The 3D Handbook
Part 2 — Tools The software landscapePage 37 of 248 on the reading route
Reference

Level editors and blockout tools

A neutral directory of in-engine blockout tools, brush-based editors and modding editors used to build and test level layouts before final art.

toolslevel-designblockout

A level editor is where you build the playable space: walls, floors, cover and routes, usually as grey blockout geometry first. Some editors live inside a game engine; others are standalone tools for a specific game or engine family.

For the design side, see level design and environment art and layout and flow. For engines in general, see game engines; for licence types, see software licensing explained.

#In-engine blockout tools

Tool Engine Best known for Licence / status Price (as of October 2026)
Geometry Brushes (BSP) Unreal Engine Additive and subtractive volumes for quickly blocking out a level shell (Epic Developer Community) Built in; Epic recommends replacing them with Static Meshes as the level matures Included
Modeling Mode Unreal Engine "Creating, sculpting, and editing 3D geometry directly in Unreal Engine", including primitives, extrusion and UVs (Epic Developer Community) Built in; Beta Included
ProBuilder Unity "Build, edit, and texture custom geometry in Unity" (Unity Manual); Unity pitches it for grey-boxing and prototyping levels (Unity Blog) Unity package Included via Package Manager
Polybrush Unity Brushes that sculpt meshes, paint vertex colours and textures, and scatter Prefabs across a surface (Unity Package Documentation) Unity package, Unity 2018.3 and later; not compatible with Terrains Included via Package Manager
CSG nodes Godot Combining basic shapes into level geometry; "mainly intended for prototyping" (Godot Docs) Built in Included
func_godot Godot 4 Builds Godot scenes from Quake MAP and Valve Map Format files, so you can design in TrenchBroom and play in Godot (GitHub) MIT; a rewrite of the earlier Qodot plug-in Free

#Brush-based editors

Brush editors build levels from convex blocks, the way Quake and Half-Life maps were made. They are still a fast way to learn layout and flow.

Editor Games / engines Best known for Platforms Licence Price (as of October 2026)
TrenchBroom Quake, Quake 2, Hexen 2 (trenchbroom.github.io) "A free (GPLv3+), cross platform level editor for Quake-engine based games" ; the editor most recommended by func_godot (GitHub) Windows 10+, macOS 10.14+, Linux GPLv3+ Free
J.A.C.K. Half-Life, Quake, Quake II, Quake III and mods (Steam) Hammer-style editor "for games with a Quake-style BSP architecture" (Valve Developer Community) Windows, macOS, SteamOS + Linux Free version on the official site; paid Steam version with extra features and fixes US$14.99 on Steam
NetRadiant-custom Quake, Quake 3, Quake Live (QuakeWiki) "An open-source, cross-platform level editor for id Tech based games" Cross-platform Open source Free
Hammer (Source 1) Source-engine games (Valve Developer Community) Building "sealed levels with brushes" that compile to BSP maps — Game's SDK terms Ships with the game or its Authoring Tools
Hammer (Source 2) Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 (Valve Developer Community) Block Tool for blockout shapes, vertex/edge/face editing, clipping and a Displacement Tool for terrain (Valve Developer Community) — Workshop terms Ships in each game's Workshop Tools
Ultimate Doom Builder Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Strife; best with ZDoom-family ports (GitHub) Successor to GZDoom Builder and Doom Builder 2 Windows 7–11; experimental Linux builds GPL-3.0 Free

#Creation platforms with built-in editors

Platform Best known for Platforms Price (as of October 2026)
UEFN Building and publishing games inside Fortnite (Epic Developer Community) PC application See vendor
Roblox Studio Building Roblox experiences (Roblox Creator Hub) Windows and Mac Free
s&box Facepunch's Source 2 platform; ships a modified Hammer that "will be removed in the future" (Valve Developer Community) See game engines See game engines
Minecraft structure blocks Saving a built structure to a file and loading or rotating it elsewhere (Minecraft Wiki) Java and Bedrock (Bedrock offers only save mode via commands) Part of the game; obtained with commands

Many older games shipped their own editors. Wikipedia's list of level editors covers dozens, including Valve Hammer Editor for Source games and the Radiant family used by id Tech and Call of Duty titles (Wikipedia: List of level editors). World of Level Design also keeps a list of level editors you can download and start using (World of Level Design: Recommended Level Design Editors).

#Tile-based 3D editors

These build low-poly scenes by painting 2D tiles onto 3D geometry, a common look for retro and stylised games. See hand-painted and stylised texturing.

Tool Best known for Platforms Licence Price (as of October 2026)
Crocotile 3D "Create 3d models and environments with tiles" (crocotile3d.com) Windows, Mac and Linux via itch.io; also on Steam Paid registration code (version 2.7.4, October 2026); free demo without save or export $29.99 per person
Sprytile Blender add-on "for building tile based low-poly scenes with paint/map editor like tools" (GitHub) Blender (repository describes a port for Blender 2.8) MIT Free

#External blockout

You can also block out in a modeling tool and import the result. SketchUp's plans include web and iPad versions as well as the desktop Pro app (sketchup.trimble.com: SketchUp plans and pricing); see modeling software for SketchUp and other modelers. Check that the import keeps real-world scale and that metrics match your engine's character.

#Further reading and watching

References

  1. Epic Games · Geometry Brush Actors in Unreal Engine · Epic Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  2. Epic Games · Modeling Mode in Unreal Engine · Epic Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  3. Unity Technologies · ProBuilder · Unity Manual, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  4. Unity Technologies · Our first-ever e-book for level designers is here · Unity Blog, 2023 · web · accessed 2026-10-21
  5. Unity Technologies · Polybrush · Unity Package Documentation, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  6. Godot Engine contributors · Prototyping levels with CSG · Godot Docs, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  7. func-godot contributors · func_godot_plugin · GitHub, 2026 · tool · accessed 2026-10-21
  8. TrenchBroom contributors · TrenchBroom · trenchbroom.github.io, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-21
  9. J.A.C.K. developers · J.A.C.K. on Steam · Steam, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-22
  10. Valve Developer Community · J.A.C.K. · Valve Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  11. QuakeWiki contributors · NetRadiant-custom · QuakeWiki, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-21
  12. Valve Developer Community · Hammer · Valve Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  13. Valve Developer Community · Hammer (Source 2) · Valve Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-20
  14. Valve Developer Community · Hammer Overview (Source 2 Level Design) · Valve Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-20
  15. Ultimate Doom Builder contributors · Ultimate Doom Builder · GitHub, 2026 · tool · accessed 2026-10-21
  16. Epic Games · Unreal Editor for Fortnite · Epic Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-20
  17. Roblox · Install Roblox Studio · Roblox Creator Hub, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-20
  18. Valve Developer Community · S&box · Valve Developer Community, 2026 · docs · accessed 2026-10-21
  19. Minecraft Wiki contributors · Structure Block · Minecraft Wiki, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-21
  20. Wikipedia contributors · List of level editors · Wikipedia, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-21
  21. AlexG · Recommended Level Design Editors · World of Level Design, 2014 · article · accessed 2026-10-21
  22. Crocotile 3D · Crocotile 3D · crocotile3d.com, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-22
  23. Sprytile contributors · Sprytile · GitHub, 2026 · tool · accessed 2026-10-21
  24. Trimble · SketchUp plans and pricing · sketchup.trimble.com, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-20

Also consulted

  • QuakeWiki contributors · TrenchBroom · QuakeWiki, 2026 · web · accessed 2026-10-21

Pages that link here

Last updated 2026-10-22