Grid Level Editor

A grid-based level editor for Unity, built with UI Toolkit. It lets you author, manage and preview tile-and-block levels stored as ScriptableObjects — directly in the editor and at runtime.

Current version: 2.1.0 · Unity 2023.2+ · UI Toolkit

Overview

The tool is split into two editor windows and a runtime generator:

• Block Library — define reusable block types (id, icon, prefab, footprint).
• Level Editor — paint levels on a grid using drag-and-drop, with selection, rotation, copy/paste and undo/redo.
• Runtime Generator — spawns the authored level in the scene with staggered DOTween animations and optional auto-switching between levels.

Levels and blocks are plain ScriptableObjects under Assets/Resources/StaticData, so they are versionable and load through the standard static-data pipeline.

Features

Block Library

• Dedicated window (Tools → Grid Level Editor → Block Window).
• Create, rename and delete block types; assign id, prefab and an optional icon.
• Auto icons: when a block has no icon sprite, the editor shows the prefab's auto-generated preview (Unity AssetPreview) everywhere — palette, grid, plates and drag ghosts. The icon sprite is just a manual override.
• Define multi-cell footprints (rectangle, L, T, cross, …) on a paint grid.
• Search and sort by id, prefab or icon name.

Level Editor

• Visual grid editor (Tools → Grid Level Editor → Level Window).
• Create, rename, resize and delete levels.
• Drag blocks from the palette onto the grid; multi-cell objects render as a single merged plate that follows their exact footprint.
• Range selection, rotation, copy/paste and a per-level undo/redo history.
• Context menu (right click) for block selection, rotation, copy/paste and clearing.
• Zoom for large grids (− / ＋ / 1:1 buttons or Ctrl + mouse wheel).
• Free pan: hold the middle mouse button to drag the map anywhere inside a clipped viewport; a ⊕ button recenters it.
• "No space here" flash when a block or paste can't fit — including the blocking multi-cell object's plate.
• Built-in log panel and a controls overlay.

Runtime Generator

• Spawns floor tiles and blocks from the authored level data through injected factories.
• Staggered show/hide animations via DOTween.
• One block per object is spawned at the object's geometric center.
• Optional auto-switching to the next level on a configurable interval.

Controls & Shortcuts

Action	Input
Place a block	Drag a tile from the palette onto the grid
Move a block / object	Left-click drag
Select cells (range)	Ctrl + Left-click
Block context menu	Right-click
Copy / paste selection	Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V
Undo / redo	Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y (or Ctrl + Shift + Z)
Clear selection	Backspace / Delete
Zoom in / out	Ctrl + Mouse Wheel (or − / ＋ buttons)
Reset zoom	1:1 button
Pan the map	Middle-mouse drag
Recenter the map	⊕ button

Undo/redo is window-local and scoped to the current level: the history resets when you switch levels and when the window is closed.

Getting Started

1. Open the project in Unity 2023.2 or newer.
2. Open Tools → Grid Level Editor → Block Window and create a few blocks (only the id is required; without an icon sprite the prefab's preview is used).
3. Open Tools → Grid Level Editor → Level Window, create a level, then drag blocks onto the grid.
4. Enter Play mode to see the level spawned by the runtime generator.

Data locations:

• Levels — Assets/Resources/StaticData/LevelsData
• Blocks & library — Assets/Resources/StaticData/BlocksData

Project Structure

Path	Responsibility
Assets/Code/LevelEditor	Runtime data model (LevelMatrixEditor, LevelCell, BlockDataEditor, BlockLibrary, LevelDataDTO)
Assets/Code/LevelEditor/Editor	UI Toolkit editor windows, grid view, palette, popups and undo history
Assets/Code/LevelEditor/Editor/Grid	Focused grid components (zoom, selection, hit-testing, highlight, plates, cell render, drag/move, pan, palette placement, shortcuts) split out of the grid view
Assets/Code/Infrastructure	Runtime generator, factories, static-data and save/load services

The grid is stored as a flat, row-major LevelCell[] (Unity cannot serialize 2D arrays) and addressed through Index(x, y). Multi-cell blocks share a positive InstanceId; standalone cells use 0.

Tech Stack

• Unity 2023.2
• UI Toolkit (editor UI)
• Zenject (dependency injection)
• DOTween (runtime animation)
• Odin Inspector (serialization in SaveLoadService)

Changelog

2.1.0

• Auto block icons: a block's prefab preview is used when no icon sprite is set (icon is now optional).
• Free middle-mouse panning of the grid inside a clipped viewport, with a ⊕ recenter button.
• Grid zoom controls (− / ＋ / 1:1, Ctrl + mouse wheel) documented.
• "No space" flash now also blinks the blocking multi-cell object's plate.
• Internal: the monolithic grid view was refactored into focused single-responsibility components under Editor/Grid.

2.0.0

• UI Toolkit rewrite (migrated off Odin): drag-and-drop grid editor, multi-cell footprints, range selection, rotation, copy/paste, per-level undo/redo and the runtime generator.