Level design is where game mechanics, visuals, and storytelling come together. Great level design provides flow, challenge, and engagement, guiding players intuitively through the world. To build such spaces, developers rely on a mix of in-engine editors and standalone design tools.

Most major engines come with built-in level editors:

• Unreal Engine’s World Editor provides powerful tools for terrain sculpting, object placement, and modular building. It supports world partitioning, LODs, and lighting systems for massive open-world environments.
• Unity’s Scene View lets designers create levels by dragging and dropping game objects, manipulating terrain, and placing prefabs. Unity also supports terrain brushes, NavMesh (for AI pathing), and ProBuilder for custom geometry.
• Godot uses a node-based scene system, making it intuitive to build both 2D and 3D levels with a clear hierarchy.

For tile-based or pixel games, tools like Tiled, LDtk, and Tiled2Unity help design grid-based maps, which can then be imported into engines.

Advanced terrain design may involve software like:

• World Machine – for procedural terrain generation
• Gaea or Terragen – for creating realistic landscapes
• SpeedTree – for populating environments with detailed foliage

Level design software also supports modularity—using reusable assets like walls, stairs, and props to build environments quickly. This is especially useful in games that use procedural level assembly.

Whether crafting tight puzzle spaces or sprawling open worlds, level design tools are crucial for transforming ideas into playable, believable environments that invite exploration and mastery.