TappyTile

Build small. Make worlds.

TappyTile brings tile-based modeling and pixel-art texturing into Blender. Build castle courtyards, dungeons, small towns, and other low-poly worlds from a 2D tileset.

Aseprite Live — included for every user

Paint in Aseprite and see completed strokes, undo/redo, layer changes and frame selections update your Blender texture automatically. Exact pixel dimensions, transparency and existing UV mapping stay intact.

One Blender ZIP install. Then click Edit in Aseprite. TappyTile finds Aseprite, prepares your texture, starts its bundled bridge and connects live updates automatically. No separate bridge download, script copying or scripts-folder setup.

Aseprite 1.3+ is required separately. Its first-run file-access prompt may appear; custom installations can be selected once in TappyTile preferences. The bridge checks every 100 ms on each side and updates after completed edits. Busy applications can take longer. Sync runs from Aseprite to Blender; animation frame preview is not frame-perfect playback.

Three tools, one tileset

• Build: Place textured faces on your work plane.
• Paint: Map tiles onto existing faces, with rotation, flipping and alignment controls.
• Fill: Fill a bounded area with your selected tile.
• Set tile size, texture padding and world pixel density.
• Pick tiles from existing faces and work with multiple material grids.

Included

• TappyTile 1.3.2 add-on ZIP, with Python source.
• Bundled Aseprite Live bridge with automatic launch and linking.
• Original medieval starter tileset: sixteen 16 × 16 pixel tiles.
• Editable castle courtyard Blender project with the texture packed inside.
• Quick-start and Aseprite Live guides, credits and licenses.

Requirements and installation

Requires Blender 5.2 or later. Aseprite Live requires Aseprite 1.3 or later. Blender and Aseprite are not included. Tested with Blender 5.2.2 and Aseprite 1.3.18.5 on macOS Apple Silicon/Metal. Windows, Linux and Intel Mac have not yet been runtime-tested; compatibility with later Blender versions is not guaranteed.

Disable any older edition first. In Blender Preferences → Add-ons → Install from Disk, select the TappyTile ZIP and enable TappyTile. Keep the ZIP zipped. Restart Blender after replacing an older installation. Select your mesh and tileset, open TappyTile → Aseprite Live, and click Edit in Aseprite.

Use the optional Source field for an existing layered .aseprite file. Otherwise, TappyTile creates an editable copy of the current tileset. Save your layered source separately; the latest live PNG is packed into your saved Blender project.

Windows, macOS and Linux

One ZIP contains the shared add-on and bridge. Version 1.3.2 adds custom Steam library discovery, writable-folder fallback, project-relative live links and automatic retries for temporarily locked texture files. Windows, Linux and Intel Mac still need native runtime testing. Sandboxed Linux installations may need manual linking or a shared accessible folder; see the included docs/PLATFORM-SUPPORT.md guide.

Commercial edition and licensing

TappyTile is a paid commercial edition by Tappy Games LLC. Use the separate starter assets in personal and commercial end products. Under the commercial asset license, standalone resale, redistribution as asset packs, and sharing as templates are prohibited. Product branding is reserved to Tappy Games to the extent applicable rights exist.

The combined Blender add-on is GPL-3.0-or-later, with upstream MIT and RxPY Apache 2.0 notices preserved. Python source, full commercial asset terms and third-party notices are included. These terms do not revoke earlier license grants, including the MIT permissions supplied with version 1.2.0.

This is a maintained edition of a community tile-modeling add-on. Original authors and contributors are acknowledged in the included credits and license notices.

Version 1.3.2

This update improves cross-platform paths and file handling. Aseprite Live is part of the standard install, with one-click editor launch, automatic texture linking, exact RGBA updates, packed-file persistence and a manual link option for existing Aseprite sessions. Includes the Blender 5.2 renderer, saved-project migration and Build/Paint/Fill fixes.

Support · Tappy Games LLC

Cover: promotional illustration created with AI assistance. Example image: an actual Blender render of the included editable starter project. AI assistance was also used for code and documentation.