Tools
Links to various level editors, moddable games, engines, and art tools
This page contains several lists of links to useful tools, both ancient and modern:
Moddable games (recommended). Short list of moddable games for "serious" level design, with active level design community tied closely to the game industry.
Moddable games (all). A much longer list of known games with modding tools. For various reasons, we don't recommend using these tools.
But in the end, the best tool is whatever is most interesting to you.
We also list general 3D game engines, 2D level editors, 3D art tools, 2D art tools, and planning tools common in the game industry.
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.
This is a list of recommended games with well-supported toolsets and active communities. Download the tools, build levels, ask for help, and share your work.
We generally recommend Quake and Doom since these games have large active communities, free stable multiplatform tools, and proven design.
Game | Editor | Combat | Scripting | Community |
---|---|---|---|---|
Quake 1 | TrenchBroom (guide, video); see Quake resources | static, dynamic (Horde) | ||
Doom | static | code (ACS) | ||
Half-Life 2 | Hammer++ (SDK 2013 SP or Mapbase) | static / scripted | visual (I/O) | |
Counter-Strike 2 | multiplayer | code (VScript2?), visual (Pulse?) | ||
Portal 2 | Puzzle Maker (in-game) | -- | visual | |
Team Fortress 2 | multiplayer | visual (I/O) |
Combat setup
Static: pre-placed enemies, arcade style, "fire and forget"
Scripted: pre-placed enemies with some control over AI behavior
Dynamic: high level "director" manages enemies automatically
Multiplayer: combat centers around other players
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 the tools are too old, unsupported, broken, or painful
OR the tools are seen as "illegitimate" by the industry (even though the industry is wrong)
But your enthusiasm matters most. The best tool is whatever you will actually use to finish projects.
Game | Editor | Combat | Scripting | Community |
---|---|---|---|---|
CoD: MW (2007) | CoD Radiant | static | visual | ??? |
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 | dynamic (zombies) | code (GSC) | ??? | |
Crysis 2 | Sandbox 2 Mod SDK v1.0 | static | ??? | ??? |
static (stealth) | code (DoomScript) | |||
Divinity: Original Sin 2 | Divinity Engine 2 (guides) | scripted (RPG) | ||
Doom 3 | static | code (DoomScript) | ||
DOOM (2016) | static / dynamic (Conductor) | visual (Logic entities) | in-game (SnapHub) | |
DOOM Eternal | static / dynamic (Encounter Manager) | visual (Logic Designer) | ||
Fallout 4 | static | code (Papyrus) | ||
Far Cry 5 | in-game | static | visual | in-game |
F.E.A.R | WorldEdit (FEAR SDK 1.08) (guide) | scripted | ??? | |
Fortnite | multiplayer | visual (Devices) | in-game, Reddit | |
Gears of War | UnrealEd 3 | scripted | visual | ??? |
Half-Life 1 | static | visual (entities) | ||
Halo Infinite | in-game "Forge" (guide) | multiplayer | visual (nodes) | in-game |
Left 4 Dead 2 | Hammer (L4D2 Tools) | dynamic / multiplayer | ||
Metro Exodus | visual (VS) | |||
Minecraft | static / dynamic | code (Java Eclipse+Forge) | ||
in-game (guide) | static | ??? | ||
DarkRadiant (guide) | none | code (DoomScript) | ||
Quake 2 | static | visual (entities) | ||
Quake 3 Arena | multiplayer | visual (entities) | ||
Quake 4 | static | code (.script) | ??? | |
Roblox | all | code (Lua) | ||
Shadowrun | Shadowrun Editor (guide) | scripted (RPG) | code (Gumbo) | |
Skyrim | static | code (Papyrus) | ||
Stalker: Call of Pripyat | X-Ray Engine SDK | dynamic | ??? | ??? |
Thief 1 / Thief Gold / Thief 2 | static (stealth) | |||
Thief 3 | static (stealth) | visual (Actors, Triggerscript) | ||
Unreal Tournament (1999) ("UT99") | multiplayer | visual (Actors) + code (UScript) | ||
Unreal Tournament 4 (dead) | Unreal Engine 4 (guide) | multiplayer | visual (Blueprint) |
3D game engines
Modern all-purpose game engines almost never have good level design tools by default, so you should expect to download and install additional plugins to aid construction.
Engine | 3D tools | Scripting | Community |
---|---|---|---|
C++, Blueprint | |||
It is possible to import TrenchBroom files into Godot, Unity, or Unreal. See TrenchBroom > Compatibility for recommended plugins and importers.
2D level editors
If your engine already has a built-in 2D level editor, then use that. But if you're using a homemade engine or web-based framework, you'll need a standalone 2D level editor.
Unlike the fragmented 3D editor ecosystem, all standalone 2D level editors are open-source, stable, and engine-agnostic with easily parsed JSON file formats. Here we generally recommend Tiled, with its many features and widespread engine support.
2D level editor | Notes |
---|---|
built-in Unity | |
built-in Unreal | Paper2D tilemaps are "experimental" |
built-in Godot | TileMaps; supports autotiles |
most common standalone editor, supports many engines (Unity, Unreal, Godot, and more) | |
more recent tool, streamlined, lots of features | |
not actively developed, but still simple + solid |
3D art tools
In most cases, we don't recommend using 3D modeling tools to build levels. That said, all these tools basically do the same thing, and you should use whatever tools you like using.
We generally recommend Blender, free open source software that now rivals commercial tools. Older artists often prefer Maya or 3DS Max because they already learned it + industry pipelines are tightly coupled. But let's be clear -- Blender is basically the future, and Autodesk's days are numbered.
Tool | Notes |
---|---|
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.
Tool | Notes |
---|---|
expensive photo-editor / painter, has student discount | |
expensive, good for vector maps, has a student discount | |
expensive, popular powerful texture generator tool, free for students | |
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.
Tool | Description |
---|---|
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"
Last updated