{"id":697858,"date":"2020-10-16T10:07:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T17:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-project&#038;p=697858"},"modified":"2020-11-18T17:03:12","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T01:03:12","slug":"microsoft-tilecode","status":"publish","type":"msr-project","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/microsoft-tilecode\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft TileCode"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/microsoft.github.io\/tilecode\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft TileCode<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> is an app for designing, coding, and playing video games directly on low-cost <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/arcade.makecode.com\/\">MakeCode Arcade<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/arcade.makecode.com\/hardware\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gaming handhelds<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, as well as in the web browser. With TileCode, we are using the medium of video games to explore the combination of<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Natural language <\/strong>for informally specifying games goals, rules, and mechanics;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Physical computational models <\/strong>that foreground concepts such as data parallelism, pattern matching, and conflict resolution;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing and debugging<\/strong>\u00a0of programs to establish confidence in their behavior and to refine specifications;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Machine learning <\/strong>to help bridge the gap between natural language and programs, as well as to generate non-player character behavior in games.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Our ultimate goal is to provide a sandbox in which students can express and refine their game ideas, while learning about computation, programming, and machine learning, supported by software engineering practices.<\/p>\n<p>Our starting point is the design of a <em>domain-specific language<\/em> that allows a variety of retro video games to be created via a <em>set of visual rules<\/em>.\u00a0 Most rules are quite simple and can be translated directly into English; 10-15 rules suffice to code a variety of games, as shown in our <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"http:\/\/uist.acm.org\/uist2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UIST 2020<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> paper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/tilecode-creation-of-video-games-on-gaming-handhelds\/\">TileCode: Creation of Video Games on Gaming Handhelds<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During the summer of 2020, <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/ischool.uw.edu\/people\/phd\/profile\/st3f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stefania Druga<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> of the University of Washington designed and ran <em>user studies<\/em> with 15 families in North America to better understand how children talk about the behavior of video games and evaluate how their informal descriptions of video games aided them in the development of TileCode games.\u00a0 A Microsoft Research Webinar about our initial findings will take place on November 18, 2020.<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested in contributing to the project, please send an email to <a href=\"mailto:tilecode@microsoft.com\">tilecode@microsoft.com\u00a0<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Resources<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/microsoft.github.io\/tilecode\/tilecode.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Web app<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/microsoft.github.io\/tilecode\/doc\/manual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Documentation<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/microsoft\/tilecode\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GitHub<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Videos: <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GpWb847x3BQ&list=PLqhXYFYmZ-Vcb-u2GKHlE39dhBXANkZSj&index=17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">30 second overview<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, <a class=\"msr-external-link glyph-append glyph-append-open-in-new-tab glyph-append-xsmall\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OeuL3OxFeUQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5 minute talk<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft TileCode is an app for designing, coding, and playing video games directly on low-cost MakeCode Arcade gaming handhelds, as well as in the web browser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":698851,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"research-area":[13554,13560],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-697858","msr-project","type-msr-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-research-area-human-computer-interaction","msr-research-area-programming-languages-software-engineering","msr-locale-en_us","msr-archive-status-active"],"msr_project_start":"2020-08-20","related-publications":[684834],"related-downloads":[686973],"related-videos":[],"related-groups":[],"related-events":[],"related-opportunities":[],"related-posts":[],"related-articles":[],"tab-content":[],"slides":[],"related-researchers":[{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Thomas Ball","user_id":33895,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"tball"},{"type":"guest","display_name":"Stefania Druga","user_id":698719,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":""},{"type":"guest","display_name":"Shannon Kao","user_id":699103,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":""},{"type":"guest","display_name":"Richard Knoll","user_id":699106,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":""},{"type":"guest","display_name":"Daryl  Zuniga","user_id":699100,"people_section":"Section name 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