World Editor User Manual

1. Introduction

The World Editor lets you create and change Fragline maps. You can draw terrain and water, place geometric objects and gameplay markers, edit their appearance and physics, and test the result. The editor opens with an empty world. You can also open a saved world or import a JSON map.

Choose a tool in the toolbar, work in the map viewport, then use Inspector for the selected object's properties or World for map-wide settings. The Objects and Textures tabs on the left help you find objects and choose artwork. The active tool name and a brief instruction appear above the viewport.

2. Editor interface

Help lists controls and offers Open user manual and Open map code. Open user manual displays this manual in a separate editor panel. Drag the panel's title bar to move it, use − to minimize it, □ to restore it, or × to close it. The panel can also be resized. On a narrow window, scroll the toolbar horizontally to reach tools that do not fit.

3. Start, open, and navigate

Create or open a world

1. Work in the empty world that opens at startup, or select New to start another one.
2. To open an existing world, select Open. In a hosted installation, choose a map from the account map list. In a local development installation, use My maps for account maps or Local maps for browser-local files.
3. To open a map from your computer, select Import and choose a .json file. You can also drop a JSON map file onto the viewport.
4. To reopen a map created by Test world ↗, select Help → Open map code and enter its code while the test map is available.

New, Open, and Import ask before replacing unsaved work. The prompt offers Cancel or Discard and continue; save or export first if you want to keep the current world. The editor updates a recovery draft in your browser as you work. If it finds that draft in a later session, use Recover or Discard recovery in the startup prompt. Recovery is a safety net; a recovered world still needs to be saved or exported.

The new world starts with no objects, a gravity value of 0 horizontally and 25 vertically, no precipitation, and the rocky1 texture in its texture list. Select World on the right to edit the map name, author, mode, gravity, weather, gradient, energy setting, and other existing world values. Map metadata and Environment are separate expandable sections. Edit environment JSON is available for settings without dedicated fields; use it only when you know the required structure.

The Mode choices are All, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, Training, and Zombie Survival. This world setting is separate from the mode chosen when launching a playable test.

Move around the viewport

• Drag with the middle or right mouse button to pan. Hold Space and drag to pan while another tool is selected.
• Roll the wheel to zoom around the pointer. The displayed zoom can range from 1% to 800%.
• Select Frame world to fit the map in view. Press F to frame the current selection, or the world when nothing is selected. Double-click an object row in Objects to frame that object.
• The Grid viewport button shows or hides grid lines. Shapes shows or hides ordinary collision outlines. Overlays lets you choose collision, sensor, spawn, portal, joint, waypoint, and attribute guides. Game view (G) hides editing guides for a cleaner view; select it again to restore them.

4. Select and edit objects

Choose Select (S) in the toolbar, or press S. Click an object in the viewport to select it. A click on empty space clears the selection; dragging from empty space selects objects whose bounds touch the selection rectangle. If objects overlap, the one at the highest depth is chosen. Hidden, filtered-out, and locked objects cannot be selected on the viewport.

Use the Objects search box to filter the list by name, object number, mesh group, or attribute type. If there are more than 350 matches, select Show more to reveal the next set. Double-clicking a row frames its object.

Move, rotate, and scale

Drag a selected object with Select to move it. The selection has corner handles for scaling and a round upper handle for rotation. Rotate and Scale in the toolbar also let you drag an object to adjust it. The transform applies to the current editable selection; for multiple objects, keep them selected before dragging.

For exact changes, select Transform… under Inspector → Transform & object. Enter horizontal and vertical translation in metres, rotation in degrees, and independent X/Y scales. Mirror X and Mirror Y reflect the selection. Arrow keys nudge by the grid interval, using 0.05 m when the grid interval is smaller; hold Shift for ten times that distance. N enlarges the selection by 5%; M applies the reciprocal scale. Nonuniform scaling of circles and scaling that would shear a rectangle are rejected; triangulate the shape first when appropriate.

Edit an individual shape or its vertices

Open Inspector → Shapes & vertices and choose a shape when an object has several fixtures. The Horizontal and Vertical shape fields are relative to the object in metres; Rotation is in degrees. With one object selected and this section open, drag the blue center handle to move that shape or the yellow handle to rotate it. The same section provides the shape's dimensions and other existing fields. + Shape adds a triangle fixture; Remove shape removes the chosen fixture; Triangulate splits a static shape into triangle geometry.

Choose Vertices (V) to edit triangle corners directly. Click a dot to select it; Shift + click toggles it; drag from empty space to box-select; Alt + click or drag subtracts. Drag a selected dot to move the selected vertices together. Coincident vertices on adjacent editable triangles move together. Ctrl/Cmd + A selects all visible, unlocked triangle vertices. The Vertices tool does not make rectangle dots editable as triangle vertices. Pressing Delete here deletes the selected objects; use Erase vertex (X) for a vertex.

Inspector properties

The inspector shows existing properties of the first selected object. Most field edits apply to every editable object in the current selection. Expand Appearance, Physics, Shapes & vertices, Gameplay attributes, and Joint anchors as needed. A small × beside a generic property removes that optional property. Nested entries can be added or edited as JSON. Add optional property and Advanced object JSON are available for fields that lack a dedicated control; Advanced object JSON replaces only the first selected object.

In Appearance, Rendering offers Invisible, Solid color, and Textured. Color / tint changes the object tint and Alpha (opacity) accepts 0 to 1. Depth controls draw order; the normal range is 0–999. The Physics body choice is Static, Kinematic, or Dynamic. Its dedicated Density, Friction, and Restitution fields require nonnegative values and apply to all shapes of the selected objects. Gravity scale accepts a finite value.

The ordinary Rotation property in Transform & object is in radians; Transform… and the dedicated shape Rotation field use degrees. A triangle's corner positions, circle radius, rectangle half-extents, and shape offsets are in world pixels (20 pixels per metre). The Collision dropdown offers Static world, Dynamic world, Open world, Barrier, Agent, Bullet, Limb, Item, Local projectile, Zone, Entity, Grenade, Bridge, Particle, Objective, Thrown item, Bot, Item barrier, Bot bullet, Local secondary, Plasma, and Thrown grenade. Choose the category required by the game's collision behavior; the editor does not combine categories for you.

To remove selected objects, press Delete or select Delete in Inspector. Deletion has no extra confirmation. Duplicate is beside it; Frame focuses the selected objects; Hide removes them from the viewport until revealed.

5. Draw world geometry

Triangle, Rectangle, and Circle

1. Select Triangle, Rectangle, or Circle in the toolbar.
2. Click the viewport to place a shape. Further clicks place more shapes; press S when finished.
3. Select the new object to edit its size, rendering, collision, or position in Inspector.

These tools create static textured objects at depth 700 when no selected object supplies a template. A new object may inherit appearance or physics settings from the first selected object, so inspect it after placement if you were editing another object. New circles have a 50-pixel radius; rectangles have 80-pixel horizontal and 30-pixel vertical half-extents. A rectangle's full width and height are twice those values.

Polygon

1. Choose Polygon.
2. Click at least three outline points in order.
3. Press Enter to triangulate and finish. Press Escape to abandon the unfinished outline.

The result consists of triangle objects, selected together.

Terrain brush

1. Choose Terrain brush (K).
2. In Brush settings, choose Size (px), Shape, Depth, Group, and Include existing as needed. Select a texture in Textures. The terrain brush shows seamless texture choices.
3. Drag on the viewport to grow terrain. Release to finish one undoable stroke. Hold Alt when starting the stroke to cut matching terrain instead.

The brush makes textured triangle terrain. Include existing starts checked: a stroke can rebuild touching compatible terrain in the same group/depth. Turn it off to keep earlier compatible terrain as it is and add only the uncovered part of the stroke. A named group must match the existing group's depth and terrain or water material. Select a compatible terrain object before switching to the brush to copy its group, depth, and texture.

Interior layers adds vertices inside the terrain. Set Spacing (px) when it is enabled; smaller spacing produces a denser mesh. The Physics subsection of Brush settings sets collision category, sensor status, density, friction, and restitution for new terrain. A terrain stroke can regenerate texture mapping and vertex paint on geometry it rebuilds; use Undo to compare if you need the previous appearance. Press Escape during a stroke to cancel it.

Water brush

New water uses the Liquid graphical attribute. Fluid sensors remain separate and control buoyancy. Extending old water preserves its existing effects.

Deformation and Liquid

In Gameplay attributes, add Deformation or Liquid to a static textured triangle or a member of a mesh group. For rectangles, use Triangulate first. An effect on one member applies to the whole group; adding it again transfers its controls to the selected member. Use Preview to animate.

Deformation controls horizontal and vertical displacement in pixels, wavelengths in pixels, cycle durations in seconds, and phase in degrees. Pin the top, bottom, left, or right edge and set the anchor fade as a fraction of mesh size. Presets include Gentle sway, Hanging fabric, and Undulation. Add vertices for smoother bends; the shader moves existing vertices and does not subdivide geometry.

Liquid controls surface wave height, wavelength, cycle, and fade depth, texture flow in UV units per second, ripple strength/size, and shimmer strength/size/cycle. Zero wave height, ripple, or shimmer disables that part. Presets include Calm water, Flowing water, Thick liquid, and Still. Change the texture and tint to depict other liquids. Waves fade below the group's upper edge; surfaces need enough vertices to show a smooth outline.

Both effects are graphical: they leave collision shapes and buoyancy unchanged. They can be combined with each other and have independent settings per mesh. On a mesh using either new effect, legacy Transform/UV effects are superseded; maps that use only the old attributes retain their rendering. New effects require the updated game client and server.

Painting water

Choose Water brush (J), set Size (px), Shape, Depth, Group, and Include existing, then drag. Each stroke creates a visible water surface and matching fluid sensor geometry. With a blank group name the editor creates a Water group; reuse a named group to extend matching water. Existing matching wave effects are retained when extending a group. Release to finish the stroke; Escape cancels the active stroke.

Add and remove vertices

With Insert vertex (I), click inside a suitable static textured triangle to split it. Split edge, checked by default, also lets you click close to an edge or junction and split adjoining triangles. Retriangulate nearby can adjust neighboring triangle connections. Ineligible objects or a click too far from an eligible edge may produce no change.

With Erase vertex (X), click near a mesh vertex to remove it and re-form its neighboring triangles. A vertex cannot be erased if it is needed for a texture seam, lies on protected locked or hidden geometry, joins incompatible materials, or would leave an invalid neighborhood. Use Erase objects (O) and drag a brush stroke to delete whole intersecting objects instead. Hidden and locked objects are protected from the object eraser.

Color and light on terrain

Color brush (B) paints triangle, rectangle, and circle vertex colors of visible, unlocked objects within its round stroke, regardless of which objects are selected. Set Color, Size (px), Intensity, and Transparency under Brush settings. Alternate colors adds a second color and blends randomly between the two as the brush moves. Transparency is an opacity value: 0 is transparent and 1 is opaque. Release to finish one undoable stroke.

Rectangles have four color points (top-left, bottom-left, bottom-right, top-right in local coordinates). Circles have a center color and 24 rim colors, beginning on the local right side. Circle colors keep their positions when the radius changes. These colors work on solid and textured shapes in the editor and game client; Sprite mode uses the object's overall tint instead. Painting colors does not make rectangle or circle geometry vertices selectable with the Vertices tool.

Light & shadow brush (L) blends a chosen Light color and brightness into visible, unlocked triangle, rectangle, and circle color points with a soft edge. It does not affect shapes in Sprite mode. Select a round or rectangular Shape, Size (px), Light color, and Intensity. The current intensity control starts at 1.2 and accepts values of 1 or greater. It changes vertex appearance rather than adding a separate light object.

All brush tools have a Draw interval control, initially 72 world pixels. Lower it for more frequent samples; 0 samples continuously. Brush size is a diameter in world pixels, while the small toolbar Brush radius input is a radius. The color brush always uses a round footprint.

6. Place gameplay markers and connect objects

Select + Marker, choose a marker type, then click the viewport to place it. More clicks place more markers of that type. Select + Marker again or press S to stop. To put an attribute on an existing object, select it, open Inspector → Gameplay attributes, choose a type, and select + Attribute. Adding an attribute does not automatically create the sensor shape, anchors, or motion needed by every effect. Remove attribute removes an attribute from the selected objects.

The palette contains these user-selectable types. Fields appear under Gameplay attributes after placement; the table names the main fields to configure.

Team dropdowns offer Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Gamma, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, and Zulu. These are choices in the editor; individual game modes can use fewer teams. Item and Emitter type dropdowns offer named game items and particle effects, plus None. Verify Single spawn item behavior with Test world ↗ before relying on it.

Link portals

1. Place two Teleport markers, or prepare two objects that should have Teleport attributes.
2. Choose Portal link.
3. Click the source object and then the destination object. The editor fills reciprocal target names.
4. Press Escape to cancel a pending first endpoint, or choose another tool when finished.

Standalone Teleport markers start with Touch enabled. Portal link adds Teleport attributes to ordinary objects if needed, but does not add a collision shape to them. Check that those objects have suitable geometry for the intended contact behavior.

Add anchors and joints

In Inspector → Joint anchors, select + Anchor to add an anchor to the selected object. Choose Anchors (A) and drag an existing anchor dot to reposition it; dots can lie outside the object's outline. Removing an anchor also removes joint attributes that refer to its ID.

Choose Joint link, click an anchor on the first body, then an anchor on a different body. You may click a body away from its dots to create an anchor at that point. The link creates a Revolute joint; it cannot reuse an anchor already connected to a joint. Press Escape to abandon a pending first endpoint. Configure joint limits, collision, and motor values under Gameplay attributes after linking.

Set animation steps

1. Place one or more Waypoint markers. A newly placed waypoint receives an identifier.
2. Select the object to move. Set its Physics → Body to Kinematic and add Animation under Gameplay attributes.
3. Expand Steps, select + Step, and choose a waypoint Target.
4. Set Time, Pause (seconds), Rotation (radians), and Smooth start / stop (0.5 s each). Add and reorder steps with + Step, Move up, Move down, and Remove step.
5. Select ▶ Preview to inspect visual waypoint motion, or Run physics test for motion with physics.

Time must be greater than zero; a higher value moves more slowly. Pause must be zero or greater. A missing target appears in Validation. The Follow steps, Loop, and Reverse fields may be visible on an Animation attribute, but their effect is not established by the current motion controls; use explicit steps and preview the result.

7. Appearance, textures, and groups

Select an object, open Textures, search, and click a texture to assign it. If no object is selected, the choice becomes the texture for later geometry. Choose texture in Appearance opens the same browser. A selected texture can also be changed with the Texture field in Appearance. Replace reference changes the current texture-list entry for every object that uses it, so inspect the affected objects before applying it. The visible Add PNG control currently reports that custom uploads are disabled.

Choose Texture (T) to drag the texture across selected geometry without moving its collision shape. Hold Alt while dragging to rotate the texture, or Shift to scale it. Texture placement provides numeric metre translation, degree rotation, and X/Y scale. UV transform… changes raw texture coordinates; use it only when you need direct UV control. Align seams in the toolbar or Align texture seams in Appearance regenerates world-aligned mapping on the selection, replacing its prior UV placement. Use matching textures on adjacent triangles when continuity matters. If texture placement says to remove Sprite mode, remove that property in Appearance before editing polygon UVs. Circle textures support uniform scaling only.

To organize compatible triangles, select them and use Group in Appearance, or enter a Group name to create or join a named mesh group. A blank name ungroups them; Ungroup does the same. Members must each be a static, textured, single triangle with polygon fill, matching texture, depth, opacity, and gameplay attributes. Use Triangulate on a rectangle before grouping it. A group is a rendering group; it does not make its objects move as one parent object. Press E after selecting one member to extend the selection to visible, unlocked members.

In Objects, Visible Z filters the viewport by depth. Set exact Minimum Z and Maximum Z values or use their sliders; Focus sliders narrows the slider adjustment range, and All Z restores 0–999. Hide temporarily removes selected objects from view. Lock toggles selected objects' editing protection. Hide locked layers hides locked objects without unlocking them. Show all reveals hidden objects and unlocks all locked objects. These controls do not change the saved object's depth. A world can have different depth values, but the editor does not provide a separate layer tree. A depth filter alone is not guaranteed to protect a shape from terrain remeshing; use Lock or Hide before terrain edits when a shape must not change.

8. Snapping and precise placement

The toolbar Grid and Vertex number fields set snapping distances in metres. They start at 1 and 0.2 respectively; set either to 0 to disable that form of snapping. Placement and movement first round to the grid, then a nearby eligible vertex can take priority. Snapping applies to shape and marker placement, polygon points, moving objects or vertices, moving anchors, and moving an individual shape. Texture (T) dragging and brush strokes move freely. The viewport Grid button controls only the drawn grid; hiding it does not turn snapping off.

For exact object movement, rotation, reflection, or nonuniform scale, use Transform… and Mirror X/Y. For exact texture placement, use Texture placement or UV transform…. Align seams affects texture mapping, not object positions.

9. Undo, redo, copy, and delete

Use the toolbar's ↶ and ↷ buttons, Ctrl/Cmd + Z, or Ctrl/Cmd + Y to undo and redo document edits. Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z also redoes. A completed drag or brush stroke is usually one action. Opening another world clears the history. Undo and redo also clear temporary locks and hides. Camera movement, viewport filters, visual preview, and physics-test motion are outside map edit history.

Use Ctrl/Cmd + C to copy selected objects within the editor, then Ctrl/Cmd + V to paste. Duplicate or Ctrl/Cmd + D copies the current selection directly. New copies appear 1 metre right and 1 metre down and are selected. Where copied objects contain linked portal names, anchors, or waypoint references, the editor gives the copies new identifiers and reconnects references among those copies. Delete in the inspector or the keyboard Delete key removes selected editable objects. Erase objects (O) instead removes objects touched by its brush. Remove shape, Remove attribute, and Remove anchor remove those specific parts rather than the entire object.

10. Save, export, and validation

Save a world

1. Select Save or press Ctrl/Cmd + S to open Save world.
2. Choose Save location. On the hosted editor, sign in through the game to use your account map folder. A local development installation can also offer Editor drafts, Server maps, and API maps.
3. Enter Map name and File name. The editor adds .json to the filename.
4. Check Replace an existing file only when you intend to overwrite that filename. Select Save.

The map name must be nonempty and at most 32 characters. Account filenames can contain letters, digits, spaces, underscores, and hyphens, must start with a letter or digit, and are limited to 80 characters before .json. Account storage allows up to 20 maps and a saved map of up to 2 MiB. A new account map is listed as Unpublished. If a file already exists and replacement is not selected, save reports a conflict; choose another filename or explicitly replace it. A failed save leaves the world unsaved.

Export or import JSON

Export downloads a readable .json map named after the world, or Untitled.json if it has no name. The editor marks the world saved when it starts the browser download; make sure the download actually completes. Export does not run the structural checks that gate some other actions. To open a downloaded map later, use Import or drop it onto the viewport. Invalid JSON, missing map data, or unavailable services produce an error in the footer.

Check the world

Select Validation in the footer to see structural and rendering issues. The footer button includes the current issue count. Choose an issue for a particular object to select and frame it. Issues carried in with an opened map are marked Existing. Repair group counts is available here and under World if mesh membership totals need rebuilding.

Validation checks map limits, positions, depth, triangle/shape geometry, missing texture references, missing portal destinations or joint anchors, and mesh counts. The main limits are 8,000 objects, 40 dynamic objects, and per object 32 shapes, 8 attributes, and 8 anchors. A failed edit that exceeds a map limit is canceled. Test world ↗ also blocks newly introduced validation errors. Resolve reported errors before relying on a playable test.

11. Preview and test

Visual preview

Select ▶ Preview in the viewport to start or pause visual animation. Reset returns the animated view to its starting state. This shows texture effects, weather, and waypoint motion; it is not a playable game or a full physics simulation. You can continue editing while visual preview is active.

Physics test

Select Run physics test in the viewport. The editor builds a temporary simulation of the current map; authored editing controls are disabled until you stop it. Drag a dynamic object with the left mouse button to pull it through the simulation. Pan with middle/right mouse or Space + drag, and zoom with the wheel.

Select Add player ragdoll, then click the viewport to place a temporary player. The toggle stays active for more placements, up to 20. Click or drag a player to select it, then choose Standing, Crouching, or Proning. Hitboxes toggles player damage and movement outlines. Select Restart for a fresh simulation, or Stop physics test or Escape to return to the authored world. Simulation movement and temporary players are not saved.

Playable test

1. Select Test world ↗ in the header.
2. Choose a test mode in Test in Fragline and select Launch test.
3. The editor submits the map, opens the game in another tab, and shows a short map code and a playable-session link. Use Copy code or Copy link if you want to share the temporary session entry, then select Back to editing.

The test request has a 1.5 MiB map limit and requires the game and test services to be available. The code is temporary. The editor lists a Zombie Survival test mode, but this mode is not reliably handed through the current test-ticket path; use one of the other listed modes when checking a playable session. Open map code under Help can reopen an available test map in the editor.

12. Keyboard and mouse reference

Shortcuts work while you are outside text fields and dialogs. During a drag, finish or cancel the drag before using another tool shortcut. Ctrl and Cmd follow the same commands. Letter shortcuts below are lowercase key presses unless shown otherwise; Caps Lock or holding Shift can prevent most of them. S also works as uppercase.

13. Common workflows

Build a basic map with a player spawn

1. Select New. Open World to enter the map name and choose its Mode; return to Inspector when ready to edit objects.
2. Choose Terrain brush (K), select a texture, and drag to draw ground. Use Shapes or Overlays to inspect its collision outline.
3. Select + Marker → Player spawn, then click a starting location. Select the new marker in Objects if needed and set Team, Mode, and region or velocity fields under Gameplay attributes.
4. Open Validation, resolve new issues, then use Run physics test or Test world ↗ as needed.
5. Select Save for an available save location, or Export for a JSON download.

Edit a saved object and its appearance

1. Select Open or Import. Find the object through Objects search or click it on the viewport.
2. Move it with Select, or use Transform… for exact values. For one collision shape, expand Shapes & vertices and adjust that shape separately.
3. Choose a texture in Textures. Set Color / tint, Alpha (opacity), and Depth in Appearance. Use Texture (T) for visual placement without moving the collision shape.
4. Use Validation, then Save or Export. To keep the original saved file, choose another filename instead of Replace an existing file.

Connect two portals

1. Place two Teleport markers with + Marker.
2. Choose Portal link and click the first marker, then the second.
3. Select either marker and inspect Name, Target, and Touch under Gameplay attributes. Use Validation to find a missing target after later deletions.

14. Troubleshooting

The footer shows the most recent status or error. Validation lists map and rendering issues; selecting an object issue frames the affected object.