How to use 16x16 tilesets in Godot, Unity and Tiled

This guide shows the same four steps in each tool: import the tilesheet with no smoothing, slice it into 16x16 cells, paint a map, and set up autotiling. It uses the free Harbor Pixels Starter tileset as the example, but the steps work for any 16x16 sheet. Menu names can differ slightly between versions, so check your version's docs (linked below).

Before you start: the three rules for pixel tiles

1. Never filter. Use nearest-neighbour ("Point", "Nearest") filtering so pixels stay crisp.
2. Keep the grid. Tiles are 16x16, so snap your tilemap, camera and sprites to whole pixels.
3. Layer your map. Ground first, walls and props above it. Tall objects (a door, a lamp post) are split into a _top and a _bot cell; put the top cell one tile above the bottom one.

Godot 4

1. Import tilesheet.png. Set Project Settings → Rendering → Textures → Default Texture Filter to Nearest (or set Texture Filter on the node).
2. Add a TileMapLayer node and create a new TileSet resource in the Inspector. Set Tile Size to 16x16 before adding the atlas.
3. Open the TileSet panel at the bottom and drag tilesheet.png onto it. Answer Yes when asked to create tiles automatically. Fully transparent cells are skipped.
4. Paint in the TileMap panel. For top-down depth, enable Y Sort Enabled on the layer that holds props.
5. Autotiling: in the TileSet resource add a Terrain Set (mode Match Sides suits a 16-tile edge set), add a terrain, then in the TileSet panel's Select mode assign each grass tile to the terrain and set its peering bits for the sides that have grass. The Starter's tile names list the mask (N=1, E=2, S=4, W=8).

Official docs: Using TileSets and Using TileMaps.

Unity (2D Tilemap)

1. Import the PNG. In the Inspector set Texture Type to Sprite (2D and UI), Sprite Mode to Multiple, Pixels Per Unit to 16, Filter Mode to Point (no filter) and Compression to None. Apply.
2. Open the Sprite Editor, choose Slice → Type: Grid By Cell Size, enter 16 x 16, Slice, Apply.
3. Create a Tilemap (GameObject → 2D Object → Tilemap), open Window → 2D → Tile Palette, create a palette, and drag the sliced sheet into it. Unity creates a Tile asset for each sprite.
4. For crisp rendering add a Pixel Perfect Camera and set its Assets Pixels Per Unit to 16. For top-down sorting set Transparency Sort Mode to Custom Axis with Y = 1 in Graphics settings so props in front draw over props behind.
5. Autotiling: install the 2D Tilemap Extras package and create a Rule Tile. Add a rule per autotile mask, marking the neighbour arrows for N, E, S and W.

Official docs: Creating Tiles, Rule Tiles, 2D Pixel Perfect.

Tiled

1. Open the included tiled/sample-scene.tmx. It uses harbor-pixels-starter.tsx, which points at 16x16/tilesheet.png, so keep the folder structure from the ZIP.
2. For your own map: File → New → New Tileset, type Based on Tileset Image, tile width and height 16, and pick the tilesheet. Prefer an external .tsx file so terrain data can be shared between maps.
3. Use the Stamp Brush for tiles and keep ground and objects on separate tile layers.
4. Autotiling: a 16-tile edge set maps to Tiled's Edge Set terrain type (a complete 2-terrain edge set has 16 tiles). Switch the tileset to Terrain Sets mode, create a set, mark the sides of each grass tile, then paint with the Terrain Brush.

Official docs: Using Terrains.

Common problems

Made with AI assistance.