Maybe... I'll go to the beach (demo)

Maybe... I'll go to the beach is a pixel-art puzzle game by bilge about spatial programming – programming by arranging things in space instead of typing code. The screen is split in two: on the left you build a program by placing objects on a grid, and on the right you watch that program run on the level. Each object setup works as a condition and an action – "when the grid looks like this, change it to that" – so the solution is a small set of rewrite rules. The free browser demo released on itch.io in early October 2026 contains 10 levels; the developer plans 50+ open-ended puzzles for the full game and is asking demo players for feedback.

Press the play button above and then "Run game" on itch.io; it runs in the browser with nothing to install. Look at the level on the right side first and work out what has to change for it to be solved. Then use the left side to place objects on the grid that describe a pattern to look for and what it should become. Start the program and watch it step through the level. If it doesn't reach the goal, adjust your rules and run it again. The game doesn't publish a control list on its page, so follow the on-screen hints in the first level – it's a mouse-driven puzzle game.

If you've played programming puzzlers that use visual rules instead of code, the idea will feel familiar. The developer names cellular automata, TodePond's CellPond and mxgmn's MarkovJunior as inspirations – all systems where simple local rules, applied over and over, produce bigger behaviour. The puzzles are open-ended, so there is usually more than one working program, and part of the fun is finding a shorter or cleverer one.

Think in small steps: one rule that moves something by one tile, repeated, is often easier than one big rule. Run your program early and often – watching where it goes wrong tells you more than staring at the grid. When two rules fight, try changing which situation each one reacts to rather than adding more rules. And if a level feels stuck, describe in words what should happen to a single tile; that sentence is usually the rule you need.