Create isometric and hex game tiles

Last updated: October 13, 2026

Make ground tiles and buildings that snap to one isometric or hex grid, then export them as a tileset your engine imports.

Before you start

  • Decide the grid once for the whole set: isometric or hex, the camera angle, and the width of one tile in pixels. Tiles export together as one tileset only when they share all three.
  • Each tile is one run. See Creative Units for how runs are charged.

Steps

  1. In a session, open Create tile from the side panel (under See all tools if it is not listed). The Tile grid preview shows the outline the run will draw on.

  2. Under Tile grid, choose Isometric or Hex. For a hex map, also choose Pointy top or Flat top to match the way your map's hexes point.

  3. Choose the camera. An isometric grid offers 2:1 dimetric (the pixel-art and city-builder standard) and True isometric; a hex grid offers 3/4 view and Top-down. Custom takes an Angle of your own.

  4. Set Tile to the width of one cell in pixels. The line under it shows the size of one tile, such as 256 × 128 px per tile.

  5. Set how big the subject is. On an isometric grid, Width and Depth are its footprint in tiles; on either grid, Height is how tall it stands, from Ground for a flat tile up to a tower. A hex tile covers one cell.

  6. Describe what stands on the tile: the subject and the style, not the camera or the outline, which the grid already sets.

  7. Click Create tile. The run draws over the grid's outline, then cuts the tile out and fits it to its cell.

Result

The tile lands on the board as a PNG on a transparent background. It records where it stands on its grid, so an engine places it on the cell without measuring it, and tiles of one grid export together as a tileset.

Export tiles as a tileset

  1. Switch the session to Gallery and select the tiles: Cmd-click on a Mac, Ctrl-click on Windows.

  2. Right-click a selected tile and choose Download as....

  3. Under Tileset, choose your engine, then click Download All. The zip includes a README with the engine's import steps and the grid settings the map needs.

Godot 4

A TileSet resource (.tres) over one atlas. Assign it to a TileMapLayer.

Unity

One atlas with a .meta file that slices it into sprites, each pivoted on its cell.

Tiled

A .tsx tileset of one image per tile, and a .tmx map that places each tile once.

Atlas + JSON

One atlas with a TexturePacker JSON description, for PixiJS, Phaser and Cocos.

Seamless textures made with tiling on can join a tileset too, as square tiles of their own size.

Production tips

  • Hold one look across the set. Add an approved tile under Style reference, or use a reference set, for every tile you make after it. Keep Light left or Light right the same on every tile so the shadows agree.
  • Show a building's other sides. On an isometric grid, set Facing to 90°, 180° or 270° and add the first view under Style reference: the run draws the same building from another side, on the same footprint. A tileset names the facings of one subject after it, such as tower_0 and tower_90.
  • Give every sprite the same canvas. Under Output canvas, choose Fixed size and Stand on base: each tile is placed on one canvas size with its base on the same point, which some engines and sprite pipelines expect.
  • Ground first, then buildings. Make the flat tiles with Height at Ground, check they read as one surface side by side, then build on them.
  • The whole pipeline. For a full set from grid to engine, see Make an isometric tileset for your engine.

If something goes wrong

  • "The tile came back off its grid." Every tile is checked against its footprint and redrawn once if it is off; this one was still off after the redraw, so it was not delivered. Run it again, or pick another model from the model menu at the top of the tool.
  • A building spills over its footprint. The footprint is smaller than the building described. Increase Width and Depth, or describe a smaller building.
  • The Tileset choice is greyed out. It says why under it: only tiles made with Create tile, or seamless textures, export as a tileset, and every tile must share one grid, with the same shape and tile size. Remake the odd tile on the set's grid.
  • Tiles come in at different sizes in the engine. Their canvases differ. Use Fixed size with Stand on base under Output canvas, or export as a tileset, which places each tile by its cell.

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