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The developers of the space game SEEDS have published details about PasRISCV, their in-house RISC-V emulator, which runs a Linux system and native Linux programs inside the game. They say the Object Pascal project and its companion frontend are open source under the zlib license; performance, platform support and release timing for SEEDS are not specified in the report.
The developers of SEEDS, a space game, have detailed an in-game RISC-V emulator that boots Linux and runs native Linux applications used as player-facing tools. The team says the emulator, PasRISCV, and its companion frontend are available as free, open-source software under the permissive zlib license.
According to the developers’ October 3 report, SEEDS runs 64-bit RISC-V ELF programs on an emulated machine, including when the game itself is running on Windows. The Linux environment is based on a modified Alpine Linux 3.23.6 installation and a custom kernel; the developers say a recent unmodified Alpine image also runs. Examples of in-game applications include tools for viewing planetary information and statistics.
PasRISCV emulates a complete virtual machine, rather than only translating Linux userspace programs. The report describes emulated processors and system devices, including display and storage, and lists SMP/MultiHART, RV64GC and RVA23 support, as well as hypervisor, vector and cryptography extensions. The developers say the CPU uses an interpreter combined with a tracing just-in-time compiler. That JIT currently supports x86-64 host systems, and, according to the report, handles about 99% of the instructions encountered by the team.
The Linux guest boots through an OpenSBI-to-U-Boot chain, which lets it load a normal disk image. The developers describe storage options including VirtIO block devices and emulated NVMe, plus read-only disk mounting for system files and separate player-data storage. The game currently displays the guest’s pixels through a framebuffer, with custom game shaders used for visual effects. The emulator also supports several virtual audio devices, according to the report.
Linux Tools Inside the Game
PasRISCV gives SEEDS developers a way to run ordinary Linux applications as part of the game’s fictional computer system, rather than building every tool as a conventional game interface. For players, that means the planetary overview and other described utilities can appear as programs running inside the game world, while the game handles the underlying virtual computer.
The public release also makes the work available beyond SEEDS. Developers and hobbyists can inspect or reuse the emulator under its zlib license, subject to the project’s own terms and capabilities. The report describes a technically broad system, but does not provide independent benchmark results or evidence of how the emulator performs across different host machines. The project’s practical value outside the game will depend on its documentation, compatibility and performance in real use.
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From Game Computer to Virtual Machine
The team says the Linux system is already part of the game: when a player starts or loads a game, the emulator begins booting in the background. The virtual machine presents hardware to its guest operating system, allowing a standard Linux kernel to run, rather than merely interpreting selected Linux programs. That approach requires the project to emulate devices as well as RISC-V instructions.
The developers say they chose a RISC-V 64-bit architecture, an open instruction-set standard, for the virtual machine. They describe support for multiple virtual CPU cores, storage, graphics and sound. The report also explains a development benefit: host directories can be shared with the guest through VirtIO-9P or VirtIO-FS, letting developers build tools on the host and access them inside Linux without repeatedly restarting the emulator.
Some features are described as experimental or limited. The report says PasRISCV offers VirtIO GPU support, with experimental 3D/VirGL capability, and that an X server with Motif ran in the virtual machine but was too slow for practical use on most computers. For SEEDS, the team instead uses a simpler framebuffer path that it says works well with the game’s shader effects.
“Even if you’re playing the game on a Windows machine, these ELF binaries are executed on this emulated RISC-V 64-bit system.”
— The SEEDS developers, in the PasRISCV report
open-source RISC-V development board
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Performance and Release Details
The report does not state when SEEDS will be released, which host platforms the game will support, or what performance players should expect on different hardware. Its estimate that the JIT covers about 99% of encountered instructions is the developers’ own account, not an independently reported benchmark; the report does not specify the workload or measurement method behind that figure.
It is also unclear how far PasRISCV has been tested beyond the described Linux images and in-game applications, or what project documentation and contribution processes are available. The developers mention experimental 3D graphics and limited desktop usability, but do not give comparative performance data, a public compatibility matrix or details on planned feature work.
miniature virtual machine for Linux
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Project Use and Game Progress
The developers invite readers to inspect or use PasRISCV and its companion frontend under the zlib license. Their report points readers to the project repository for a fuller list of emulated features. No specific release date, roadmap milestone or next development announcement is included, so the next concrete update will depend on information from the team or changes to the public project.
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Key Questions
What is PasRISCV?
PasRISCV is an emulator written in Object Pascal by the SEEDS development team. It emulates a RISC-V machine that can boot Linux and run programs compiled for that system.
What does the emulator do in SEEDS?
It runs an Alpine Linux-based guest system inside the game. The developers say in-game utilities, including planetary information and statistics tools, are native Linux programs running on the emulated machine.
Can PasRISCV run outside the game?
The developers say PasRISCV and its companion frontend are released as free, open-source software under the zlib license and invite readers to use the code. The report does not detail installation steps or provide a broad compatibility assessment.
Does it run on every computer?
The report says the JIT compiler is currently limited to x86-64 host systems. It does not give a complete list of supported operating systems or host hardware, or describe performance across different machines.
Source: hn
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