June 21, 2026
Ctrl+Alt+What?!
A 3D voxel game engine written in APL
This bizarre block-building game in a niche coding language has commenters fascinated
TLDR: A developer built a 3D block game engine in APL, an obscure programming language better known for looking weird than making games. Commenters were less angry than amused, praising the creator’s honesty, calling the whole thing gloriously unusual, and treating the bugs like part of the charm.
A hobby coder just dropped something that sounds like a dare made at 2 a.m.: a fully 3D block-building game engine written in APL, a famously strange-looking programming language that many outsiders describe as "math symbols went rogue." And instead of pretending it’s polished, the creator basically opened with, yes, it’s experimental, yes, it’s buggy, and yes, it may explode. Honestly? The comments kind of loved that energy.
The strongest reaction was a mix of bewilderment, respect, and nerdy curiosity. One commenter called an APL game engine "indeed an unusual thing" and praised the refreshingly honest readme for not acting like this passion project is the next big gaming revolution. That humble tone seems to have won people over fast. Another hot take was that a voxel world — think Minecraft-style chunky blocks — is actually a perfect showcase for APL, because "the weird-looking part is the notation, not the model." Translation: the game world makes sense even if the code looks like alien hieroglyphics.
The thread also got delightfully chaotic when one commenter jumped in with a shameless plug for their own voxel editor, turning the discussion into a mini indie game talent show. And the unintentional comedy? The readme casually admitting you can’t replay in one session, may hit "syserror 999", and probably has memory leaks "somewhere." That level of honesty didn’t spark outrage — it sparked affection. In a sea of overhyped tech launches, people seemed charmed by a project weird enough to exist and self-aware enough to laugh at itself.
Key Points
- •The project is an experimental and buggy voxel game written in APL, created to test whether APL notation could simplify this kind of development.
- •The article provides gameplay controls, including movement, jumping, camera control, noclip, render info toggling, and block selection.
- •Required dependencies include Dyalog APL 20.0, a C compiler, CMake, and graphics support for Vulkan, DirectX 12, or Metal, plus SDL3-related libraries on macOS.
- •The repository includes platform-specific setup instructions for macOS, Linux, and Windows, as well as guidance for building and installing LSE and launching the game.
- •Known issues include Windows performance regressions, no DirectX12 backend support on Windows, inability to play multiple times in one session, possible syserror 999, and probable memory leaks.