideas!

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