LDtk
A downloadable level editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux
LDtk is a modern and open-source 2D level editor, specifically designed for indie devs.
It is based on my personal experience creating Dead Cells and making game jams.
My goal is to provide an editor that has all the important core features and to do them right, with a modern user interface/experience.
š¬ Discord | š Website | š Documentation
Is it free?
Yes it is :) LDtk is "pay what you want, including free".
You're totally free to try and use it without paying anything, and all the things you create with this tool are, obviously, all yours (even for commercial use). At any given time, you can still decide to contribute by paying any price you want for the app.
All features
- Easy to use: modern UI with a strong focus on ease-of-use and quality-of-life features.
- Universal and agnostic: compatible with all languages (not only Haxe) and game frameworks in the world
- JSON: easy to parse file format for any game-engine out there (I promise itās actually really easy). Haxe isnāt required.
- Tiled export: LDtk can export Tiled TMX files for frameworks that only support this format. Note: this feature ONLY exists as a temporary method to load a LDtk project JSON in a game framework that only supports TMX files. It is recommended to just read the LDtk JSON.
- Customizable layers: Integer grid layers, Tile layers and Entity layers support
- Auto-layers: paint your collision map and see the grass, textures and all the small details being drawn automatically!
- Entities: fully customizable Entity with custom properties (ex: you can have a āMobā entity, with a āhitPointsā field, which is an Integer limited to [0,10] bounds).
- Enums: you can define an enumeration (ex: an āItemTypeā enum with āMoneyā, āAmmoā, āGunā values) and use this enum in your entity custom fields.
- External enums: enums can be imported and synced directly from Haxe source code files (HX file)!
- HTML5: LDtk is built around modern web standards.
- Auto update: you get notified as soon as a stable update is released and itās up to you to install it when youāre ready, with a single click.
- LDtk loves Haxe: a powerful Haxe API which gives you access to fully typed values from your levels. It avoids mistakes like mistyping, renaming or removals: you see errors during compilation, not at runtime. For example, having
var p = new MyLdtkProject(), you can do things likep.all_levels.MyIntroLevel.all_enemies[0].f_hitPoints.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- 0.9.3 - Ludum Dare 48 editionApr 23, 2021
- 0.9.2 and 0.9.1Apr 20, 2021
- 0.9.0 - Biomes & tagsApr 16, 2021
- 0.8.1Mar 01, 2021
- 0.8.0Feb 26, 2021
- 0.7.1Jan 25, 2021
- 0.7.0: PNG export, multiple files, backups etc.Jan 22, 2021
- 0.6.2Dec 31, 2020
Comments
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My only gripe is that the tile selector expands to cover the currently-edited level even if the tileset is very small, fitting perfectly into the sidebar as-is. It's a minor annoyance, but it does disrupt my thought process when editing. Other than that, this is a really useful tool that I've been enjoying using.
I have a personal question do you like animating if so will you ever make a animating software, anyways keep up the awesome work :D
Editor only, exporting to a JSON file in either LDtk or Tilemap's data format.
Windows Smart screen blocked the .exe installer :/ a good option will be a portable exe .... Anyway, I just extracted the exe file and searched the app-64 folder lol
Iām in the process of signing the app (but itās a long & expensive process). In the meanwhile, just click on the āMore Infoā in the Smart screen window, youāll be able to bypass it.
That's what i always do (Bypassing smartscreen, not Signing my apps)
why with both 32bit and 64bit in installer, this is not necessary
can you add a portable version for 64bit only?
thanks
Not necessary for you or for everyone? It's nice to have the choice for those who need it. Just as portable versions are ;)
i don't care about me, i care about useless bandwidth usage, and useless disk operations
don't ship with waste, it's never a good idea, and gives bad impression about the software, when it's too big, it is a sign of incompetence or unnecessary bloat
there are the people who care:
https://rxi.itch.io/tilekit (250kb)
and the people who don't care:
ldtk: 100mb 7z (184mb for x64 unzipped)
So you would like to see 32bit and 64bit separated? Because as I said: someone might want to have 32bit version.
About the size: I'm with you, a lot of applications are way too big for what they do. Especially the ones that ship a whole Browser to execute themselves ...
Its a sad trend ... But in this case: one version: ~ 75mb second version: 30mb more - should be ok, if you can handle the 75mb download.
Right now, for faster distribution reasons, I only maintain an hybrid 32/64 bits version to maximize support for everyone. It shouldnāt affect anyone, except for some extra 30mb to download, which isā¦ well, not that much imho.
About a portable build, yes, Iād like to have one at some point, but I need to upgrade my auto-updater to support that :)
ok so you don't care at all about the users, that's disappointing to hear only just to save 5 seconds writing the script to zip builds separately, and itch.io has API to upload releases btw, so you could save even more time if you wanted, but i doubt you want, seems you are fine with bloatware (i wouldn't mind if it was 2x 250kb like tilekit i mentioned in other comment, but here it's electron.. but that itself is an other problem, let's stick to the 2x download size issue for now)
> It shouldnāt affect anyone, except for some extra 30mb to download, which is… well, not that much imho.
selfishness
each 7zip is 50mb, so you waste 50mb shipping useless bloat
50mb for one user
let's say 100k people download your app
that's 5TB of bandwidth wasted, and it's 5TB of avoidable IO operation on people's SSDs
devs need to respect me and my PC
Maybe he didn't know about that? Maybe there is some other reason? Maybe he is open to this suggestion if it's delivered in a more civilized manner?
Yes, saving space is nice, but I really appreciate that he supports both versions - even if I personally would not use 32bit version. But thanks that its there!
Maybe you need to respect devs providing FOSS a little more?
The combined installer is perfectly economically reasonable. But if the solution to your annoyance would take "5 seconds" to implement as you describe - go submit the damn PR - you've spent many times that in condescending tirades in the comments here.
> devs need to respect me and my PC
Just the opposite - no one has less of a prerogative to support "problem users" than an open source developer. Were I the maintainer, I would not be inclined to support your request for it's own sake unless you were financially supporting the project or others also raised the issue.
Very cool! Can't wait to take it or a spin. Thanks for making this FOSS! <3
Windows 7 : WHY I CAN'T RUN IT PROPERLY
Windows 10 : ":)"
Microsoft : Get windows 10
Itās exactly what I did recently ;-)
Does it support isometric graphics?
Hi, no LDtk only supports square layout grids.
I see, thanks! I will use it anyways.
The downloaded file for Windows (LDtk 0.9.3 installer.exe) apparently installed correctly under Windows 7 Pro, including a shortcut icon on the Desktop, followed by the Loading splash screen, but next was a black screen displaying just the LDtk logo top left. See screenshot. Same occurs if installing/running as Administrator.
I have this same problem on linux
Almost the same happened to me, when I execute the installer it goes straight into stalling, installs it and shows a windows that says āasset splash.html/app.html file was not foundā or something in those lines, while the āmainā LDtk window being transparent and over the whole screen making it impossible to close the error window with the X on the corner, thought I was able to close it by hovering over LDtk on the app bar and closing it in the small preview, but it closed LDtk overall, then if I try to open it gives no errors but happens the exact same that is happening to you, Iāve already reinstalled it 4 times but I still think is my computer,,, Iām on Windows 7 ultimate 32bits, LDtk 0.9.3 installer btw
Iāll just wait the next update :)
Requests:
1) custom shortcuts.
2) custom fonts? I would like to change that font around the level ('size 256px etc') as it looks a bit pixelated. or maybe fix it.
finally a proper autotile. Tiled is nothing compared to this.
Weird the menu wont show up. here is the screenshot.
I have missing something?
Definitely not normal š¤
ldtk.log? To find it:%localappdata%programsfolderldtkfolderldtk.logand mail it to me at ldtk@deepnight.netThanks!
I download and install latest version.
Hey Deepnight, it looks like this might be a problem for another user that posted 2 days ago. Perhaps this is a problem that occurs on Windows 7 devices?
Hi! I just want to mention that I have this same problem (am also on Windows 7), and there isn't a ldtk.log file in the directory that you specified. I'm assuming ldtk.log is a crash log file, which would explain why it isn't there, because the program doesn't crash, it just shows an empty screen with no warnings or errors.
Thanks, Iāll try to fix that for 0.9.4 :) There is an open issue here if you want to get notified of any progress done: https://github.com/deepnight/ldtk/issues/498
Sorry about that, Iāll try to fix it in 0.9.4 update. Issue is here: https://github.com/deepnight/ldtk/issues/498
Would this be compatible with Game Maker Studio 2? Id love to try this.
How does any of this work?
No
Any way you could implement a "color" or "tint" function, per tile? I have some 1-bit tile sets that I'd love to work with, but I don't know any tile-based tools that allow arbitrary coloring, so it's hard to visualize and experiment.
Thatās an interesting idea, but coloring can mean various things š¤ In this case, you meant āto replace the white color by another custom colorā, right?
Feel free to open a suggestion issue on GitHub, Iāll have a look :) https://github.com/deepnight/ldtk/issues
Basically like a "Color Overlay" layer in Photoshop. I'll do that, thanks.
is this just for level making? can we also add a player sprite?
You can create Entities with whatever property youād need. But yes itās a level editor, not a game engine :)
ok thanks!
HI ! is there any unity implementation
Since it saves to JSON, you can use any JSON-to-C# converter (just google it) to create the class, then use your JSON library of choice to load the data very easily.
Perfect level editor. I hope it gets libGDX framework with Java language support. I think I can still use it though with the .tmx file export and through reading .json files.
Also you don't have to but I would like it if you would advertise the game I make ;) It will earn us both more money but feel free to say no any time.
Sure, keep me updated on your progress :)
I'm using this to make a game. It will be sold for money, and because this is absolutely godsend, I'm going to split the profit 50/50 with you via PayPal.
Even if I really appreciate your offer, I definitely cannot accept š I have very strong beliefs on this specific topic, and your game is your creation. And as such, it belongs completely to you. Thatās the exact reason I went for a MIT license on LDtk, because I believe creators should earn the full profits of their hard work (not a big fan of Unreal engine business model and such) š
LDtk is a tool with a pay-what-you-want model, but in its spirit, itās intended to be free. My best reward is it to be used by people to make cool games š
Thank you!
We just love free software!
PS. Infinity Falls Studio
Even though he wont accept your money from sales of your game, if you really want to give Deepnight Games some money, you could take the 50% (or whatever you want) and buy a copy of LDtk and use the "pay-what -you-want" option = you can give as much money as you want.
Amazing dude! I would love it have a version for win x86
Thank you :) Let me check if itās possible to make a x86 build: Iāll keep you updated :)
You can check for a new download on the LDtk page. Tell me if it works for you!
:0 thanks you very much, its working :D i will report any bugs
This might sound silly but after downloading and trying LDTK out, I've dropped everything else and started learning Haxe + Heap. This map editor is just dope. Thank you man!
There is a problem: Every time the download is about to finish it throws an error. What will it be?
Anyway, I think it is a great tool, which serves both indie developers and large companies.
Is it the download from itch.io website page? If so, you might try to clear your browser cache (and downloaded files) completely and try again. It looks like some corrupted download file. Also, check that no software is blocking your download for some weird reason š¤
Hello!
Yesterday I managed to download it without errors and tested it.
It seems to me ... Incredible, simply incredible!
This application is an absolute godsend for any developer, pixel artist and/or level designer. To get the results that this application produces on a tile by tile basis would literally take weeks. To set rules and have control on the output is not only powerful but this is a real workhorse for simply "getting the job done!"
Awesome application, you are a god amongst men lol :-)
Thanks a lot <3 Glad to hear LDtk was useful to you :) More is coming in future updates!