THE SCREENSHOT TOPIC RETURNS

30x30. Only works I think because I don't need to deal with multiple floors like in the rest of the cave.

author=Xenomic

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30x30. Only works I think because I don't need to deal with multiple floors like in the rest of the cave.

Much better! It looks better if you condense it like that.

author=Arandomgamemaker
Much better! It looks better if you condense it like that.

Now the thing is (yes, I looked at some of my other maps and some of them are dreadfully bad, even I admit that), is that if I wanted to cut down the size on other maps, I'd...have to do that for like 500 maps. Which I'm totally not going to bother trying to do right now, I'd rather get the game at least, ya know, DONE storywise and all that jazz...maybe later, unless I get someone who'd be willing to cut down on the size of the maps or something...

While I've been avoiding this thread, since I'm not ready to post anything from the current project at this time, I'd like to 'chime in' about map sizes, since it's a subject near and dear to all of us.

I have noticed that new map designers tend to make areas far larger than they need to be. I've done this too, and my rationale was generally 'I'm not sure how big this area needs to be, so I'll give myself lots of room'. That may sound reasonable, except of course that I ended up expanding the area to fill the full space, resulting in a barren, uninteresting map. Even professional game designers today can make this mistake.

I find the best way to avoid this problem is a three step checklist:

1) start by working small. Create a map the size of a single screen to get a sense of how large passages, doorways, etc. need to be. This will give you a good set of building blocks with which to organize the rest of the dungeon. Additionally, it is a very good idea to think of things in relation to a real world scale, to make certain that areas such as house interiors are close to the right size. This also brings us to point 2.

2) Plan the area before you begin. If you know exactly what an area needs to contain, and where those contents will be located, you won't need 'a lot of space', and will instead make the map no bigger than it needs to be once you start working in the editor. You can draw the map out, make a spreadsheet with the different areas, or block out a 'dummy map' in the editor, whatever works best for you.

3) Make certain every map has a purpose. Does the map you just designed have no other purpose than to make the location larger and more complicated? If so, do yourself and your players a favour by cutting it out. Every map, even something like a simple hallway, should have a function, and every part of that map should have a sub-function. For example, when a good designer makes a dead-end, they put something there, like a treasure chest or a switch. Think about how the parts of your location fit together, and cut out anything that is just wasted space. If you look at maps from well-made RPGs, you'll be surprised how compact the dungeon areas really are.

There is, of course, a lot more to designing maps than what I've just posted, but I've found that these three steps (which I can't really take credit for) have been a big help in improving my design approach. I hope you guys find them useful as well.

That's a massive improvement over the one above it, for sure.

Remember there are other ways to show that an area is large besides actually making it take forever to get around in. For example, a quick travel system is an excellent way of indicating "this place is so large that showing it all is impossible." The player doesn't feel the size, but he knows it's there. An overworld map, either final fantasy style or super mario world style, can make the player feel like he has more freedom and can see and explore the vast underworld, but the different scale makes it as managable as exploring a small village. You could create a cut scene that pans across a large section of cave that the player never actually visits, or the player could fight a battle that takes place on top of a moving vehicle as it zooms through a large area.

@Locke: Aye, I know. Though there's really no such thing for me to work with in this universe for that really, so I can't take advantage of moving objects really. ;_;. Though panning out to see the map itself might be nice in some instances...



@Trujin: Well...whenever I make a map, I set a start point (where the player enters the map) and an end point (or end points) (where the player exits the map) and go from there. No planning involved in the mapping whatsoever. Tis how I go really, and how I end up with some of the random maps that I do (though some were planned from the get-go, but not all were this way). For instance, in the last screenshot I showed (the three floored one), I pretty much said "Ok...this is where the player will enter from the ground level, and this is where they'll enter from the 2nd floor, and this is how they'll get to the third floor." Nothing planned in terms of layout though! ^^;;

Not really sure what ELSE I could detail it with. I'm fixing em up, aye, but prettifying em isn't on the top of my agendas really. @_@


Not a bad map there I must say too.

I did actually put in my bridge mechanic that I so wanted to use earlier in the game here too, so this is a first. Works perfectly fine here as there's no other sprites interfering with the bridge process. The next map I'm looking at revamping though...I'm not sure how I'm going to. I COULD post it but...would you WANT to see that thing? @_@;;

author=LockeZ
I didn't think there were really still people who used the phrase "three tile rule" without being ironic

Haha, sorry about that, I'm oldschool (just missed 5 years of community evolution XD). Anyways, since according to you most people are being ironic about it I guess you will hate this:

Made this to help out Xenomic a bit, but I guess it wouldn't be bad to get some feedback on it before I gave him the idea that my mapping is the golden grail.

THREE TILE RULE IS REAL! IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN THREE TILE RULE THEN YOU'RE STUPID OR EVIL!

Old map
New map.


Cut down from 75x30 to 62x30.

My god, that actually took me 1 1/2 hours to do just this map...my head hurts from doing this. I had to do this one though so that this map would make sense with the map that Trujin did for me. ;___;