Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
In this talk I'll discuss developing a simple Roguelike in a new tile rewrite-based programming language. Tile rewrites are a way to express changes in state by replacing one arrangement of tiles with another. For example, the player tile "P" moving right onto a blank tile "_" could be represented by replacing the tiles "P _" with "_ P".
Based on the tile rewriting concept, myself and a team of collaborators are developing a new visual game programming language, along with a with an editor and game engine with debugging tools. In this system, the game state is the 2D game board, changes are rewrites of tile patterns, and conditional checks are based on matching tile patterns. Players make choices by selecting from available rewrites. General logic flow is handled by a behavior-tree like language of nodes that succeed or fail based on the result of the nodes they call.
Using this system, we are working on a Roguelike with dungeon generation, exploration, treasure, enemies, and combat. We hope that the visual, direct nature of rewrite rules in the editor and engine could make them a fun and approachable way to develop small tile- and turn-based games.
In this talk I'll discuss developing a simple Roguelike in a new tile rewrite-based programming language. Tile rewrites are a way to express changes in state by replacing one arrangement of tiles with another. For example, the player tile "P" moving right onto a blank tile "_" could be represented by replacing the tiles "P _" with "_ P".
Based on the tile rewriting concept, myself and a team of collaborators are developing a new visual game programming language, along with a with an editor and game engine with debugging tools. In this system, the game state is the 2D game board, changes are rewrites of tile patterns, and conditional checks are based on matching tile patterns. Players make choices by selecting from available rewrites. General logic flow is handled by a behavior-tree like language of nodes that succeed or fail based on the result of the nodes they call.
Using this system, we are working on a Roguelike with dungeon generation, exploration, treasure, enemies, and combat. We hope that the visual, direct nature of rewrite rules in the editor and engine could make them a fun and approachable way to develop small tile- and turn-based games.
