Making a map

じ☆ve冰风

You might now think: Avery, have you not made plenty of mapping tutorials yet?
And the answer is yes, mostly focused on certain types of maps, about dos and don'ts, pitfalls and tips. But since those were very focused on certain themes, I wanted to write a very basic one, that shows my process and that might help you with your future mapping endeavours!

Since I don't want to talk vaguely or write a scientific article here, let me make up a random example:

In my hypothetical game, there is a faction of rebellious soldiers. Since the kings mind was poisoned by a demon, his nephew and his knights have organised a resistance and fled to the mountains where they have a hideout in a cave behind a waterfall.
Step 1: Thoughts
This might sound stupid, but before I start, even before I start collecting tiles, I try to think about my idea: If I am building the tileset anyways, I can already look for stuff I might need for related areas. Here I wanna map the outdoors as of now, but even though this is the current to do, the inside will come, and so will maybe the mountain path to the hideout and the mountain top where the white wizard lives and so on and on. This will massively streamline the work process on further maps.

And if I know what I am looking for, I know some buzzwords for a google or forum search


Also, I need to keep an open mind: what if there are no tiles for what I have in mind?
While some of the alternative things might be stuff I find while looking around, I might think about ideas that would work as well: they could have hidden in an abadoned temple or just a plain normal cave or maybe an old fort...

Step 2: The tileset
This is basically something that will be going on all the time while I am mapping: I don't build my tileset and map, I add the things I think I need, map and then will see what my map might lack and then expand my set again and so on.

But for the basis I like to copy and paste all the sheets I might need and open them, here it was Outside A2, A3, A4, A5, B and C, and they are all open in Gimp and I added an 48x48 grid:




You might now wonder: but Avery, you said, you wanted a waterfall? And then you don't make an A1 sheet?

Well, I already have one that I made quite some time ago!



Sometimes you already have the full sheet you need or a basis you will expand in this process and then of course you don't need to start off with an all empty sheet!

My next step is to gather resources for my concept: I need round rocky cliffs, some trees, something for a path. For the cliffs I need a cave entrance for sure, and I aso might want some decoration or fortification, something that shows that people live here right now.

My own MV water cave for example would work nicely for the cliffs, but it has plenty of water stuff that does not match with the waterfall and water tiles I wanna use and indoor stuff. While I might save that for the actual indoors, for this set I can throw everything that will not be used on this map out:




For the trees I am simply checking my own list, looking for some things that I like and that work for that type of region.
Where to find large trees [MV/MZ]

I know people love their large trees, and while it can be very easy to find some of the more common ones, large forests might need more diversity than just the ones you can find at one source. Some are more hidden or less obvious, so here is a thread for everyone who is looking for some neat...

                                        forums.rpgmakerweb.com                                




Basically, it is a mix of checking where I remember good stuff could be and googling the things I could not find before.

This is my B sheet after the first round, with stuff by myself, PandaMaru, NuraRay, Venere Marte and Cyanide:



With that and my A1 sheet I will already be able to achieve a lot, all I need is some grass and a path on A2 and I am good to go!



What you see above, is default grass and slightly recolored dirt, which both got the treatment from this tutorial here to be able to use them without that sharp edge and some grassy things I liked by aqua.

And with that I will go into
Step 3: Mapping

As said, I already have plenty of mapping tutorials, so I will not go into full detail, but some basic ideas:
I make my maps as large as they need to be to properly display the stuff and encapsue the gameplay, period. No wasted space with random boring areas and nothing to do.

If I map cliffs, I start with them, and I also usually start with a very rough sketch that at that level only I understand xD




And after my first "wave" I have some plateaus with consistent wall heights, know where my map will be entered, where I want to put something to explore (the ?) and where to leave the map (to the cave):




Consistent wall height is key, that is why I start off simple with tall walls and then break them up step by step. Here I will have to end up with some huge walls though, to get the impressive waterfalls I am after!
That is why I in this case would draw them in now, they are the main visual key and I want to design my remaining map around them and not try to squeeze them in in the end!
I place my water on Layer 3, so I can map ground variations below it. When I need more than one layer above it (here for the bridge), I can shiftmap that part one layer down!

Tip: What is your key visual? Make sure it gets its room on your map to shine!




And with the waterfalls added I now know which parts need more details and which are already done:




Now is a good time to go in with more details, and folks, ground variations are key here: being it more vegetation around waters, some different type of grass or paths... look around, there are only so many plain and boring meadows with straight paths!




And then I start to fill it with rubble - since I used various sources, I have plenty of options so I don't have to overuse the same things!
Tip: If you make specific maps for each region, you have enough space on your sheets to add the variation you need - for this whole map I ended up using less than the B sheet and just A1 and A2 in addition!



Try to place your rubble naturally: Certain plants grow on the rim of water, plants, trees and bushes grow usually where you have grass or at least fertile dirt, rocks will probably be near the walls where they fell down or stand where the water washed away the surrounding rock...
Since people live here now, some trees have been chopped down (probably for the bridges), but since the area was forgotten, it is very naturally overgrown and unkept.
And in this process I usually realise: hey, I need chopped down trees! Or hey: I need some stepstones to cross the water!
This is where I go back and forth a lot, expanding my set by the decorative elements that I need to round the particular map I am working on out



Step 4: Playtest and Recolor
I my default set, some colors were to bright and some trees had varying shadow styles. That just happens, when you mix the stuff by several authors. If you can, try to look out for such inconsistences and correct them.
Here you can see the before and after of some of them:




Also, now that I am done, I use my main character and check of the whole path they can walk: is there a shot that looks off? Too full, too empty? Does each shot look nice?
Always remember, yor players don't see this:




They see this:




Or this:




Or this:



As you can see above, I also filled out the areas the player cannot access: some are visible when the player walks right to the edge of everything, and as said: all shots must look nice!

If I would make the map next to this set now, I could use the same tileset and just expand it by the few tiles I need there... and so on.
You might notice that I reduced the human impact to just the bridges, since my area seemed to be defendable enough as of itself: that means, I could thow the palisade tiles out if I don't need them in another part of that game's section.

Some basic tips:
Build yout tilesets as you need them, that makes mapping so much easier. Gather therefore the resources you need, and expand the set as you need it. There are so many amazing tiles out there, noone has to use default as is!

Try to reuse the same base tiles for the whole connected region: the grass won't change complety just because you walked 200m east! If you use for example one cliff for a certain region and a different for another one, players will have less trouble to tell those apart from each other. Especially if they travel back and forth a lot, distinct looks can help them to process where they are right now.
Same goes for buildings: people in one town will usually use similar materials. You usually won't find five different types of stone in one village, usually one: the local one.

Be open for alternatives if what you really wanted isn't there.

Think about your key visual elements and make sure they are what you want them to be! Give them the room they need, but also accompany with a surrounding they deserve!

If you mix tilesets, try to spot major differences in the styles and see if you can fix them!

Cliffs need to be a consistent height overall, but be sure to break them up for a more interesting look.

Make sure your rubble is diverse and fitting, don't overdo it, but also make sure your maps don't stay too boring and empty.

Testplay your map, walk into every corner and pause. Does the screen look good? If not: fix it!

Make sure you make a nice map to the rim: it should not look weirdly empty when you are on the edge of the map. You can add trees that protrude out of the map for example.


That was it for now, maybe I'll do another example at some point. That was a little different from my usual ones, for more basics check
Spoilerthink reading them would really help:


Tutorial - Mapping: Interior | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Lately, there was a status post on our forums about how difficult it can be to find a good mapper for your project. That is interesting, as good mapping is the most essential graphic skill needed for using RPG Maker, as you can go far with just the default graphics. So, why don’t we make sure...

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Mapping: Towns | The Official RPG Maker Blog

After my last tutorial on Mapping Interiors, many people asked for help with the exterior of a town. So that is what we are going to do today. Let’s make a starting town for our hero!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Mapping Forests | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Avery has taught us how to map deserts and towns, now it's time to take a look at mapping forests!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Tips and Tricks: Mapping Cliffs | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Cliffs are something that can make a huge difference on your maps. I don’t know where you live, but if I look out of my window the landscape is far from being flat and so there are probably parts of your game’s world that could benefit from some height differences for the ground - being it some...

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





How to Map a Desert | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Mapping a desert sounds easy, right? Select sand, click fill, and done. But there is a lot more to keep in mind if you want to make it visually interesting and engaging for your players, and today we are going to talk about these things!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                




Plus I also wrote down some about basic edits that enhance your maps a lot:


Tile Edits So Simple, ANYONE Can Do Them! | The Official RPG Maker Blog

There are tons of simple tile edits that anyone can do to make their maps look better! Let's learn some of them!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Small Tile Edits to Up Your Game | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Here are a few small edits you might want to consider making to your tilesets to spice up your game.

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Water Autotiles: Setup Tricks | The Official RPG Maker Blog

MZ's layer function has opened up a lot of option for making water tiles more exciting, but by default graphics, and most graphics that have been made for MZ, don't take advantage of it. Let's look at making those changes ourselves!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Creating Your Own Roof Variations | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Do you want to dress up your maps with even more roof directions and angles? Want to learn how to make them yourselves from existing roof tiles. Then, let's go!

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Making Matching Color Rocks | The Official RPG Maker Blog

We've talked about trying to use rocks of similar shades in the same area if possible before (this is not super strict, but just look at mountainsides and you’ll see that in most cases there is one main type of stone), but what do we do if we don’t have much variation in one shade available...

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





Upcycling VX Ace Tiles for MV/MZ | The Official RPG Maker Blog

Sometimes, we are looking for resources for our games and then we find the perfect things… but they were made for VX or Ace. A lot of people give up at that point or try to just use an algorithm to upscale said tiles. Both are not really the go to solutions - either you end up without the tiles...

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                





RTP and FSM - How to make styles match each other | The Official RPG Maker Blog

We all love FSM. But sometimes we just don't have enough pieces in that style. And they don't quite match up with the RTP. But what if you could make them match yourself? Let's learn how.

                                        www.rpgmakerweb.com                                










本贴来自国际rpgmaker官方论坛作者:Avery处,因国际论坛即将永久关站,为了存档多年珍贵资料,署名转载到本论坛存档,由于官方帖子为英文原帖，需要中文翻译请点击论坛顶部切换语言为中文就可以将帖子翻译成中文浏览,方便大家随时查看,原文地址：https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/threads/making-a-map.154998/