What do you use for level editing in your projects?

serengeor · Post by **serengeor** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:08 pm

So I'm now having hard time on finding working editor that would suite my needs.
I'm currently working on a marble game as my first project, and I need an editor that would be suitable for outdoor levels, sort of similar to the ones ODE marble racers have, tough I would like to be able to move vertices.
Also I would like to have separate objects in my map, like with quake3 maps we have entities, because I would like to add triggers to level from the editor itself.

So what tools do you use, and what could you advise to me?

PS. My OS is ubuntu and writing my own editor should be the last resort.

stefbuet · Post by **stefbuet** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:51 pm

For my marble game (:D), I've implemented (and I'm still) an ingame lvl editor gamer-friendly where they can load & move blocks, lights, global properties, bonus, add some scripts and other things like that. Each block is made of some 3D objects, physic properties, materials, scripts which are contained in files (1 per object). I create my 3D models with 3Dsmax and for now block files are created by hand with a txt editor but I'll maybe create an external app (not designed to gamers) to create those blocks faster.

freetimecoder · Post by **freetimecoder** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:59 pm

I use Blender+Gimp for 3d Content, for everything else I code my own editor dependant on the project/language/engine etc because I got tired of trying to find world editors that fit my demands. Real good editors come with engines like Unreal or Source, but that's not my league

At first I was repelled by the thought of investing time into writing own editors as well, but it pays of more than trying to hack something to make it work with whatever the chosen editor exports.

+ If you have a basis you can expand or reuse much of the code for future project.

greetings

Radikalizm · Post by **Radikalizm** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:15 pm

freetimecoder wrote:At first I was repelled by the thought of investing time into writing own editors as well, but it pays of more than trying to hack something to make it work with whatever the chosen editor exports.

This

Writing editors can eat up some of your time, but it's completely worth it in the end if your game actually needs a complete editor

serengeor · Post by **serengeor** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:22 pm

Thank you guys, for you answers, tough I think I got netradiant working after all.
I would like to write a level editor of my own but I don't really have time right now for this, but in the future maybe I'll try to do so

fmx · Post by **fmx** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:52 pm

Radikalizm wrote:
freetimecoder wrote:At first I was repelled by the thought of investing time into writing own editors as well, but it pays of more than trying to hack something to make it work with whatever the chosen editor exports.
This

Writing editors can eat up some of your time, but it's completely worth it in the end if your game actually needs a complete editor

Ditto that
I use Max mainly to model and design the levels, but I use my own Editor to prepare all the game specific stuff and export it all out to an optimized custom format

you could try using irrEdit instead of writing your own editor, although it might cause problems in the long run

serengeor · Post by **serengeor** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:39 am

Hm, and again I have to say that I don't have that much time right now, and I don't like irredit, as it doesn't have vertex editing as I remember.

I'll leave level editor writing for maybe some next project if there will be one.
NetRadiant is exactly what I needed for this project, so wasting my time on writing a level editor that would do the same stuff like it does would be reinventing the wheel I guess.