A deep look at the upcoming Level Editor update for Rooftops & Alleys on Nintendo Switch, how it empowers player‑made parkour spots, and why it could keep this freerunning sim alive for years.
Rooftops & Alleys has always wanted to feel like a virtual city for parkour heads. With the upcoming free Level Editor update on Nintendo Switch, it is starting to look more like a platform than a one-and-done parkour sandbox.
MLMEDIA’s new update brings a full in-game creation suite to the console version, letting players build and share their own maps without touching a PC or mods. For a game that lives and dies on interesting lines, quirky gaps and tech-heavy trick routes, handing the tools over to the community could end up being the most important update the Switch version ever gets.
What the Level Editor Actually Adds on Switch
On Switch, the Level Editor update drops in as a free content patch. Once it is live, you will find a new editor option on the main menu that loads into an empty “build” space rather than a traditional map. From there, you place and tweak geometry directly in-engine using console-friendly controls.
The toolset mirrors what the PC version has been building toward. You are not just rearranging prefabs or slightly altering existing rooftop layouts. You are starting from a blank canvas and stacking together shapes, props and interactive pieces to create full parkour sandboxes.
The update on consoles also arrives with six new official maps: The Arena, The Desert, The Airship, The Glacier, The Island and Space. These premade levels act like a proof of concept for what the editor can do. Each one leans into a different style of movement and shows how far you can push the systems when you start thinking in terms of flow instead of simple point A to point B paths.
How Building a Map Works
The editor is built to be approachable on a controller. You move a cursor around your workspace, snap pieces into place and then fine tune using grids and rotation tools. The idea is that anyone who has spent time setting markers in the base game can ease into placing blocks, rails and ledges without needing to wrestle with a complex UI.
Rooftops & Alleys leans heavily on abstract geometry. That is a huge advantage for this kind of editor. Most maps are already about clean walls, ledges, platforms, shipping containers, cranes and scaffolding rather than hyper detailed city replicas. The toolset uses that to its advantage.
You can expect basic building blocks like cubes, ramps and flat platforms, but also more parkour specific pieces that encourage tricks. Long rails for slides and balances, angled walls for wall runs, gaps tuned for cat leaps and stride lines, and structures that enable the game’s advanced trick mechanics all play a role. Because these are all pulled from the same physics and collision rules as the core game, anything you build will respect the same movement tech speedrunners and freestylers have already been labbing for months.
The real power comes from verticality and density. Even a small footprint map can become a maze of stacked routes, tight drops and chained bounces. The editor gives creators access to enough height and object count to build those dense playgrounds you usually only see in heavily modded PC maps.
Designing for Flow Instead of Finish Lines
The best Rooftops & Alleys sessions are not about beating a timer. They are about finding a line nobody else spotted, then linking tricks smoothly until you either stick the landing or completely eat pavement. The Level Editor is built around that idea.
Instead of forcing players to create traditional start and finish objectives, the editor supports freeform spaces where the “goal” is to express yourself. Of course you can lay out checkpoints and time trial style routes if you want to recreate parkour competitions or trick challenges. But nothing stops you from making a pure freestyle plaza whose only rule is that everything should feel good to flow through.
This is where the Switch community could really stretch the game’s lifespan. Console players who have spent hundreds of hours hitting the same official lines now get the chance to deconstruct what makes those spots fun and remix it in their own maps. One creator might build a compact tech park focused entirely on precision landings and bar swings, while another might chase speedrunner friendly downhill runs packed with risk heavy shortcuts.
Over time, that variety is what keeps a movement game alive. Even if MLMEDIA slows down on official map releases after the six new stages, a healthy pipeline of player-made spots will keep the meta shifting. New maps will highlight underused tricks, expose weird interactions in the physics and inspire fresh routing challenges that would never appear in a static rotation of dev made arenas.
Sharing Maps and Playing With Friends
All of this creation power does not mean much if your maps are trapped on your own system. The Level Editor update addresses that by letting players share and host their custom builds.
On Switch, you will be able to save a finished map and push it online so other players can download it. Details like how codes are formatted or how search filters are laid out are still being finalized publicly, but the core loop is clear. Build a level, upload it, then invite your friends to run it in multiplayer modes like freeroam, tag or trick battles.
Because Rooftops & Alleys already supports casual lobbies and structured modes, custom maps slot straight into the existing online ecosystem. One night might be dedicated to grinding tech runs in a tight community favorite map, while the next could be about messing around in experimental physics playgrounds that feel closer to skateparks than city blocks.
For a portable platform like Switch, that social angle is huge. It gives local friend groups and online communities a reason to keep coming back week after week. Someone always has a new map to showcase, a new line to “own” in front of their crew, or a fresh challenge to race through on the bus ride home.
Why This Matters Specifically on Switch
PC players have already been tinkering with custom maps for Rooftops & Alleys through mods and the earlier Level Editor beta. Switch players did not have that option. They were limited to the set of official maps that shipped with the port and whatever updates MLMEDIA pushed.
Bringing the full editor to Switch closes that gap and effectively turns the console version into a first class citizen for the game’s community. For creators who prefer the couch to a desk, that is a big deal. The barrier to entry for making something cool drops to “own the game, install the update and learn the controls.”
It also fits perfectly with how the Switch is used day to day. Short sessions are ideal for iterating on a tricky map section or testing a new line. Longer handheld marathons can be dedicated to sculpting an entire level from scratch. That flexibility makes content creation feel less like a heavy project and more like an extension of just playing the game.
From a longevity standpoint, this is the sort of update that can keep a niche sim thriving well beyond its launch window. User generated content has done that for everything from track builders to skateboarding games. Parkour is arguably an even better fit, because flow oriented design is so personal. Two players can look at the same rooftop and see completely different lines. With the editor live, those visions can turn into playable spaces instead of staying theoretical.
A Parkour Platform in the Making
MLMEDIA has already signaled that it wants to keep expanding Rooftops & Alleys through 2026, and the Level Editor is a strong foundation for that plan. Official maps like The Arena or The Airship will continue to set the bar and showcase new mechanics, but the real engine of longevity will be the community’s imagination.
On Switch, where parkour focused games are relatively rare compared to other genres, that matters even more. Rooftops & Alleys is no longer just a snapshot of modern freerunning in game form. With players able to sketch out their own dream spots, recreate real world training grounds or invent impossible sci-fi rooftops, it becomes a living library of parkour culture.
If you bounced off the game earlier because you felt you had “seen it all,” the Level Editor might be the excuse to reinstall. And if you are the type who used to sketch imaginary spots in a notebook between training sessions, the Switch version is finally catching up to your imagination.
The Level Editor update turns Rooftops & Alleys into something that can keep growing right alongside the people who play it. For a small indie parkour sim on Nintendo’s hybrid, that could be the difference between a cult favorite and a long running staple of the console’s movement game scene.