Exporting One 2D Map to Phaser, Godot, Unity, GameMaker, and Tiled

Choosing a game engine should not mean rebuilding the same map from scratch.

That sounds obvious, but 2D map workflows often become tied to one editor, one file format, and one runtime. The artwork might travel easily; the map data usually does not. Layers, placement, collision, terrain, metadata, and draw order are often rebuilt by hand whenever a prototype moves to a different engine.

We built SpriteShip’s map export workflow around a different idea: keep one editable source map, then package it for the engine or toolchain you need.

A map is more than a screenshot

Exporting a flattened image is useful for a mockup, but it is not enough for an interactive game. A playable map needs information about layers, placed assets, transforms, collision, terrain, navigation, and custom gameplay data.

If that information disappears during export, the receiving engine gets pixels—but not a usable level.

Keep the source map editable

The source map should preserve the facts a creator authored: the map’s layers, terrain, object placement, visual order, transforms, and gameplay-oriented metadata.

That means the same project can be revised without treating an exported file as the new source of truth. Move a prop, reshape terrain, adjust a layer, then export again from the map you actually edit.

Export for the target, not for a lowest common denominator

Different engines expect different project structures. A useful export should respect the target while preserving the meaning of the map.

SpriteShip currently supports map exports for:

Phaser
Godot
Unity
GameMaker
Tiled

Each export is built from the same editable map rather than from a separate manual recreation. Unreal Paper2D export is also available in beta for teams exploring that workflow.

Why cross-engine export matters for small teams

Indie projects change. A prototype may start in a browser game framework, move into a desktop engine, or need to share level data with a teammate using a different tool. Keeping the map editable and portable makes those changes less expensive.

It also helps when you are evaluating engines. You can test the same level in more than one runtime without throwing away the work that got you there.

Export is a handoff, not automatic gameplay

A map export can preserve artwork, placement, layer order, collision information, terrain, and metadata. It cannot decide how a specific game should handle combat, AI, quest logic, save systems, or player movement.

Those choices still belong to the game team. The goal is to make the asset and level handoff dependable, so developers can spend their time on the parts that make their game distinct.