what is it?
The SquareFlame Level Editor was a custom tool made in unity where you can setup, create, edit, play and save levels for games. Every save is a new file for the date and time which can be loaded wen needed in case you ever need to go back. The saves contained JSON data which, when used with our SquareFlame JSON level importer tool allowed you to load dates into a Unity file ready to build and test.
why we did it?
A big part of game development is testing and creating multiple levels, for example for a platformer game. As you test and play through levels you will need to update and tweak areas to make it more playable for users and give off a positive player experience.
Our clients sometimes want to create the level themselves, Naturally Unity is a great development tool, but because it is so open the process for inexperienced users can be slow. What the level editor does is restrict what the users can do reducing what the user needs to know and intuitively allowing them to quickly create levels for their game without having the experience we do working in Unity.
the tools we used
Unity
We used Unity to create the tool, as we are familiar with the engine it easily allowed us to implement all the features we desired.
JSON
We use JSON for savign and loading the level files, it allows us to easily be able to read and process the files when needed and is relatively simple to use.
what it features
The SquareFlame editor has numerous features which help speed up the development process.
Create multiple files
Create and edit multiple levels, each can be created with settings such as level size/ world type and name.
Saving and Loading
Every time you save a new file is created with the date and time, these files can be easily found in the saves folder.
Multiple world types
you can customize the world type so different tile sets are used for different types such as grassy or lava worlds.
Intuitive editing
Left click and drag to place over an area, right click to delete. With toggle options allowing you to delete only the current tile type or everything.
Special tiles
Specials tiles have their own edit menu for example cannons can be placed and rotated so they fire in a specific direction. And moving tiles can have their destination set.
JSON save data
Saved files contain the JSON for every tile type, allowing you to load it into builds you want. Along with being easy to read.
how it looks
