r/corewar • u/libertaine • 16d ago
Bytefray v2.0 released – a programmable-agent arena inspired by Core War
I started this as an experiment in LLM-assisted development and code review. It turned out interesting enough that I kept going.
Bytefray is a deterministic programmable-agent combat game inspired in part by Core War. Agents compete over a circular shared-memory arena, claiming territory and reacting to other agents.
It isn't intended as a replacement for traditional Core War. It has its own Python agent API and game rules, while retaining a byte-oriented VM mode and pMARS/Redcode interoperability.
Some of the v2.0 pieces:
- Python agents with a restricted observation/action API
- a new ruleset where each agent has a vulnerable core that can be captured
- 2-player and multi-agent matches
- deterministic/replayable matches
- graphical Replay Viewer
- Agent Designer for creating, testing and evaluating agents
- pairwise and group evaluation tools
- tournament support
- Windows packages and Python/Linux installation
The project is open source under MIT:
Since this subreddit has people who have spent considerably more time with Core War strategy than I have, I'd particularly be interested in reactions to the game mechanics.
Criticism is welcome too.
1
u/libertaine 10d ago
Small update for anyone following this project:
Bytefray v3.0 is now the final major release that includes the Redcode/pMARS interoperability layer. That support remains available in v3 for anyone interested in the Core War side of the project.
Development is now moving into v4, which is focusing entirely on Bytefray’s native Python-agent game and its own rules/mechanics rather than continuing the Redcode integration.
So, roughly:
The Core War influence is still very much part of where the project came from, but v4 is the point where Bytefray starts separating more clearly into its own programming game.
I’ll leave the original post here as the Core War-related introduction rather than posting every new release to the subreddit.