"Generic In-Game Level Editor System": Complete, full-featured mapping & modding for ANY Unity game

Community Showcases
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UPDATE: We will be showcasing GILES at Unite 2015, in Boston!! Come see us, try out the first build, and chat about our plans for the future of GILES!
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Generic In-Game Level Editor System for Unity
(working title: GILES)

Thanks for viewing our WIP thread! We’ll be posting dev progress, updates, news, etc, here as GILES moves forward toward a finished product. We’d love to have your input and suggestions!

We’ll be updating with detailed info, feature lists, videos, all that good stuff very soon!

EDIT: Very first demo video is ready, check it out! :smile:

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What is GILES?
GILES is an add-on for ANY Unity game that enables in-game users to create, edit, and share custom levels (“maps”), with the full power of Unity-style editing.

How can GILES help my Unity game?
Gamers LOVE to get creative and create custom game levels, share with friends, etc- give them that power and watch your game explode with user-driven popularity! Consider: Quake, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament- all made famous by their mapping community.

What makes GILES special?
GILES supports complete serialization, property inspection, robust undo/redo, custom textures and meshes, and so much more. Simply put, GILES is a simplified, streamlined version of Unity, right inside your game.

Will GILES be easy to use?
ABSOLUTELY. Our goal is to make GILES a “plug-n-play” addition, accessible to developers of all skill levels, with very minor setup required. Adding GILES to your Unity game will be a simple, enjoyable experience!

Will GILES look sexy in my game?
You betchya! GILES will include a “GUI Skin” feature so you can easily match it’s look to your game.

What will GILES cost?
That depends on you- we are considering two major options:

  • Free “base”, with small-priced “modules” - this would allow anyone to jump in and try out the basics, and only pay for advanced features if needed.
  • Flat, one-time price of about $150 - $300

Thoughts? Other suggestions? Let us hear 'em!

How much of GILES is completed?
All the tough parts! We have serialization (scene load/save), undo and redo, full Unity-style inspector and object property editing, transform handles (move, rotate, scale), and much more, already functioning, on PC and mobile platforms. It’s mostly cosmetic, functionality tweaks, minor additions, etc that are left.

When will GILES be available?
We can’t give an exact ETA yet, but hopefully 1 to 3 months.

How can I test GILES before ANYONE ELSE?
Come see us at (or outside of) Unite 2015, in Boston! We’ll be showcasing as a sponsor and would love to meet, chat, and hear your thoughts and suggestions for GILES.

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Video, Playable Demo, & More Info Coming VERY Soon!
Please check back often, and let us know your thoughts in this thread, thanks for reading! :slight_smile:
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2 Likes
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Wow

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Well I better save up some money. This is something I’ve wanted and tried to work on (and failed I might add) for almost an entire year! SO happy to see this and especially happy to get it from developer(s) that I know make some of the best Unity products out there! :slight_smile:

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Thanks RealMTG, that’s exactly why we’re making GILES! And exactly why a very, very important part of the design is making it dead-simple to integrate and use with any Unity project. :slight_smile:

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Sounds good!
Three important aspects for my money:

  • Developer configurable (so players can only do things the developer allows, choose from acceptable parts, callbacks to interact while player building).
  • Developer theme-able, etc so it ‘feels right’ (in game).
  • Performance - static batching-like facility?
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Thanks Arkade!

  • Absolutely, you (the dev) will have simple methods of controlling exactly what is available to your players
  • Yep! It’ll be easy to “skin” and adjust for your game (I should add info on that above, thanks)
  • Yes, we’ll have a special batching/merging method and other performance-minded functions.
1 Like
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Hello once again! I thought about a feature that I have not seen mentioned here. What about triggers and such? For example, in hammer you can make triggers, player colliders, no draws e.t.c. Will this be possible in GILES and what about different trigger functions? For example, making triggers for doors, kill triggers e.t.c.

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Hi! Yes, triggers, colliders, special volumes, etc, will all be available and customizable!

We really do mean it when we say, this will be a complete level editor solution, in-game. :slight_smile:

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Hello!
I’ve seen a tool in the Asset Store called RepTile made by you guys i suppose.
What correlations/differences GILES and RepTile have?

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Hi Rick- RepTile lets you build levels in the Unity Editor, while GILES lets your players build levels right in your game- like the “map editor” of olde games :slight_smile:

EDIT: RepTile (and ProBuilder too) does have in-game ability and API, sorry if I made that unclear! The big difference is, GILES is, well, “Unity inside Unity” - just about the full Unity Editor, made available inside the game :slight_smile:

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Definitely something very useful for future games.

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And here I was hoping that RepTile would extend functionality to InGame as well (just able to place prefabs in designated areas). Anyways, I’ve been mulling around how I can use GILES, but haven’t gotten there yet. I will keep an eye on this regardless.

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Thanks, we’ll have much more info soon, and a real demo!

Oops, I may have confused things- made an edit to my comment above, to clarify. RepTile DOES have in-game capabilities, and an API for this (same as ProBuilder). However both RepTile and ProBuilder are limited in scope- they are tools, not a toolbox. GILES is the “toolbox” - it gives you a virtual container for all your tools, and a few basic ones included, so you (the dev) can allow your players to create maps, items, mods, etc, just about anything imaginable. :slight_smile:

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I’ve been working on a runtime lightmapper, similar to what they did in Halo 4 forge mode, could see it being really useful along with your tool!

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Yes, that’s another thing to mention (silly me…) - we are making sure GILES is very easy to extend with other plugins. Your lightmapping tool would be a perfect example! Thanks for the comment- we should definitely stay in touch. :slight_smile:

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:slight_smile: I am planning on finishing a basic prototype on the 10-hour plane ride to Paris this weekend, will post a link to the thread once it is created!

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Great! Have fun in Paris! :slight_smile:

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Sounds good. Looking forward to it.

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Okay, very first demo video is ready, check it out, would love to hear all feedback, ideas, suggestions, etc! So excited to have this really, truly working (in a very early stage), and ready to showcase at Unite!

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Good looking tool. I know a good amount of indie folks out there haven’t gotten their hands dirty with modular kit making, so that would be one aspect to consider for customers.

1 Like