The
12 Commandments of Map Making
by Luiglin |
| 1 |
Thou
Shalt Think of a Theme
I've found one of the easiest ways to start a map is to think
of a theme to base it around. A theme or style can come from
many inspirations and need not necessarily be a direct comparison.
Take ideas from films, historical events or actual places and
expand them. This helps to set a vision for what you want to
produce and can save a lot of head scratching.
As a final check before starting have a look at what other players
have put into the public domain. It may be that your idea has
already been done (see LSN
Map Resource). |
| 2 |
Thou
Shalt Doodle
Get a scrap of paper and make some rough sketches off the top
of your head. General layout and positioning can be quickly
decided on in a few scribbles without all the unnecessary hassle
of starting fresh in the editor. |
| 3 |
Thou
Shalt Have a Quick Play
Open up the editor and create a small 30 x 30 map to try out
some ideas. Scroll through the tiles, see what is there and
in which section. Layout a few floor tiles see how they join
up and what combinations look best. Place some corridors of
various widths and corners; add in windows and doors; place
some trees, barrels and boxes. Then put in some deployment areas.
Test your play map in hotseat mode and see how the various unit
sizes move around the map. Check goo/grenade bounce distances
through windows and around corners.
Layout forcefields and pipework to see how they work.
This should help your spatial awareness when laying out a map
later on and help you get used to the editor. |
| 4 |
Thou
Shalt Decide on a Map Size
Sounds simple I know, however, its important to remember that
you cannot change the size of a map after you start it (or copy
areas between different maps). Give real good thought, in conjunction
with Commandment 1, to the size because after you start it there's
no going back. |
| 5 |
Thou
Shalt Layout the Map
I start from the ground upwards and layout the floor tiles first.
Set out block areas of tiles based around your doodles from
Commandment 2. This should help with your positioning, as it’s
easier to quickly amend at this stage rather than later on.
If need be lay in some dummy deployment areas and a few walls
as markers and then test shot angles in hotseat mode.
|
| 6 |
Thou
Shalt be all Fancy with the Floor Tiles
Once you have laid out the map concentrate on a corner and work
yourself outwards. I tend to start from the top (0,0 point)
and work down. Go around all the block areas and tidy them up
by making them look messy. For example on road sections add
in white dotted lines and some destroyed/worn out bits (unless
you want it looking pristine). In grass areas drop in some sand
tiles and merge them into the grass. The whole effect should
start making the map look less geometric and more chaotic. In
destroyed buildings have a think of how an explosion would destroy
walls/floors and then create the effect with merge tiles. |
| 7 |
Thou
Shalt Add in the Walls
The floor tiles should now act as a template to layout your
wall tiles. I tend to create buildings first with standard walls
and corners and then go back adding doors, windows and destroyed
tiles. Again I tend to work from the top down, as the walls
then don't obscure your view of the floor tiles.
The 2D view helps in a major way here as you can easily see
the floor tiles without having to remove any wall pieces.
Be careful with pipes and forcefields. The latter especially
as if they are aligned right you may find forcefield barriers
appearing where you don;t wantr them to be. Remember to have
a forcefield on at the start all the relevant "on"
tiles must be used, including forcefield tiles themselves, to
have it turned off the opposite is the case.
Door lock controls must be placed directly opposite the doors
for them to work. |
| 8 |
Thou
Shalt Add in the Bits and Bobs
Adding boxes, barrels, trees etc can visually break up various
areas of the map. Watch out when laying these pieces that you
don't accidentally block an area that you want units to be able
to move down. Trees are more difficult as sometimes it looks
like there is a space to move a unit though them when there
isn’t. However, in a contradiction to this try not drown
the map with these map tiles. As always test in hotseat mode
to be sure of placements.
Avoid ugly looking map overlaps ie boxes showing though walls. |
| 9 |
Thou
Shalt Add in the Deployment Areas
Most of the deployment areas should be obvious now that the
map is finished. I try and give each side deployment areas that
are similar in size and number. I also make sure that each side
has some cover for deploying troops and positioning of HQ’s.
Make sure that deployment areas where you expect players to
place there HQ’s have enough room to do so and still allow
movement for units if required. Crucial to deployment are the
colours of the areas. Green deployment is used by challenged
players and blue by those who have sent the challenge. Therefore,
if you've set up an attacker/defender style of map make sure
that the deployment zones are the right way round. |
| 10 |
Thou
Shalt Destroy Your Master Piece
Load up the map in hotseat and test thoroughly. Try the different
races and unit types in various areas of the map to make sure
that the design works like you planned. This helps in making
final tweaks and correcting layout bugs. If you have any willing
friends email them the files and ask them for feedback or post
an image onto the forum and get feedback that way. |
| 11 |
Thou
Shalt Think of an Original and Simple Name
Not always the easiest thing to do but I try and go for a name
which sums up the theme of the map. Be careful with names that
require spaces and words that may be spelt differently (ie Colour
– UK, Color – US) or look similar. Sometimes you
may come up with a name but think it's really naff. In that
case I find www.thesaurus.com
perfect for providing other words that mean roughly the same
thing as your original name. |
| 12 |
Thou
Shalt Lose Miserably on Your Own Maps
Erm ... I think this just applies to me. |
