Over the past two decades, some titles have made it possible for players to create their own maps and stages. Even if it takes hours, days, weeks, or even months, designing a level or stage in games and having other players experience such creations give another layer of fun experience both for creators and those who play them.
But which games give the best experience of amazement and fun for creators and players? From first-person-shooters, extreme sports, various sandbox RPGs, to physics-driven platformers, here are some great titles that give players the ability to design their own levels and let other players experience them.
10 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is one of the runaway classic games during the early 2000s. These titles effectively introduced extreme sports and skating into the mainstream. Apart from the amazing gameplay and head-bobbing soundtrack, its level editor made playing these games even more appealing.
The games’ skate park editor allows players to create their own skate parks: some creative players made jaw-dropping parks complete with loop-the-loop ramps, impossibly high gaps to clear, and seemingly endless rails to grind over.
9 Meet Your Maker
For those who are looking for a game that mixes early-FPS titles like Doom with level creation, Meet Your Maker caters to such players. The game’s premise revolves around players creating their fortresses to defend key items that other players have to acquire.
Defending players have to design their lairs with various traps and guards that are positioned to eliminate any raider foolish enough to infiltrate such strongholds. Meet Your Maker gives players room to get creative with their fortresses, while raiders are challenged to be quick on their toes and avoid perilous traps to achieve their goal in the level.
8 Halo 3
Halo 3 is widely considered to be one of the best in the franchise and one of the most influential games to include a level creator mode. Forge Mode became one of the earlier tools for creative players to flex their game designing prowess to an eager community that couldn't get enough.
Custom games like Trash Compactor, Grifball, and Infection started off as custom games but were so beloved that they became a staple game option in Xbox Live back in the day. Even now in the more recent Halo titles, the community continues to create different custom maps for new and veteran players to enjoy outside the classic multiplayer options.
7 Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights is one of the earlier MMOs back in 2002. Apart from its high fantasy setting, the game also provided budding players the chance to become game developers by adding the Aurora Toolset.
The Aurora Toolset was available in the Enhanced Edition of the game and included various world-building tools such as terrain-editor, object editor, script editor, and conversation editor that players can use to flesh out their custom games. Once completed, they can also share it with other players so that they can play the custom game and try to complete the objectives set by the player-creator.
6 Starcraft Map Editor / Warcraft 3 World Editor
When it comes to games that allow players to create their own levels or mini-games, Blizzard’s Starcraft Campaign Editor and Warcraft 3 World Editor has to be in the conversation. These titles are known for their amazing RTS gameplay and memorable characters, but their world editors made it possible for the creation of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre to exist.
MOBA juggernauts like League of Legends and DOTA 2 had their humble beginnings in the Starcraft and Warcraft World Editors, thanks to their talented game developers who managed to make a highly-engaging mini-game from an already amazing game engine.
5 LittleBigPlanet
At first glance, LittleBigPlanet comes off as one of the quirkier yet visually stunning 3D platforming games, and it is indeed such a game. But what makes LittleBigPlanet such an amazing experience for gamers is its stage creation mode.
Players are given the tools to design their very own levels: they can use and manipulate various objects, switches, and enemies to place them anywhere in their custom stage. Levels can be quick platforming sections, to expansive ones that require checkpoints to complete. Such levels can be uploaded for other players to try out.
4 Super Mario Maker
The Super Mario games have always tried to add spice to their tried-and-true platforming formula by experimenting with other genres. One of these successful games is the Super Mario Maker titles.
Players are given the keys to create their own stages with the classic Super Mario elements that include warp pipes, flame bars, various enemies like Goombas and Koopa Troopers, and power ups. Creative players can tweak all these elements to make their levels even more challenging. Enemies can be stacked with one another, hazards can pop up from question mark blocks, and even the timing of moving platforms.
3 Fortnite
Fortnite is one of the biggest battle royale games that has continued to stay relevant due to its numerous collaborations with other pop culture media. But one that cannot be understated is that this game also has a creation suite called Fortnite Creative.
This game creator mode gives players the ability to design their own maps using the Unreal Engine 5 and let players experience their creations as soon as they upload it. Some maps are so well-made that they don’t even resemble the Fortnite base game.
2 Garry’s Mod
Garry’s Mod is a popular sandbox-physics game that gives players freedom to create and manipulate all the elements within the game to essentially make their own levels or stages. Players can spawn various non-player characters that have ragdoll physics that can be adjusted to the players’ liking via the Tool Gun.
One of the more popular games that came from Garry’s Mod is Prop Hunt, an exciting game of team-vs-team hide and seek where one team disguises themselves as props throughout a given stage while the other team has to find them.
1 Minecraft
Minecraft is widely regarded as one of the most popular games in mainstream media. The game’s blocky pixel art is iconic, and the level of things players can do in the game gives ample room for creativity. The game’s Creative Mode gives players all the assets they need to start building whatever it is they can think of. They can destroy and manipulate blocks any time regardless if they are indestructible in the normal game or not. In this mode, players do not have Health Bars, and can fly around the area to place blocks in the air or wherever they want.