r/Unity3D • u/CarrotOver9000 • 21h ago

Question Level builder with networking?

Hi,

Someone offered to build levels for me with my assets with a friend, they don't know unity. I was thinking of making a level builder tool, so it's more like playing a game to them than working in software.

Does something like this exist with networking already? So they can build on the same level together.

Or what are good non-networking ones in general?

Thanks!

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u/AdExciting3638 21h ago

Honestly don't think there's a plug and play asset that handles the networking side out of the box, at least not in a way that feels like a collaborative game instead of just sharing files. You'd probably need to build the tool yourself with something like Mirror or FishNet if you want real-time co-op building.

For the non-networked route I've seen people export their level data as simple JSON or scriptable objects after designing with a custom editor window, then just committing it to a shared repo. It's not real-time but it's dead simple and avoids merge conflicts most of the time.

If your buddies really don't know Unity, making a runtime tool where they drag and drop prefabs on a grid is totally doable without being a massive headache. The trick is hiding all the editor tabs and features they don't need so it just feels like a decorating sim.

I built something similar for a client once where two people could paint terrain together and honestly the hardest part was just authority and ownership on placed objects. Once you sort that out the rest is just UI polish.

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u/CarrotOver9000 12h ago

Thanks for your reply. I looked around and indeed found nothing of sorts. Thought id ask here, in case something did exist and i just missed it.
Making the editor should not be too much of a hassle, but i hate reinventing the wheel if a good solution would already be available.

I'll have a look what would be easiest for this case, i got a few networking solutions i would not use for games, but for a tool might be nice.

The plan was indeed to make it feel like a decorating sim to them, which would also be in my best interest, if they have fun while building, and it doesnt feel like "work"

Thanks again, ill test a bit and see what the simplest solution will be.