Tools
Links to various level editors, moddable games, engines, and art tools
We list both modern and ancient level design tools:
Modern 3D game engines: recommended tools for common all-purpose engines today
Moddable games (recommended): short list of moddable games for "serious" level design
Moddable games (all): full list of known games with mod tools
also: 2D level editors, 3D art tools, 2D art tools, and planning tools common in the game industry
Modern 3D game engines
Today's game engines rarely include level design tools by default. Expect to get custom plugins.
Moddable games (recommended)
When you mod a game, you get to re-use graphics, sounds, code, and most importantly, core game design and tuning. We strongly recommend learning level design by modding.
We generally recommend Quake and Doom since these games have large active communities, free stable multiplatform tools, and proven design.
Moddable games (all)
These moddable games are NOT part of our recommended list, for one or more reasons:
player or modder community has died off
OR too old, unsupported, broken, or painful
OR seen as "illegitimate" by the industry (even if the industry is wrong)
But your enthusiasm matters most. The best tool is whatever you will actually use to finish projects.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007)
CoD Radiant
static
visual
???
Far Cry 5
in-game
static
visual
in-game
Gears of War
UnrealEd 3
scripted
visual
???
Minecraft
static / dynamic
code (Java Eclipse+Forge)
Stalker: Call of Pripyat
X-Ray Engine SDK
dynamic
???
???
2D level editors
If your engine already has a built-in 2D level editor, probably use that. But if you're using a homemade engine or web-based framework, you'll need a standalone 2D level editor - probably Tiled or LDtk.
built-in Godot
TileMaps; supports autotiles
built-in Unity
built-in Unreal
Paper2D tilemaps? honestly, most wouldn't use Unreal for 2D
more modern standalone editor, streamlined, lots of features with growing engine compatibility
oldest standalone editor, common with lots of features, but probably has less momentum these days
not actively developed, but still simple and solid
3D art tools
We don't recommend using 3D modeling tools to build levels. But you can still do it probably. We generally recommend Blender, free open source software that rivals commercial tools. Older devs often prefer Maya or Max because they already know it, but Blender is basically the future.
free and open source; steadily getting more popular in industry with rich feature set
common in games and film, expensive but free for students
common in games and architecture, expensive but free for students
not often used in games but perfectly usable, free for students
2D art tools
Good 2D art tools are vital for drawing level layouts and diagrams, and essential for making your own graphics and textures. Some of these tools even run online in your browser for free.
expensive photo-editor / painter
expensive, good for vector maps
expensive, popular powerful texture generator tool
cheap Photoshop / Illustrator alternative
free ad-supported Photoshop clone, in-browser (!)
free open source Photoshop alternative
free open source Photoshop alternative
free old school Photoshop alt with bad name
cheap popular pixel art painting tool
free open source Illustrator alternative
free online Illustrator alternative, runs in browser
free (PWYW) moodboard tool / reference image manager
free open source moodboard manager with PureRef-like drag and drop
Planning tools
Good note-taking and writing tools can help you write design documentation, plan a project, track work tasks, and collaborate with others.
a notebook (real-life, paper)
many designers keep personal notebooks; think of it as a portable always-on browser tab
popular freemium service for collaborative whiteboarding / "mindmap" / planning
popular freemium service for notes, lists, wikis, documentation
popular freemium service for "kanban" style project planning in games
cheap ($50) writing tool popular among authors, rich outlining features
free open-source lightweight personal wiki that lives in a single .HTML file on your device
Google Docs
sometimes it's best to keep it simple
To review...
for learning 3D level design fundamentals, we recommend modding Quake or Doom
for making 2D levels, we recommend Tiled
for general 3D art, we recommend Blender
for general 2D art, the world still uses Photoshop
for planning, we recommend keeping an IRL paper notebook for personal sketches, notes, etc.
but anyway, you should use whatever you feel good about, because making and finishing stuff is more important than social consensus
the ultimate level design tool is "giving a shit"
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