DJC2 - Day 1 - Creating Video Games
What Are Tiles in Video Games?
The secret behind massive maps: building complex worlds from tiny pieces.
In almost every 2D video game, from 8-bit classics to modern indies, backgrounds aren’t drawn as a whole. They’re assembled. Tiles (or tiled graphics) are small visual pieces that, when repeated in patterns, make it possible to build forests, cities, dungeons, and entire universes with incredible efficiency.
They’re the technique that allows a game to have:
- huge maps without using much memory,
- complex levels without drawing every piece manually,
- and fast iteration without redoing all the artwork.
The idea is powerful: if you master tiles, you can build unlimited worlds from a very small set of graphics.
Here’s a typical example of a tileset represented as a grid:
[grass][grass][water][water]
[grass][tree ][tree ][water]
[path ][path ][path ][grass]
Each square (grass, tree, path, water) is a tile, and the entire collection is known as a tileset.
Why Are Tiles Used?
- They allow massive levels without increasing game size.
- They speed up environment creation.
- They ensure visual consistency across all areas.
- They enable repetitive animations with minimal effort.
- They work seamlessly with engines like Godot, Unity, GameMaker, and more.
Plus, tools like Tiled Map Editor let you design maps visually, export them to different engines, and automate layers, collisions, and events.
In my current workflow, tiles allow me to:
- Build functional prototypes in minutes.
- Maintain a consistent visual style.
- Generate maps automatically through scripts.
- Reuse a single tileset for entirely different levels.
Versions
v0.1.0
- What Are Tiles in Video Games?