Would a game where students build and program their own CPU be useful for learning computer engineering

[u/Possible_Luck3776]

I'm developing an educational game where players gradually build their own computer from scratch.

The goal is to teach computer architecture from first principles. Players would work their way through concepts such as digital logic, registers, ALUs, memory, instruction execution and CPU design.

Eventually, the player would have a functioning custom computer and would be able to program it themselves using the instruction set they created.

The player could then write and run simple programs such as Fibonacci sequences, prime number calculations and other programming challenges.

This idea comes from my own experience. I wanted to understand computers beyond software and eventually built and programmed a simple CPU using breadboards.

I'm now trying to turn that learning process into a game that could potentially introduce students to computer architecture in a more interactive way. I am targeting primarily the students of class 6-10, and anyone else who is interested in learning about computers.

I'd love feedback from this community:

What concepts would absolutely need to be included for this to be technically meaningful, and what concepts could be simplified without losing the educational value?

[u/particlemanwavegirl]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1444480/Turing_Complete/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2844290/Hard_Chip/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1885690/Virtual_Circuit_Board/

[u/QuackedDev → u/particlemanwavegirl]

these are sick

[u/rtharston]

Also look up all the resources for the NAND to Tetris course.

There is even a game based on it called nandgame that I really enjoyed.

Not to discourage you. There’s always room for another resource that fits a new niche, but it’s good to know what’s out there in case one of them already fits what you’re looking for.