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Making levels in Blender feels a little backwards
Why? That's a perfectly valid way to do it, and it's generally the approach "power users" take. The feature set in an engine's level editor can't really compete with dedicated tools. For example, in Blender you can make use of geometry nodes for creating procedural content. Big (or at least funded) studios typically use Houdini.
For Godot, read through this section of the docs to leaen how to import collisions
Thanks for the reply. Clunky would be the word I use. I would say it's perfect for finishing a level, for all the reasons you mentioned. However, I feel like there could be something even simpler. For example, those crazies that use Hammer to make Godot maps, like that but in a more sensible direction.
What's wrong with using Hammer? I've even used Trenchbroom before in Godot.
I guess the better question is: what do you consider to be sensible for creating video game content?
Good question. These programs have worked for a lot of people, but they just didn't click for me. To try and put it into words, they feel like they're one layer of abstraction away from where I need them to be.
Compare it to Paint.net and Photoshop. By the time Photoshop has booted, and loaded the image - I've already done what I want in Paint.net. It's not that Photoshop is bad, or Paint.net is better. It's just for 99% of image editing paint.net is good enough.
There exists a niche for a paint.net of map editors. It would be designed around creating a scene that you could import and finish in blender. Some ideas:
This all basically exists in some form or another, but not as a standalone tool. I think the idea is neat, but most people get by with all the programs they use just fine. Something like this is really gratuitous and only serves people who struggle. If I ever get good enough I may try making it myself.
Not as a standalone tool you say?
Thanks for sharing. I'll def. check this out.
No prob!
Full disclosure: I've not used it yet myself, your post here spurred me to do some web searching.
I know there also like uh... Terrain3D, not sure if MTerrain is still sctively developed but I think it is... and then there's uh... shoot I forget the name, but theres a well done addon for making basically linked and tweakable roads.
Granted, thats all geared toward large scale, more outdoors focused maps, but... yeah generally, it is kind of annoying that Godot could do a bit better in the map design/editor department.
There are though a number of different kinds of approaches to 'solving' that problem, some in engine, others kinda lile this Meridian doohickey where it is basically: use another program as the editor and make the pipeline actually work.
Like uh, for rigging character models and such, ReGodotIfy is pretty good for Blender -> Godot for setting up characters, and I think it would well handle just static/dynamic objects as well.
Theres also Gaea, which looks to be pretty solid foundation for a kind of, plug in, 2d procedural map gen type thing... theoretically you could take what it outputs snd then basically treat it as layers of a cake that comprises a 3d map, something like that?
I've been off and on tinkering with a somewhat similar concept... maybr if I ever finish it (to my liking) I'll post it here.
Just wanna throw out that I've managed to decompile Source engine maps and then at least semi successfully import them into Godot.
BSPSource ->
GodotVMF ->
Most of the 'brushes' are at least in the right places, lol, sometimes the textures even work correctly!
I imagine this would go a good deal more smoothly if you had the actual proper VMF to start with.