Tilemap Town is a multiplayer game/platform where you can build maps with your friends and roleplay and chat in the worlds you have created. It takes inspiration from BYOND "building games" that used to be popular long ago, as well as from MUCKs and other text-based platforms.
Currently you can walk around maps and chat, and place/remove tiles to build things. You can even make your own map if you register. You can use your own 16x16 (or 32x32) player avatar or use a premade one, and in the future there will be scripting and custom tilesets. Want to help? Get in touch!
Come visit the world!
No one is currently online, but you can still have a look around!
If you don't have an account, don't enter in a password. Once you're in you can register an account, though it's not needed to explore or build. There's a bunch of stuff to explore, and you can add your own mark to the world if you like.
The HTML5 client will also work offline, if you just want to mess around on your own on a temporary map.
In Tilemap Town, you can wander around a top-down 2D pixel art world, and you can play as any character you like, as long as you can draw or find a 32x32 sprite of them! There is support for multiple directions and simple animation, and there are some templates intended to help with this. The game picks up on how many frames and directions there are from the size of the image you use, so if you fill in your character's frames in the right places you're all set.
In the world, you can place tiles onto a map with other players to collaboratively make a map together, or if you register then you can even create your own map. You can restrict building to yourself only, limit entry to specific users, and have a private space if you would like one.
Features in more detail:There is an official server that's been running since 2017, and it's not especially lively but there is quite a lot to explore. You're welcome to come visit and check it out, and even leave your own mark on the world by building something nice if you like. The official server is the default one on the web client!
The community is pro-LGBT+ and is meant to be a safe space to hang out. Be kind to the other people you meet here.
There's also a small Discord server for Tilemap Town and other projects I work on, though keep in mind that it is meant to be a SFW environment for adults. You can chat with other people interested in Tilemap Town, and plan out meetups. You can also get updates about what's been going on through the Tilemap Town blog, which has RSS and Atom feeds available.
If you prefer forums, there is space for Tilemap Town discussion here!
The official server is intended to be a SFW furry roleplay space, like MUCKs usually are, but you're welcome to just hang out and chat if that's more your thing! I think it would be interesting to really embrace the nature of the platform, and treat it in-character as a digital world where it's especially easy to shape the land to your wishes and build things.
The world is sort of a crossroads where characters from lots of other worlds meet up, sometimes because they had to leave home for whatever reason and needed a place to go, like Traverse Town. Fantasy elements and magic are encouraged too, and the tone is supposed to be lighthearted.
Tilemap Town is an open source project, and you can find the web client, server, and documentation on GitHub. Anyone can host their own server or make their own client, or customize the official server or client to their liking. It could even be a good head start if you're trying to make your own online game.
The server is written in Python, so it's a lot easier to extend and change than the old MUCK codebases from the 90s. The database is SQLite so there's no setup, and you can use preexisting tools to browse and interface with the database.
Tilemap Town is designed with making your own clients and bots in mind, and that's encouraged! The protocol is built on top of WebSockets and JSON, which most languages should be able to use without too much trouble, and there's advice in the documentation about what a useful subset of the protocol would be. It's designed with the idea of progressive enhancement and is meant to work well with a minimal client, while allowing more advanced clients to have access to fancy features.
In a way, Tilemap Town is sort of like IRC, in that it's decentralized and easy to connect to and interface with, but its design incorporates some modern features and leaves room for things like metadata and longer messages without needing that stuff to be in the form of extensions.
There's also a simple HTTP API you can hit to find out some basic information about who's currently online. The official server has its API exposed here.
(You can opt out of showing up on this with /userflags add hide_api)