TechsWill

How Greyboxing Levels Saves Time & Sanity in 2025

by
Flat-shaded 3D game scene showing a greybox layout with placeholder platforms, ramps, and obstacles, all inside a grid-based editor in Unity or Unreal

In the fast-paced world of game development, great level design isn’t just about beautiful visuals — it’s about layout, flow, player feel, and pacing. And in 2025, more teams than ever are using greyboxing (or blockouts) as a foundational step in their design pipeline.

Whether you’re working in Unity, Unreal, Godot, or your own engine, greyboxing levels can save hundreds of hours — while uncovering gameplay issues before art assets ever hit the scene.

🔧 What is Greyboxing?

Greyboxing is the process of building a level using only simple, untextured 3D primitives — cubes, planes, cylinders — to define:

  • Basic layout and geometry
  • Player routes and movement space
  • Enemy and objective placement
  • Verticality, line-of-sight, and rhythm

It’s called “greyboxing” because these placeholder shapes are typically rendered in neutral grey — no lighting, no polish, just pure function.

🎯 Why Greyboxing Is a Must in 2025

1. Catch Gameplay Issues Early

You’ll know within minutes if a boss arena is too tight, or if a puzzle room feels confusing. No need to waste hours building a stunning castle — only to learn the layout frustrates players.

2. Enable Team Parallelization

While designers finalize blockouts, artists can begin modeling sets, and audio designers can map trigger zones — all in parallel using a shared structure.

3. Save on Rework

Modular greyboxes make iteration painless. Need to move a platform 2m to the right? Done. Try that with a baked-in, art-heavy level — and watch your production time balloon.

🛠 Recommended Greyboxing Tools

  • Unity: ProBuilder, Grid & Snap, Scene View Shortcuts
  • Unreal Engine: BSP Brushes, Level Designer Toolkit
  • Godot: GridMaps and CSG Shapes
  • Blender: For prefab planning and graybox exports

💡 Greyboxing Best Practices

  • Use player-sized prefabs (1.8m capsule, for example) to validate scale
  • Color-code elements (e.g., red = obstacle, green = collectible)
  • Playtest early and often with teammates and testers
  • Document traversal and puzzle flow for each blockout

📬 Final Word

You don’t need high-res art to know if your level feels good. Greyboxing helps developers iterate on feel, layout, and function before investing time into polish.

In 2025, greyboxing is no longer optional — it’s your level designer’s safety net, sanity check, and launchpad for better player experiences.

📚 Suggested Posts

Using GenAI to Build Entire Game Worlds — The Tools and Limits in 2025

by
Illustration of an AI-powered computer generating a fantasy game map with terrain, rivers, and icons of NPCs, quests, and structures, glowing under a holographic globe

Imagine describing your game’s setting in a single sentence — and watching a detailed, explorable world take shape before your eyes. In 2025, Generative AI (GenAI) is getting close to making this a reality for developers, designers, and solo creators alike.

From terrain layout to NPC backstories, GenAI tools now help construct rich, living worlds — saving time, fueling creativity, and enabling teams to focus on what matters most: gameplay, polish, and player experience.

🌍 What Can GenAI Actually Build?

While GenAI isn’t a total replacement for designers, it can now generate the raw materials and foundational logic that power game worlds. Here’s what’s currently possible:

  • Procedural terrain & biomes – forests, mountains, deserts, layered topography
  • Questlines & narratives – branching story arcs based on input themes
  • NPCs & civilizations – backstories, names, relationships, jobs, inventory
  • Settlement & dungeon layouts – with door placement, enemy spawns, and puzzles

GenAI excels at world seeding — providing a structured first draft of locations, lore, and systems you can refine.

🛠️ Tools for GenAI Worldbuilding

1. Inworld AI

Create NPCs with personality, memory, and emotion. Feed it a setting (e.g. “elven warrior in a corrupt forest kingdom”) and get back dialogue trees and motivation logic ready for integration.

2. Ludo.ai

Best for brainstorming — generate lore, items, and mission structures. It can also remix existing world structures based on design goals.

3. Scenario.gg + Leonardo.Ai

Generate environmental art, mood boards, and tile-based terrain art based on your world theme. Train it with your own visual style.

4. Promethean AI

For 3D environments — describe what you want, and it builds a blockout or populates a scene using Unreal or Unity assets.

🧠 What It Can’t (Yet) Replace

  • ⚠️ Moment-to-moment level pacing – GenAI can lay out a dungeon, but it doesn’t know when tension needs to rise or when to give players a breather
  • ⚠️ Fine-tuned quest logic – it may suggest side missions, but it won’t validate edge cases, checkpoints, or event flags without human QA
  • ⚠️ World cohesion – you still need lore consistency, biome transitions, and thematic alignment

In short: GenAI builds volume and variation. Designers add intent and emotion.

🔮 Future Outlook

We’re seeing studios build internal pipelines like:

  • Prompt → world generation → graybox export
  • Auto-lore → NPC seeding → location tagging
  • AI editor bots → Unity placement helpers + narration overlay

The future of worldbuilding will be co-created — with AI as your collaborative cartographer, lore assistant, and dungeon architect.

📚 Suggested Posts

Top 7 No-Code Tools for Game Designers in 2025

by
Colorful interface showing drag-and-drop blocks, character sprites, UI menus, and logic connectors, symbolizing no-code game design tools like GDevelop and Buildbox

Game development has never been more accessible. In 2025, no-code tools allow artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to build real games — without ever touching a line of code.

From drag-and-drop environments to visual logic systems, these tools empower creators to launch prototypes, monetize games, or test ideas without hiring engineers or learning Unity/C++.

🧰 Why No-Code Is Gaining Steam

No-code development platforms have exploded thanks to:

  • Low barriers to entry
  • Built-in export to Web, Android, iOS, and even Steam
  • Rapid iteration for game jams, marketing tests, and MVPs
  • Creator economy demand — more creators want to build games to support their content

🏆 Top 7 No-Code Game Tools of 2025

1. GDevelop (Free)

Open-source engine that supports 2D game creation with events-based logic and great Web export support. Drag-and-drop meets real power — ideal for beginners and educators.

2. Buildbox (Free + Paid)

Known for mobile games and hyper-casual hits. Strong template support and AdMob monetization tools built in.

3. PlayCanvas (Free + Paid)

A powerful 3D WebGL engine that runs in-browser. Good for small teams prototyping multiplayer games or 3D portfolios with logic connectors.

4. Scratch 3.0 (Free)

While often used in education, Scratch’s event-driven system and community support make it a fantastic sandbox for idea testing and kids’ games.

5. Construct 3 (Free + Paid)

Visual logic meets robust export tools. Popular among indie devs launching HTML5 and mobile puzzle games.

6. Flowlab (Free + Paid)

Game builder with easy classroom and personal use cases. Build, test, and publish from browser.

7. Core (Free)

Like Roblox for older audiences — full 3D multiplayer game kits with monetization paths and a live community.

🎯 Who Should Use These Tools?

  • Content creators and YouTubers building mini-games for fans
  • Students and hobbyists launching passion projects
  • Indies prototyping before hiring devs
  • Agencies testing branded games for marketing

📬 Final Thoughts

You don’t need a CS degree to ship a game anymore. In 2025, the best tool is the one you’ll actually use. Start small, iterate fast, and let your ideas lead the build.

Whether you’re validating a concept or launching a commercial product, these no-code tools are making the game industry more open — and more fun — than ever.

📚 Suggested Posts

Why Level Design Is Going Modular in 2025: Techniques from Hit Games

by
A stylized environment design board with modular terrain blocks, bridges, walls, and a player path overlay, inspired by top games like Fortnite and Valheim

From open-world RPGs to rogue-lite platformers, one thing is clear in 2025 — modular level design has become the gold standard. Games like Fortnite, Valheim, Hades II, and even indie roguelikes are using modular environments to cut dev time, increase replayability, and support live content pipelines.

But what does “modular” really mean in level design — and why is it so powerful?

🔧 What is Modular Level Design?

In traditional level design, you’d build each scene manually — terrain, layout, walls, props, lighting — crafted uniquely per level. In modular workflows, you design environment kits: reusable components like corridors, towers, bridges, loot spots, and puzzle triggers.

These kits become building blocks that can be reused, rearranged, and retextured to quickly design entire worlds — without starting from scratch every time.

🎯 Why It Works So Well in 2025

  • Scalability: Add new content faster with consistent aesthetics
  • LiveOps Ready: Swap modular zones for limited-time events
  • Replayability: Randomize layouts using procedural logic and tile sets
  • Team-Friendly: Artists and designers can work in parallel using prefab libraries

🕹 Examples from Modern Games

🎮 Fortnite (Epic Games)

The world map is built on a modular grid. Developers rotate, reskin, and remix tile sections to introduce new POIs, events, and season changes without rebuilding terrain logic.

⚒️ Valheim

Biome-based environments use modular rocks, huts, and tree packs for quick worldgen. Procedural generation + modular tiles = endless variety with cohesive visuals.

💀 Dead Cells / Hades II

Combat arenas and corridors are selected from modular “chunks,” creating layouts that feel handcrafted while ensuring quick loading and branching logic.

🧱 Tools to Build Modular Levels

  • Unity: Grid snapping, nested prefabs, ScriptableObjects for tile data
  • Unreal Engine: Actor blueprints, World Partition, Data Layers
  • Blender: Kitbashing and low-poly blockout libraries
  • ProBuilder: Great for greyboxing and blockout prototypes

🎨 Design Tips

  • Stick to a consistent scale and pivot for all modules
  • Design around 90° and 45° angles for snapping simplicity
  • Use color coding during blockout (e.g. red = hazard, blue = puzzle)
  • Create a module library wiki so your whole team understands usage

📬 Final Thoughts

Level design is no longer just about creativity — it’s about efficiency and adaptability. Modular design empowers small teams to build large worlds. It supports procedural and manual design. And it makes seasonal updates a breeze.

Start thinking like a LEGO master — and watch your game worlds scale up with style and speed.

📚 Suggested Posts

Google Play SDK Index 2025: What Devs Need to Know

by
Flat design banner showing a mobile app compliance checklist, a warning icon, and the Google Play logo on a blue background with system UI elements

In 2025, Google Play is doubling down on transparency, privacy, and performance — and the Google Play SDK Index is at the center of it all. For developers, this means SDKs are no longer just dependencies — they’re liabilities if not monitored properly.

Whether you’re shipping a new game or updating an existing title, staying compliant with the SDK Index is essential for smooth publishing, update approvals, and user trust.

🔍 What is the SDK Index?

The SDK Index is a public registry where Google lists third-party SDKs, assessing them based on:

  • Security risk (vulnerabilities, permissions misuse)
  • Stability (crash rate thresholds)
  • Policy compliance (user data access, background behavior)

If an SDK you’re using is flagged — even indirectly through a plugin — it could cause your app submission or update to be rejected.

🚨 What Changed in 2025

As of Q1 2025, Google Play has started actively blocking app updates that use SDKs identified as “non-compliant” or “high-risk” unless you update or remove them.

This applies to SDKs:

  • Linked via Gradle or Maven
  • Bundled inside Unity or Unreal plugins
  • Dynamically loaded via remote code

📋 Actionable Steps for Developers

1. Regularly Audit Your SDKs

Go to Google Play Console > Policy > SDK Index and review the list of SDKs flagged in your apps.

2. Replace Outdated SDKs

Check for updates via your SDK provider. If no update exists, consider replacing it or contacting the SDK vendor to confirm policy alignment.

3. Use Static Analysis Tools

Use tools like Android Lint, Android Studio Profiler, and IntelliJ IDEA to scan for risky or redundant dependencies.

🧩 What About Game Engines Like Unity?

If you’re using Unity Ads, Firebase, Adjust, or other SDKs inside Unity or Unreal, you’re still responsible for ensuring they’re compliant. Make sure the version of the plugin you’ve integrated:

  • Has updated privacy and permission declarations
  • Doesn’t violate background behavior restrictions

💡 Pro Tip: Use Unity’s Package Manager and custom manifest files to track SDK versions and flags.

📬 Final Word

Don’t wait for your next update to be rejected. By actively managing SDK compliance, you ensure:

  • Faster app review times
  • Fewer user complaints (due to stability issues)
  • Long-term publishing success

The SDK Index isn’t a warning — it’s a new standard. Treat it like a partner in QA, and you’ll spend more time launching and less time debugging approvals.

📚 Suggested Posts

AI-Powered QA Testing: How Automation Is Catching Bugs Before Launch

by

In 2025, quality assurance isn’t about armies of manual testers clicking through menus — it’s about intelligent bots, automated test pipelines, and AI-powered regression tracking that runs 24/7. QA is no longer the bottleneck — it’s your secret weapon.

Thanks to GenAI and automation frameworks, modern studios are catching more bugs, shipping faster, and delivering smoother player experiences than ever before. Here’s how.

🤖 Why Traditional QA Doesn’t Cut It Anymore

Manual QA struggles to scale. Whether you’re testing 15 character loadouts across 4 resolutions or ensuring your leaderboard survives a server restart, manual teams can’t keep pace with daily builds.

AI-driven QA changes the equation. With automation, you can simulate thousands of player actions across multiple builds, while bots analyze logs and flag edge cases in real time.

🧪 The New AI QA Stack

1. Unity Test Framework + PlayMode Tests

With the Unity Test Framework, you can automate:

  • PlayMode simulations
  • Collision triggers
  • Input sequences

These are great for testing logic like achievements, abilities, or event unlocks.

2. GameDriver + AltUnity for End-to-End Testing

GameDriver allows external scripts to control and monitor the game through automation layers. Combine it with AltUnity to script test flows across UI and gameplay logic — just like a real player.

3. Copilot + GPT QA Scripting

Use GitHub Copilot or Claude to write repeatable test cases:

// Test case: enemy spawns on wave 5
[Test]
public void EnemyWaveSpawnTest() {
    Assert.IsTrue(GameManager.SpawnWave(5).Contains("Boss"));
}

📊 Bonus: AI Log Analysis

Don’t dig through logs manually. Tools like Backtrace, LogRocket, or custom GPT agents can scan logs, identify crash patterns, and even suggest possible causes — saving hours of triage.

🎮 Real Use Case: Multiplayer Match QA

An indie studio used AI test bots to simulate 1,000 real-time matches overnight. The result:

  • Discovered race conditions in leaderboard updates
  • Detected UI bugs only reproducible under network stress
  • Fixed a memory leak before submission to Play Store

📈 Benefits of Automated Game QA

  • Catch bugs before players do
  • Regressions flagged daily — not weekly
  • Increased test coverage with fewer people
  • Ship faster with higher confidence

QA is no longer a backroom step — it’s a part of devops. And AI is leading the charge.

📚 Suggested Posts

Free & Paid AI Tools Every Game Dev Should Know in 2025

by

AI has gone from hype to habit in the game dev world. In 2025, if you’re still building every system by hand — art, code, dialogue, testing — you’re likely wasting time that could be automated, streamlined, or creatively enhanced.

We’ve rounded up the best AI tools used across the game development lifecycle — from concept art to production, playtesting, and narrative design. These tools are not just time-savers; they’re innovation enablers.

🎨 AI Tools for Art & Assets

1. Scenario.gg (Paid + Free Tier)

Generate custom, style-consistent 2D sprites and concept art by training on your own datasets. Scenario helps maintain visual consistency across modular assets and promotional material.

2. Leonardo.Ai (Free + Premium)

For faster ideation and concept work — generate weapons, environments, characters using community prompts and custom models.

3. Artbreeder (Free)

Mix existing visuals to generate new characters or environments. Great for concepting and worldbuilding reference boards.

🧠 AI Tools for Code & Logic

4. GitHub Copilot (Paid)

Your AI coding assistant inside Visual Studio Code or JetBrains IDEs. Writes boilerplate code, suggests methods, and even refactors logic. Especially helpful for Unity C# and Unreal C++ workflows.

5. Replit Ghostwriter (Free + Paid)

A more web/app-focused pair programmer — great for rapid prototyping game menus, APIs, and backend logic. Supports multiple languages with inline autocomplete.

🎮 AI for Narrative & NPC Systems

6. Inworld AI (Free + Pro)

Create emotionally intelligent NPCs with lifelike voice, memory, personality, and branching logic. Integrates with Unity and Unreal and supports dialog trees powered by GenAI.

7. Ludo.ai (Free + Premium)

Generates game ideas, marketing copy, and design directions based on existing genre data. Also useful for brainstorming new mechanics.

🧪 AI Tools for Testing & QA

8. GameDriver (Paid)

Automates gameplay testing using scripts and virtual inputs. Supports regression testing and AI-powered test case generation. Ideal for mid-to-large studios or complex multiplayer games.

9. TestRail + GenAI Plugins

Extend traditional test management with AI-generated test cases, suggestions, and coverage tracking. Write fewer test plans, cover more ground.

🔄 Bonus: Workflow Integrators

10. Zapier + GPT Plugins

Use for automating backend tasks: compile bug reports, summarize changelogs, post patch notes to Discord automatically from Jira or Trello cards.

📦 Tool Selection Tips

  • Pick 1 AI per phase to avoid overlap and chaos
  • Use style locks in art tools to preserve brand/IP aesthetics
  • Train your AI workflows just like you would a dev pipeline — consistent inputs = consistent output

These tools won’t replace dev teams — but they’ll definitely replace dev tasks that shouldn’t consume your best people’s time. Free them to focus on high-level polish, innovation, and player feedback.

📚 Suggested Posts

Modular Game Design: Why More Studios Are Building Games Like LEGO in 2025

by

Game development in 2025 is no longer about building everything from scratch. The smartest studios — from lean indie teams to AAA giants — are embracing modular game design as a way to create scalable, maintainable, and rapid-to-deploy content.

Think of it like LEGO: instead of sculpting your game as one giant statue, you’re assembling it from carefully designed, reusable bricks — each crafted to solve a particular problem, and each capable of being reused, re-skinned, or repurposed.

🧱 What is Modular Game Design?

At its core, modular game design is the practice of creating discrete components — whether systems, prefabs, scripts, or UI elements — that can be plugged into multiple parts of a game or even different projects entirely.

Instead of hand-coding level mechanics or duplicating enemy AI logic, developers create template systems that are:

  • Reusable across scenes and levels
  • Scalable without rewriting code
  • Easy to maintain, test, and debug

🚀 Why It’s Taking Over in 2025

1. Faster Prototyping & Iteration

Need a new boss fight system or dialog engine? With modular design, you’re not starting from zero. Devs now maintain personal or studio libraries of reusable systems that can be plugged into new projects in minutes.

2. Better Team Collaboration

Modular components let artists, designers, and engineers work in parallel. While an artist polishes modular environment blocks, a developer wires the gameplay logic into prefabs that can be reused by the whole team.

3. LiveOps-Ready Architecture

Games like Fortnite or Genshin Impact are built on systems that support fast content injection. Need to push a new timed event? Drop it into a modular hook — no patch needed.

🧰 Tools That Make Modular Game Design Easy

  • Unity: Prefabs, ScriptableObjects, Addressables, Custom Editors
  • Unreal Engine: Blueprints, Actor Components, Data Tables, World Partition
  • Blender: Asset packs and reusable kits for modular level design
  • Trello + Notion: Modular design documentation and logic tracking

🔧 Real-World Example: Modular Combat System

Say you’re building a top-down shooter. Instead of hardcoding bullet logic into the player object, you build a modular weapon system that handles:

  • Firing logic
  • Cooldown timers
  • Projectile behaviors

Attach it to any entity — player, enemy, boss — and it just works. Later, you swap the bullet prefab or audio with no changes to the core logic.

📈 Final Thoughts: Build Less, Reuse More

Modular design isn’t just a developer trick — it’s an efficiency mindset. When your game architecture is modular, you reduce bugs, empower your team, and create content faster.

As 2025 rolls forward, modular design will be a defining trend — not just in code, but in the way we think about building games.

📚 Suggested Posts

Leveraging TikTok Spark Ads for Game Installs in 2025

by
Illustration of a smartphone displaying a TikTok Spark Ad with a large 'Install Now' button, coins floating around it, and performance graphs indicating user growth, set against a blue background

In 2025, TikTok continues to dominate as one of the most influential platforms for mobile game discovery. With short-form content at the heart of modern user attention, Spark Ads have emerged as one of the most effective tools for marketers looking to turn views into installs.

But unlike traditional in-feed ads, Spark Ads leverage creator content that already exists — content that feels authentic and has built-in trust. It’s this trust that converts.

🎯 What Are Spark Ads?

Spark Ads allow advertisers to boost organic TikToks — whether from creators, influencers, or even your studio’s own profile — as sponsored content. This approach blends native user-generated content with paid reach to increase both engagement and installs.

By promoting a real creator’s post (with their permission), your ad retains likes, comments, and shares from the original post. That means it looks and feels organic — not interruptive.

📈 How Spark Ads Are Driving Installs in 2025

1. Authenticity Drives Conversions

Players trust creators. A gameplay review, reaction, or even a “day-in-the-life” TikTok featuring your game can outperform polished studio trailers.

2. First-3-Second Hook Strategy

The most successful Spark Ads in 2025 are built for swipe culture — bold hooks, vertical framing, clear CTA overlays, and tight 15-second cuts. Think:

  • “This game lets you steal from dragons…”
  • “I didn’t expect this level of chaos in a farming sim…”

3. Retargeting Warm Audiences

Once viewers engage, you can retarget those who watched or clicked using TikTok Ads Manager’s Spark retargeting options. Combine that with install deep links, and you close the loop from watch to play.

📋 Spark Ad Best Practices

  • Use the TikTok Creator Marketplace to find influencers who align with your genre
  • Add captions and cut for sound-off viewing
  • Always A/B test different hook intros every 7–10 days
  • Use localized creators to reach segmented audiences

🛠 Suggested Tools for Creative Optimization

  • CapCut: Creator-friendly editing tool
  • Playable Factory: UGC-turned-playable ads
  • TikTok Top Ads Library: Research what’s working by region

📬 Final Thoughts

TikTok Spark Ads are more than just a paid placement — they’re the evolution of influencer marketing blended with performance media. In a world where players crave authenticity and speed, Spark Ads give your game a shot at virality and high ROAS — with the social proof built-in.

📚 Suggested Posts

How to Optimize ROAS in a Privacy-First Ad World (2025)

by
Illustration showing a mobile ad dashboard with a rising ROAS chart and privacy lock icons in the background, symbolizing privacy-first performance marketing in 2025

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is still the #1 metric for performance marketers — but the game has changed.

In the post-IDFA, post-third-party-cookie landscape, optimizing ROAS in 2025 requires smarter strategies, cleaner data, and privacy-compliant creativity.

Here’s how top app marketers are doing it.

🔐 1. Understand the New Privacy Stack

Platforms like iOS (SKAdNetwork 4.0), Google’s Privacy Sandbox, and ATT enforcement limit granular targeting.

What this means:

  • Attribution windows are shorter
  • Conversion modeling is essential
  • You must rely more on aggregated performance signals

🎯 Action:
Start learning SKAdNetwork best practices from Apple.

🎨 2. Invest in Better Creative Testing

Creative is now the #1 lever you control.
A high-performing ad can increase ROAS 2–5x.

Tips:

  • Use motion-first ads with CTA early
  • A/B test hooks every 7–10 days
  • Optimize for silent autoplay and vertical video formats

📊 Tools: Meta Ad Library, TikTok Top Ads, Playable Factory

📈 3. Shift Budgets Toward Contextual Targeting

No more precise audience behavior = shift your focus to context:

  • Serve your RPG game ad during fantasy content
  • Match ad language with app store locale
  • Use creative cues that resonate with genre

🛠 Tools: InMobi, Adikteev, Google Ads (keyword & topic targeting)

🔄 4. Use Probabilistic Attribution Carefully

Where allowed, models like MMM (Media Mix Modeling) and probabilistic attribution can fill gaps.

Just don’t rely on them alone. Combine with:

  • SKAN data
  • CRM data (email opens, sessions)
  • App store analytics

🤖 5. Embrace AI for ROAS Prediction

AI tools can forecast ROAS performance based on:

  • Early click behavior
  • Creative performance
  • Genre benchmarks

🧠 Explore tools like Liftoff and Adjust Predict to simulate campaign scaling.

✅ Final Thoughts

ROAS is no longer a pure output of media + spend.
It’s a formula influenced by:

  • Creative effectiveness
  • Smart placement strategy
  • Realistic attribution in a privacy-first world

Adapt, test often, and lean into creative & context — that’s how growth happens in 2025.

📬 Subscribe to TechsWill for monthly insights into ad performance and UA best practices.