📘 How to build

Build your first world in 5 minutes

This guide takes you from the home page to a published obby that anyone can play. Everything here works today in the Obby Builder, right in your browser. No download, and you don't need an account until you publish.

🛠 Open the Obby Builder 🌍 See player-built worlds

1Open the builder

On the home page, click 🛠 Start building (next to ▶ Start Playing) and then Open the Obby Builder. You can also go to Create in the top menu. The builder opens with a small starter course, so you can test-play it right away.

The Obby Builder: sections on the left, the course map and section list in the middle, name, theme and publish panels below — The Obby Builder. ① sections to add, ② your course, ③ name & look, ④ test, share & publish.

Your work saves automatically in this browser, so you can close the tab and come back later.

2Add sections

An obby is a row of sections that players run through from left to right. Click a section in panel ① to add it. It goes after the selected section, or at the end if nothing is selected. The 🟢 start and 🏁 finish are added for you. A course has 3 to 40 sections.

The section palette with Gap, Coin run, Step up, Step down, Kill bricks, Floating hops, Jump pad, Moving platform, Vanishing bridge and Checkpoint — Panel ①: every section, with a one-line tip. You can also start from a template (bottom).

3Arrange your course

The course map at the top of panel ② is drawn by the same code the game uses, so what you see is what players get: green ground, 🟥 kill bricks, 🟨 jump pads, 🟧 vanishing blocks, 🟪 moving platforms, 🪙 coins and 🚩 checkpoints.

Select a section by clicking it in the list (it lights up). Click it again to unselect.
◀ Move / Move ▶ shifts the selected section. ✕ Remove deletes it.
↶ Undo takes back your last change. 🧹 Clear empties the course.
🎲 Surprise me builds a random course with a checkpoint every few sections. It's a good place to start remixing.

The course panel with a selected Kill bricks section and the Move, Remove, Undo, Clear and Surprise me buttons — Panel ②: the selected section (outlined) can be moved or removed.

4Name it & pick a look

Give your world a name (3-40 characters, and keep it friendly). Pick one of 6 themes for the sky and block colours, then a difficulty:

🟢 Easy: short gaps, slow moving platforms. Great for a first course.
🟡 Normal: a bit wider and faster.
🔴 Hard: the widest gaps and fastest movers.

The Name and look panel with a world name, six theme swatches and Easy, Normal and Hard difficulty — Panel ③: name, theme and difficulty. The course map updates as you change them.

5Test play

Click ▶ Test play. Your obby opens in the game with your avatar (or a guest Swayling if you're not logged in). Press ▶ Start, or Enter.

Controls: ← → or A D to move · Space / ↑ / W to jump (hold for higher) · P to pause. On a phone, use the on-screen buttons. Game controllers work too.

Test-playing a custom obby. Touching a kill brick sends you back to your last 🚩 checkpoint.

When you're done, click ✏️ Edit (or “← Back to the builder”) to keep changing it. Player-built worlds don't post scores or pay Arcade Coins, so nobody can farm a 3-section course.

6Share or publish

🔗 Copy share link gives you a link that opens your obby for anyone, with no account needed. The whole course is stored inside the link.

🚀 Publish (log in first) gives your world:

its own page with a “Built by @you” credit and a 🔁 Remix button,
a spot under Discover → 🛠 Player-built and on the home page,
a real play counter (one play per player per day), which also feeds the 🏆 Top worlds and Top builders lists.

The Test, share and publish panel after publishing, with a link to the new world page — Panel ④ after publishing.

A published world page showing Built by, the play count, Play now, Remix and Share — Your world's page. Share it, remix it, or remove it later (only you or the founder can remove it).

You can publish up to 5 worlds an hour and keep up to 20 live. Want to change a published world? Click 🔁 Remix, publish the new version, then remove the old one.

💡 Tips for a great obby

Start gentle. Open with a 🪙 coin run or a gap so players learn to jump before the first kill brick.
Checkpoint every 3-4 hazards. Restarting far back is the #1 reason players quit.
One trick per stretch. A run of jump pads or vanishing bridges feels designed. A random mix feels messy.
Step down before a jump pad. Pads launch players up, so give them room above.
Keep it 10-25 sections. Long enough to be a challenge, short enough to finish.
Test on every difficulty you pick. If you can't beat it, nobody will.

🚧 What's not built yet

The Obby Builder is the one building tool on SwayBlox today. These are not available yet:

Placing single blocks freely, or building in 3D. You build with whole sections.
Scripting (SwayScript is only a concept), custom thumbnails, music, or Team Create.
Editing a published world in place (use Remix), and leaderboards for player-built worlds.

🛠 Start building now