Export Formats

PIXL exports to every major game engine and level editor.

Supported formats

Tiled

.tsj tileset + .tmj tilemaps + PNG atlas — the most common level editor format

Godot

TileMap resources + PNG, ready to drop into Godot Engine

Unity

Tile palette data + PNG atlas for Unity's tilemap system

TexturePacker

JSON Hash metadata + PNG atlas — works with 48+ engines including Phaser, Pixi.js, libGDX, Bevy, and more

GB Studio

Game Boy compatible export for retro projects

PNG

Individual tile PNGs at any scale — works everywhere

GIF

Animated sprites with frame timing baked in

CLI export

# Export everything to Tiled format
pixl export tileset.pax --format tiled --out ./export/

# Export to Godot
pixl export tileset.pax --format godot --out ./export/

# Just the atlas
pixl atlas tileset.pax --out atlas.png --map atlas.json --scale 2

Tiled export

The Tiled export produces:

tileset.tsj — Tiled tileset JSON with collision shapes and pax_name properties
tileset.png — packed atlas image
{tilemap_name}.tmj — one Tiled map per [tilemap.*] section in your PAX file

Multi-layer depth sorting

When your PAX file defines multi-tile objects with above_player_rows / below_player_rows, the tilemap export generates 3 depth layers instead of 1:

Layer	Purpose
`below_player`	Object rows below the player (trunks, building bases)
`terrain`	Ground tiles + base_tile fill under objects
`above_player`	Object rows above the player (canopy, rooftops)

This gives you the standard top-down depth setup in any engine that imports Tiled maps. Your player/entity layer goes between below_player and above_player in the engine's draw order.

# PAX example — cottage with depth splitting
[object.cottage]
size_tiles        = "3x4"
base_tile         = "grass_plain"
above_player_rows = [0, 1]        # roof renders in front of player
below_player_rows = [2, 3]        # base renders behind player

tiles = '''
roof_l      roof_c      roof_r
wall_win_l  wall_door   wall_win_r
wall_base_l wall_base_c wall_base_r
shadow_l    shadow_c    shadow_r
'''

# Place it in a tilemap
[[tilemap.village.objects]]
object = "cottage"
x = 5
y = 3

Objects with neither list specified default all rows to above_player.

TexturePacker JSON Hash

The atlas JSON uses the TexturePacker JSON Hash format — the most widely supported sprite atlas standard. It works out of the box with:

Phaser, Pixi.js, libGDX, Cocos2d-x, HaxeFlixel, MonoGame, Bevy, Macroquad, LOVE, Defold, and dozens more.

{
  "frames": {
    "wall_solid": {
      "frame": { "x": 1, "y": 1, "w": 32, "h": 32 },
      "sourceSize": { "w": 32, "h": 32 },
      "pivot": { "x": 0.5, "y": 0.5 }
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "app": "pixl",
    "image": "atlas.png",
    "format": "RGBA8888"
  }
}

Composite atlas

Composite sprites get their own atlas file (atlas_composites.png) with every variant and animation frame packed as separate entries:

warrior          — base layout
warrior:shield   — shield variant
warrior:walk:1   — walk frame 1
warrior:walk:2   — walk frame 2

9-slice support

Tiles with 9-slice borders include the border data in the atlas JSON, so your UI framework can stretch them correctly.