unitstiles

Unitstiles are a conceptual building block in grid-based design used to compose maps and levels by combining uniform square units that carry both environmental and entity data. A unitstile pairs a base tile graphic with a small set of data fields describing any unit occupying or associated with that tile, such as terrain type, occupancy, health, or state. In practice, unitstiles are implemented as tiles that can hold metadata about units, allowing editors and engines to render terrain and units in a single grid cell.

Key properties include fixed dimensions (for example, 16x16 or 32x32 pixels), the ability to layer multiple unitstiles to form a final cell, and a serialization-friendly structure to save and load maps. The approach separates terrain from dynamic content, while still enabling tight coupling when needed. In gameplay terms, a unitstile may indicate whether the cell is passable, the presence of an enemy or ally unit, or environmental effects such as fog of war.

Typical workflows involve designers building tile sets with base terrains and optional unit data; level editors placing unitstiles on a grid; and the game engine interpreting the unit data for rendering and logic, including movement, combat, and spawning. Unitstiles are common in tactical RPGs, strategy games, and simulation tools, and are compatible with both 2D and isometric views. See also: tile map, tileset, grid, layering, procedural generation.