Tile World Documentation

Tile Bitmap Format

There are three different formats that the tile image bitmap can use. (The program automatically determines which one is being used by examining the dimensions of the bitmap.) They are referred to here as the small format, the large format, and the masked format.


The masked format is essentially the same one that is used by the original MS program. In fact, anyone with a copy of the original program and a resource editor can extract the bitmap from the Windows executable and use it with Tile World directly. The tiles are laid out in a 13x16 grid. The first four columns of the bitmap are:

Empty Clone Block S Overlay Buffer Wall Southeast Wall Clone Block E Thief Clone Machine IC Chip Force Floor N Socket Random Force Water Force Floor E Green Button Water Splash Fire Force Floor W Red Button Burned Chip Hidden Wall (p) Exit Toggle Wall Bombed Chip Wall North Blue Door Toggle Floor Bomb Explosion Wall West Red Door Brown Button Entity Explosion Wall South Green Door Blue Button Empty (unused) Wall East Yellow Door Teleport Exited Chip Block Ice Wall SE Bomb Extra Exit #1 Dirt Ice Wall SW Bear Trap Extra Exit #2 Ice Ice Wall NW Hidden Wall (t) Chip Swimming N Force Floor S Ice Wall NE Gravel Chip Swimming W Clone Block N Blue Wall (f) Popup Wall Chip Swimming S Clone Block W Blue Wall (r) Hint Button Chip Swimming E

(See below for an explanation regarding the tile names.)

The next three columns contain the following tiles:

Bug N Glider N Paramecium N Bug W Glider W Paramecium W Bug S Glider S Paramecium S Bug E Glider E Paramecium E Fireball N Teeth N Blue Key Fireball W Teeth W Red Key Fireball S Teeth S Green Key Fireball E Teeth E Yellow Key Ball N Walker N Water Boots Ball W Walker W Fire Boots Ball S Walker S Ice Boots Ball E Walker E Force Boots Tank N Blob N Chip N Tank W Blob W Chip W Tank S Blob S Chip S Tank E Blob E Chip E

Each of these tiles are drawn with an empty tile in the background. The next three columns repeat the images of the previous three columns, but with a pure white background instead. The last three columns then have the "masks" for these images. The mask images are monochrome, with black used for the background and white used for the figure. When the program is displaying a creature, a key, or a pair of boots, it uses a tile from columns 4-6 if the item is upon an empty tile. Otherwise, it uses the image from columns 7-9, coupled with the mask from columns 10-12, to combine the image with the proper floor tile image.


The small format is an abbreviated layout of the masked format. The tiles are laid out in a 7x16 grid. The first four columns are the same as with the masked format. The remaining three columns contain the creatures, boots, and keys (again, as with the small format) with a solid background of magenta pixels (RGB=255,0,255). When the bitmap is read by Tile World, all magenta pixels in the will be made transparent. (Magenta pixels in the first four columns will not be altered.) If you wish to use magenta in any of these tiles (e.g., for the balls), then you will have to use one of the other formats instead.


The large format is the only format that permits inclusion of animated tiles. This format has a less rigid layout. Tiles are arranged in rows instead of columns. The tiles are extracted from the bitmap in reading order -- scanning from left-to-right, top-to-bottom. The rows do not have to have a specific width.

A one-pixel-high horizontal line is above each row of tiles. The pixels in this line indicate the divisions between tiles in the row. There is also a one-pixel-wide vertical line at the left edge of the bitmap, which is used to indicate the placement of the rows.

One color is used throughout the bitmap to indicate transparency. This color can be magenta, or some other color. The program determines which color is used to show transparency by reading the color of the second pixel in the horizontal line above the first row -- pixel (1,0) in x-y coordinates.

The vertical line on the left side of the bitmap has a non-transparent pixel at the position of the horizonal lines above the tiles. All other pixels in the vertical line must be transparent. (The non-transparent pixels can be of different colors.) The horizontal lines have a non-transparent pixel at the rightmost edge of each tile image. (Note that the tile images are separated from each other by a line of pixels vertically, but not horizontally.)

The first tile in the first row is the Empty tile. The Empty tile cannot be animated, nor is it permitted to have any transparent pixels.

The next 49 tiles in the bitmap are the following, in order:

Force Floor N; Force Floor W; Force Floor S; Force Floor E; Random Force; Ice; Ice Wall NW; Ice Wall NE; Ice Wall SW; Ice Wall SE; Gravel; Dirt; Water; Fire; Bomb; Bear Trap; Thief; Hint Button; Blue Button; Green Button; Red Button; Brown Button; Teleport; Wall; Wall N; Wall W; Wall S; Wall E; Wall SE; Blue Wall; Toggle Floor; Toggle Wall; Popup Wall; Clone Machine; Red Door; Blue Door; Yellow Door; Green Door; Socket; Exit; IC Chip; Red Key; Blue Key; Yellow Key; Green Key; Ice Boots; Force Boots; Fire Boots; Water Boots.

(Note that there are no tile images for Hidden Walls. These tiles always use the Empty tile image. Likewise, there is only a single tile used to display a Blue Wall, whether the wall is real or fake.)

The tiles can be broken up across any number of rows, and each row can be of different length.

Any of these tile images can have transparent pixels. Those that do will have their transparent pixels replaced with the corresponding pixels from the Empty tile image. Note that if the bitmap is intended to be used under MS emulation, then the Keys and Boots need to be rendered with transparent backgrounds.

These tiles may also have more than one image supplied for them. Those that do will be animated under Lynx emulation; Tile World will loop through the images in the sequence while the game is playing. (Under MS emulation, only the first image in the sequence will be used.) In this case, the horizontal line above the row will have only one non-transparent pixel, placed at the rightmost edge of the last tile in the sequence. (The tiles of a single animated sequence may NOT be broken up across rows.)

The next 10 tiles following these are:

Extra Exit #1; Extra Exit #2; Burned Chip; Bombed Chip; Exited Chip; Water Splash; Chip Swimming N; Chip Swimming W; Chip Swimming S; Chip Swimming E.

These tiles are only used during the MS emulation. They cannot be animated; each tile can only have a single image. (Transparent pixels are permitted, however, and will be handled as before.) If the bitmap is only intended for use under Lynx emulation, these tiles can be left blank, but they still need to be present.

After these come the following 12 tiles:

Chip; Pushing Chip; Block; Tank; Ball; Glider; Fireball; Walker; Blob; Teeth; Bug; Paramecium.

These tiles will usually have one of a set number of multiple images. Note that some of the possible layouts require rows that are two tiles high. Any given row in the bitmap is of a fixed height all the way across, however. So any change of height between neighboring tile images requires that a new row be started in the bitmap.

The possible "sub-layouts" of the images of these 12 tiles are:

Finally, the bitmap contains three more tile images:

Water Splash; Bomb Explosion; Entity Explosion.

The images for these tiles can either be 1x1 or 3x3 in size. There must be exactly twelve images for each.


The following notes clarify the meanings of the names used to identify the tile images.

The ice wall tiles are identified by their open sides. Thus "Ice Wall NW" indicates an ice tile with thin walls on the S and E sides.

The parenthetical parts of tile names distinguish between tiles that are identical in appearance. Thus, "Blue Wall" is suffixed by "(f)" or "(r)" to indicate "fake" or "real" walls.

The "Overlay Buffer" tile is used by the program as a place to build up images made with one or more transparent tiles. Whatever is actually placed here in the bitmap will only be visible if a level containing this tile is displayed before it is ever used by the program. Normally this tile contains a duplicate of the Empty tile image.

The "Exited Chip" tile and the two "Extra Exit" tiles are used by the original MS program to create the ending sequence shown after completing one of the two final levels. The two "Extra Exit" tiles are used with the main "Exit" tile to create an three-frame animated sequence.

The "Empty (Unused)" tile in the first two formats indicates tiles that are not used by the program, and normally appear the same as Empty.

In the original MS program, the tiles marked "Bomb Explosion" and "Entity Explosion" are actually unused, and contain an Empty tile image. These extra tiles only appear during Lynx emulation. (If your masked format bitmap is only intended to be used under MS emulation, these tiles can be left as Empty.)

The "Water Splash" tile is displayed by the MS game when Chip dies from walking into a water square. The "Burned Chip" tile is displayed by the MS game when Chip dies from walking into a fire square. The "Bombed Chip" tile is not used by the original program unless it is explicitly inserted in a level's map.

Note that the "Water Splash" tile appears twice in the large format. The first occurrence is as a single tile used only for MS emulation, and the second occurrence is an animation sequence used only under Lynx emulation.