D.O.R.F. is planned to ship with the same map editor the developers use for the official maps, and the official FAQ says the game will be fully moddable at launch. Because the engine's code is licensed under GPLv3, the source code is also planned for release when the game launches, while the art, audio, maps, missions and game rules remain part of the paid game. The game was unreleased as of September 2026. The store page's user tags include Level Editor and Moddable.
The Map Editor
According to the FAQ, the editor included at launch is the same one used to make all official multiplayer and campaign maps. Map scripting, such as AI behavior or scripted events, is done through attached Lua files, and a guide to it is planned for some time after launch. In April 2024 the developers said a manual, or at least an FAQ, for the editor was likely.
Layout
In April 2024 the developers described how the editor is organized. Terrain tiles and units each have their own category, and a paint category is used to paint terrain quickly, including resource piles. The resource piles might get their own section later if keeping them together proves confusing.
Development of the Editor
Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
July 2023 | The developers called the editor of the time extremely primitive and inefficient, with no real way to place cliffs or elevated terrain. A proper map editor was on the list of remaining work. |
September 29, 2024 | A Map Editor Timelapse video on the official YouTube channel showed a simple scene being built. Its description noted missing features, including a cliff painting tool and a separate painting tool for vegetation. |
March 2025 | The developers said they wanted cliffs that can be stacked and painted in the editor like building blocks. |
September 27, 2025 | A second timelapse showed an expanded editor with a new multitool brush for placing environmental objects quickly. |
April 8, 2026 | A Map Editor video was released during the Kickstarter campaign. |
May 2026 | Incoming map makers were to get an early start on learning the mapping tools and Lua scripting. |
August 2026 | Newer team members tried the editor to learn the tools before work on campaign and skirmish maps begins. |
The dynamic cliff system in development through August 2026 is built for painting and stacking in the editor; see Terrain and Environment. The developers also said in April 2026 that a demo might include a version of the editor with a simpler set of assets.
Scripting With Lua
Lua is how single-player content is built. In April 2024 the developers said basically all single-player scripting will be done in Lua, including the victory conditions of campaign missions. Skirmish victory conditions are chosen in the skirmish menu instead of being set per map. The modes themselves are described on the Game Modes page.
Modding Support
In June 2023 the developers said the game would be very easily moddable and would likely get modding tools and guides at some point. The FAQ, last edited in March 2026, says the game will be fully moddable at launch and will likely have a substantial modding guide either at launch or after it. In August 2024 the developers said a modding guide would be released at some point after development, covering how assets such as units and terrain tiles are made.
Asset Formats
The developers have described several asset details that matter to anyone making content:
Unit and building art is rendered from 3D models in Autodesk Maya with the Arnold renderer, using a camera tilted 30 degrees with orthographic projection (March 2024).
The game uses PNG images. The older SHP sprite format was dropped because PNG is far more efficient and to avoid legal uncertainty over that proprietary format (May 2024).
Assets that change to show team colors are limited to 256 colors so they can be recolored at runtime, while assets without team colors can use full-color PNGs (May and June 2024).
Under the dynamic lighting system each sprite needs a diffuse image plus one auxiliary image that packs normal, depth and specularity data into a single RGBA file (June 2024).
Game rules and sequence data are stored in YAML files (May 2025).
Source Code Release Under GPLv3
In January 2024 the developers said they would likely release the source code in a read-only repository when the game launches. In May 2025 they explained that this is a legal requirement: the code library is licensed under GPLv3 because of the engine's open source origins, which are covered on the Development History page.
They stressed that this does not make the game free. Only the code base will be public; the rest of the game will be sold on Steam.
Part of the game | Availability (as described in May 2025) |
|---|---|
Engine source code | Free and public, in a read-only repository planned for launch |
Art assets | Sold as part of the game |
Audio assets | Sold as part of the game |
Missions | Sold as part of the game |
Maps | Sold as part of the game |
YAML rules and sequence files | Sold as part of the game |
The developers said the released code should help modders, and that other developers could use it for their own games. The FAQ says this includes commercial RTS games, but any game built on the code also falls under GPLv3.
Hotloading
The August 2026 update announced support for hotloading, which the developers called a major engineering breakthrough for their own asset work. Before, changing a unit's weapon or animations, or adjusting the offsets of parts such as turrets, wheels and tank treads, meant saving the rule files, closing and restarting the game, and reloading a map containing that unit. With hotloading, most changes appear as soon as a map with the edited asset is reloaded, and some take effect the moment the file is saved while the game is running.
The update presented hotloading as a development tool that lets the team add assets faster. As of September 2026 the developers had not said whether it will be available to modders.