I just posted a thread in the Visual Arts section: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=335308 In house tools sometimes lack the polish and functionality of those shipped with games. I presume that's because in-house tools are often scrapped or not taken as seriously when they "get the job done" in a reasonable amount of time. The reason behind that is probably because, for most companies, games are on tight schedules and resources can't always be delegated to make tools shine unless the tools are part of the shipped product, as is the common case today. Even commercial tools usually start as internal resources. I'd like to know what interface and functionality preferences are for designers, modders, and level builders. Do you prefer in-game tools or external tools? Do non-standard GUIs alienate you? (Windows controls vs. custom in-game ones) Would you rather learn to script or do visual, logic and trigger editing? What kind of components do you prefer or have been useful for content creation? Are there any unique features or components that stand out in an internal or particular toolset that made layout editing less painful? Do you prefer a single omnipotent application or a suite of applications? How do you prefer to add objects to a scene, via a palette of objects that you can "paint" into existence, or by dragging one at a time? For property editing, do you prefer property-trees/controls like Unreal, dynamic dialogs like Renderware, or Rollups like Max? How would you arrange your workspace for efficiency? Do you navigate better with context menus (right clicking) or main menus? Feel free to e-mail me, guthrieadams@yahoo.com.