Meccha Chameleon Workshop and Custom Maps

Meccha Chameleon (commonly misspelled "mecha chameleon" with a single c) supports the Steam Workshop, which means the five-plus official launch maps are just the start. Players can build and share their own levels, and you can subscribe to them in a couple of clicks. This guide covers how to find, subscribe to and play Meccha Chameleon Workshop maps, and finishes with a short walkthrough of how custom maps are made. We plan to grow this page into a live directory of the best community maps, so check back as the catalog fills out.

If you are still learning the basics, the how to play and paint guide pages will get you up to speed before you dive into custom content.

How to find and play a Workshop map

Playing a community map is quick once you know the flow. Inside the game, custom and Workshop maps are reached from the Maps or Workshop button in the bottom-left of the main menu.

1. From the main menu, open the Maps / Workshop button in the bottom-left corner.
2. Browse the Steam Workshop for Meccha Chameleon and find a map you like.
3. Hit Subscribe on the Workshop listing. Steam downloads the map automatically in the background.
4. Back in the game, host a server (a Custom Room) and select the subscribed map from your list.

Because Workshop maps run through a custom server, you will use the Custom Rooms mode to host them - public if you want strangers to join, private for a friends-only session. If you are new to hosting, the game modes page explains how Custom Rooms work alongside Normal, Increasing Oni and Double.

A handy quality-of-life note: patch 1.2.0 lets you swap Workshop maps mid-session without tearing down and recreating the server. That makes a long custom night with friends far smoother - you can rotate through several community maps without everyone dropping back to the lobby.

Tips for playing custom maps

• Custom maps vary wildly in difficulty and balance, so treat the first round as scouting. Walk the level, note the lighting and find the surfaces worth painting.
• The core skills still apply: sample the exact wall, layer your tones and set your pose before you freeze. The tips page covers this for both hiders and seekers.
• Some creators lean into a theme that demands precise matching, much like the official Penguin Hotel or the punishing flat wallpaper of the Backrooms. Read the surface before you commit a palette.
• Make sure everyone in your lobby is subscribed to the map you want to host, so Steam has it downloaded before the round starts.

How to make a custom map

If you want to build your own level, Meccha Chameleon ships with an official mod kit. The toolchain is approachable for anyone who has touched Unreal Engine before.

1. Get the official mod kit, which uses Unreal Engine 5.6.1.
2. Build your level as a content-only plugin in the engine.
3. Upload it to the Steam Workshop using SteamCMD.

A couple of practical notes from the patch history. Patch 1.1.0 fixed an issue where custom maps disabled the default skylight, so lighting in community levels now behaves the way you expect - important, since lighting is half of what makes a camouflage spot work. And as mentioned above, patch 1.2.0 added mid-session map swapping, which also makes iterating on your own map with playtesters less painful.

When designing a map, think like both a hider and a seeker. Good Meccha Chameleon levels offer a mix of surfaces - broad flat walls, textured props, dim alcoves and verticality - so painters have real choices and seekers have real work to do. Flat, uniform spaces are brutal for new hiders, while richly textured rooms reward skilled blending. Studying the design of the official maps is the fastest way to learn what makes a spot fun.

A growing directory

Right now this page is a how-to. As the community ships more standout levels - building on early post-launch additions like the candy-themed Sugarland and the Japan-themed Osaka map - we intend to turn it into a curated, searchable directory of the best Meccha Chameleon Workshop maps, with difficulty notes and recommended modes for each. Bookmark it and check back.

In the meantime, whether you are hiding on an official level or a wild community creation, your disguise is what keeps you alive. Plan your disguise with the free camouflage palette matcher.